Communities and Culture Committee

Scrutiny Inquiry : Domestic Abuse

Response from Radnorshire Women’s Aid

Purpose and background

Radnorshire Women’s Aid was established in 1982 as a small group of women volunteers supporting women and children who were suffering domestic abuse. Our objectives are to provide information, support and safe accommodation to women and children escaping domestic abuse; to raise awareness of the issues of domestic abuse in the local community and agencies; to offer information and training to agencies (eg, Police and social services). We are a registered charity.

We run a four-bedroom purpose-built refuge that can house four women and up to 11 children at any one time. The refuge housed 40 women and 54 children in 2003/04, 18 women and 17 children in 2004/05, 20 Women and 30 children in 2005/06 and 25 women and 30 children in 2006/07. Some families stay for several months, others for a few weeks, and some go home very soon after arrival. The youngest mother we have had in the refuge was a 16-year-old girl with a two-week old baby; the eldest has been 73. The children ranged in age from two weeks to 16. Because we have four bedrooms we have potential bed spaces of 208 per year. If we are unable to accommodate a family we try very hard to get them space in another refuge and will transport them onto that refuge.

We have an outreach worker who supports five women and their children in their homes on a regular basis; these women may have been in our refuge previously or are families living with domestic abuse and for one reason or another cannot leave at the present time. We have received a small amount of funding to get the women on our outreach scheme involved in art and craft groups, and they have participated in silk screen painting, mosaic, and copper-work workshops amongst others. This sort of activity is brilliant for the motivation of the women; it helps to increase their self-confidence and self-esteem and starts to restore feelings of self-worth that have often been buried under years of abuse.

We encourage women who are suffering domestic abuse to call in to our office for support or information. Most of the women we support often have other issues as a result of domestic abuse and so we try to keep up-to-date with changes in legislation; we also regularly undergo up-date training in homelessness, housing benefits, sexual abuse; the most recent training has been on child protection issues and specially designated person for Child Protection training. Many of our women have been known to self-harm, have drug/drink dependencies and mental health problems, and we need to be able to deal with a very wide range of issues.

Alongside the services described above, we provide 24-hour on-call services so that any woman in Radnorshire can get help or advice at the time that she or her family most need it. The staff man the 24-hour help-line on a rota basis.

We work very much within the principles of self-help and we endeavour to encourage all of our women to take responsibility for their own lives and that of their children; we make sure that they are aware of all the options open to them and explore all options so that the choices they make are informed choices. We then support the women in whatever decision they take.

As a group we work very closely with the Powys Domestic Abuse Forum; we attend social services’ team meetings, police team meetings, and we liaise regularly with the Community Mental Health Team, local surgeries, drug and alcohol services, etc. We try very hard to raise awareness of domestic abuse in our local area and the Manager regularly talks to local groups of Mothers’ Union, Women’s Institutes, Lions, etc. These groups regularly support us with gifts of toiletries and school uniforms, etc. for the children, and their help is invaluable.

Providing oral evidence to the Committee

Welsh Women’s Aid, our umbrella organisation would be extremely interested, through its Director, Elen Pierce, in presenting the views in this response directly to the Committee. This would provide an opportunity for Elen Pierce to answer any questions the Committee may have.

The cost of domestic violence

Domestic abuse and violence against women is hugely costly, both to the lives of individual women and to society as a whole. The impact of violence ranges from physical injury, psychological consequences, long-term mental health issues, constrained socio-economic opportunities to wider social exclusion. It is estimated that the human and emotional cost of domestic abuse in England and Wales alone is £23 billion a year1 and violence against women costs £40 billion a year.2

The Welsh Assembly Government3 found that women seeking refuge from domestic abuse costs £8,240,763 and has a net benefit of £47,946,346 to the Supporting People budget. The funding in Wales of women’s services dealing with violence against women in 2001 was £151.00 per 1,000 women, which equates to £0.15 per woman in Wales. In Northern Ireland it was £1.25 per woman and in England it was £0.49 per woman.4

1 Walby, S (2004) 'The Cost of Domestic Violence’, Women and Equality Unit.

2 New Philanthropy Capital (2008) 'Hard Knock Life’.

3 Welsh Assembly Government, (2006) 'Costs and Benefits of the Supporting People Programme’.

4 Mocroft & Zimmeck 2004.

Definition of domestic abuse should be gender specific

Radnorshire Women’s Aid recommends that the definition of domestic abuse and violence be gender specific. The Welsh Assembly Government’s present definition of domestic abuse does not identify it as a gender-specific abuse dealing with power and control of one gender (men) against another (women).

The present Welsh National Strategy definition being followed states 'Domestic Abuse is best described as the use of physical abuse…by a person who is or has been in a close relationship’. The 'Tackling Domestic Abuse: The All Wales National Strategy’ extends the definition saying that women and men can be victims of domestic abuse. Domestic abuse is a crime committed predominantly against women, with 77% of victims of domestic violence being women, and the government’s definition should recognise this.

Almost half of women in England and Wales experience domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking during their lifetime. The Home Office Statistical Bulletin on intimate violence shows that women are more likely than men to have experienced domestic abuse, that they experience domestic abuse over a longer period of time compared to men, that women are six times more likely to be killed by their partner, ex partner or lover than men (two women a week are killed by a partner or ex partner) and that women are more likely to experience all types of intimate violence than men. Between April 2007 and March 2008 only 2% of calls to the Wales Domestic Abuse Helpline were from male victims.

By having a clear definition of domestic abuse and violence against women, society and statutory agencies in Wales will then better comprehend the significant abuse that women experience.

Redistribution of supporting people funds

There are issues with the redistribution of SP funds throughout Wales; Radnorshire Women’s Aid are concerned that services provided by smaller organisations like ourselves will be cut if funding is reduced in their Local Authority area.

It is unclear how the redistribution will work and what services will be affected in those authorities that will lose SP funds. It is also unclear as to how the Welsh Assembly will ensure fairness when redistributing the funds; will the larger authorities get more funding causing the smaller rural authorities to receive less, which in turn will mean that much needed rural provision will be lost.

Children’s and Young People’s Services

Funding for work with children and young people in Women’s Aid groups

It is a cause of great concern that the funding for working with children and young people in refuges is very piecemeal and insecure; see below for outline of sources of funding for this area of work.

Radnorshire Women’s Aid receive charitable funding that requires annual applications; our Manager spends a significant amount of time fundraising for continuation funding to secure jobs, equipment and activities. The charity Children in Need has funded our Child Support worker for many years. They have declared their concern about providing this level of funding for core funding of salaried posts as the purpose of Children in Need is to provide short term project funding; they regard the current level of support as unsustainable. This instability of funding results in job insecurity, loss of experienced workers, low morale and lack of investment in staff, and very importantly a difficulty in making long term plans for development and improvement of services.

Some of the work with children in our group is funded by the Supporting People Revenue Grant. This funding is housing related, and as such it restricts the activities of the workers. For example they are not permitted to carry out any direct support on an individual basis to children with needs identified as resulting from domestic abuse. The funding does not allow for workers to participate in any child protection work, attend any child protection meetings, case conferences etc.

This is clearly a very unsatisfactory, unequal, and high risk situation in which to be working with very vulnerable children. Safeguarding children who have witnessed or been victims of domestic abuse is a core part of the service Women’s Aid provide to children. In 2006/07 there were more than 250 children staying in refuges who were on the Child Protection register. It can be argued that if these children were not in refuge, they would become 'Looked After’ by local authorities at a cost of over £6.5M.

In this environment of unstable and unsustainable funding, it is not possible for Radnorshire Women’s Aid to plan services strategically nor are we able to commit to the development of services. It also means that although Radnorshire Women’s Aid are working very hard to achieve the seven core aims contained in Rights To Action, we are struggling due to lack of resources.

Recommendation Core funding for children workers

Radnorshire Women’s Aid recommend that the Assembly provide core funding for children’s workers, linked with refuge and outreach, as has been done in Scotland.

Domestic abuse affects both women and children. Each year in the UK at least 750,000 children witness domestic abuse, and nearly 75% of children on the At Risk Register live in households where domestic abuse occurs, (Department of Health, 2003). Nearly half of all residents accommodated in Welsh Women’s Aid refuges are children; 8% of children in refuge were on the At Risk Register; and 19% of children in Wales not in refuge were on the At Risk Register in 2006/07.

This important fact should be taken into account and prioritised by Government when considering funding streams: having one child in care costs more than one children’s worker.

The Scottish Executive has provided core funding for two children’s workers in each Women’s Aid refuge in Scotland. Yet despite the clearly growing need for specialist domestic violence services for children and young people, funding such services is increasingly difficult.

Recommendations on Actions

Prevention and early intervention is the key to tackling the problem of domestic abuse. The effects of family conflict on children within households affected by domestic abuse are devastating and long lasting.

The Webster-Stratton system is one approach to acceptable behaviour that could be adopted countywide. A three-pronged approach - parents, teachers and children - needs to be implemented simultaneously. The only way we can stop the cycle of abuse is by enabling children to realise that certain behaviours are unacceptable and that there can be negative outcomes as a result; and by encouraging good behaviour through praise and reward.

All actions and behaviours impact on others and whilst we have the right to do almost anything that is legal, those actions carry with them responsibilities. Such interventions would work equally successfully for bullying strategies. More funding needs to be made available for this area of work within Women’s Aid groups and we strongly recommend this area be considered in any future funding plans.

Accommodation

The lack of move on accommodation and new social housing being built has led to women and their children having to remain in refuge for longer periods of time. This has a knock-on effect for women who need help by blocking much needed spaces.

Women may be ready to move on to their own home, and no longer be in need of support are increasingly having to remain in refuge. The lack of affordable social housing is an issue that affects all homeless people. Local Authorities are turning to private rented accommodation; this may not be suitable for all homeless people. Private rented accommodation does not provide security and stability and for women who have suffered domestic abuse security and stability is a clear need and want.