Domestic Abuse Policy - Housing and Social Investment

The consultation launched on 1 April 2022 closing on 15 May 2022. An online survey was made available via Kensington and Chelsea’s Consultation and Engagement Hub, to which we received three responses.

Respondents were asked to feedback their thoughts on the draft Domestic Abuse Policy.

• Domestic abuse is a crime, and it needs to be recognised as such.
• Victims of domestic abuse get passed around the system between different departments and organisations, often in an ‘assess-do-refer-wait-repeat’ cycle, meaning they have to retell their often traumatic story
• There is inconsistent levels of understanding and empathy from professionals.
• Officers/organisations often have a narrow and standardised focus, based on their specialism of what they’ve been commissioned to do.
• Thresholds and gate-keeping, where people only receive support if they meet certain criteria, which is not geared towards helping the victim/survivor avoid an abusive situation. These cases often fall through the net.
• Time limited interventions and often, duplication of activity – due to lack of process.
• There is a lack of good links between services.
• There is high demand on services, which is inflated by ‘failure demand’.
• Greater choice and efficiency when commissioning domestic abuse services was asked for.
• There needs to be local campaigning and awareness around domestic abuse.
• Being better informed by learning/regularly interacting with victims of domestic abuse.
• There should be better communication and information sharing with police, social services and other public services available to support victims.
• Perpetrator management and engagement.
• Factoring in equality and diversity around domestic abuse (including any cultural issues and language barriers) is important.
• Consent is important – victims should be empowered in their own journey.
• Create advocates batting for the victims, helping them navigate the complex map of potential assistance.

• In the policy, we have made it clear that domestic abuse stands as a separate issue to anti-social behaviour and also includes latest legislation (Domestic Abuse Act 2021).
• The policy makes it clear about the steps the Council will take in its response to domestic abuse and establishes thresholds and guidance to consent, safeguarding referrals, Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) referrals and relevant timeframes. Whilst there are thresholds in the policy in certain areas, it still states that every domestic abuse case will be treated in a survivor-centred approach to support victims/survivors and maintains this language throughout the policy.
• Working towards Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) also includes improved partnership working (e.g. MARAC referrals), training standards in place for officers and perpetrator management.
• As part of DAHA, Housing is dedicated to a coordinated community response, strengthening relationship with Social Services and creating efficient and effective internal communication processes and procedures, so that victims/survivors avoid being retraumatised.
• Working towards creating procedures that ensures officers take a ‘right-first time’ approach.
• Continuing to work with external services (charities, domestic abuse services) and listening to the lived experiences of victims/survivors when developing our response to domestic abuse cases in housing.
• Working towards the introduction of domestic abuse Champions in housing.
• Policy takes into account the importance of acknowledging and responding to equality and diversity in domestic abuse cases.