12. What services are available to victims of domestic abuse?

This section presents data on the provision of domestic abuse services in England and Wales collected and held by the charities Women’s Aid Federation of England, Welsh Women’s Aid and SafeLives. This is the first time these data sources have been included in this publication, as part of the expansion from Phase 1. These data are sourced from non-governmental, administrative datasets and are not classified as official statistics.

Women’s Aid Annual Survey

Women’s Aid Federation of England distribute an annual online survey to all domestic abuse services for female victims in England listed on the Routes to Support database, comprising both refuge services and community-based services, including counselling, support groups, local helplines, floating support, domestic abuse prevention advocate (DAPA) or Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) services.

The survey includes questions covering the previous financial year and a census day and week, and collects information on service-users’ needs, experiences and demographic information, as well as data on the services they use and the numbers of referrals accepted and declined by services. Welsh Women’s Aid conducts a separate data collection covering domestic abuse service provision in Wales.

The data from these sources provide valuable insight into the domestic abuse services that responded, but it is not known how these findings compare with those for the services that did not respond. It is therefore unclear whether these findings are representative of all domestic abuse services in England and Wales.

For the year ending March 2016 survey, the latest year for which data are currently available, 369 services were sent the survey and 179 responses were received. A total of 145 responding services provided refuge support and 114 provided community-based support. The census day for refuge services was 13 October 2016 and provided data for 131 refuge services responding to this part of the survey. The census week for community-based services ran from 10 to 14 October 2016 inclusively and provided data from the responses of 104 community-based services1.

Data for Wales for the year ending March 2016 include information from 29 specialist domestic abuse services offering refuge-based support, floating support services and community outreach services. Whilst the Women’s Aid Federation of England Annual Survey covers referrals of only women and children to domestic abuse services, Welsh Women’s Aid also collect some data on referrals of men (see Appendix Table 36). For comparative purposes, the data presented in this section refer to referrals of women only.

The survey results show there were 19,854 referrals to 124 refuge services in England (services responding to this question) in the year ending March 2016, of which half (50%) were declined and 7% were not accepted by the client (Table 5). Of those declined, around 4 in 10 (41%) were declined because there was no space or capacity to support the victim (see Appendix Table 37a for more detail).

Over one-quarter (27%) of the 2,670 referrals of women to 29 refuge services in Wales were declined according to the Welsh Women’s Aid survey, with an additional 418 referrals (16%) not being accepted by the client (see Appendix Table 36). Of those referrals to refuges that were declined, just under half (48%) were declined due to a lack of space to support the victim (see Appendix Table 37b).

Table 5: Referrals of women to refuge and community-based services in England and Wales, year ending March 2016 England and Wales England5 Wales Number Refuges Referrals 19,854 2,670 Accepted 7,552 1,518 Declined 9,957 734 Support not accepted by client 1,387 418 Community-based services Referrals 79,552 4,091 Accepted 61,491 2,960 Declined 7,858 12 Support not accepted by client 6,464 781 Source: Women's Aid Annual Survey, Women's Aid Federation of England and Welsh Women's Aid Notes: 1. Data from Women's Aid Federation of England and Welsh Women's Aid are not classified as official statistics. 2. Data for England and Wales are presented separately because they are sourced from two different data collections. 3. These figures cannot provide a full picture of demand for refuge services. Some survivors may not disclose abuse and some may not have been referred to a refuge because referring agencies may already be aware that a refuge is full or cannot meet their needs. 4. These data only refer to services that responded to the survey, and it is not known how these results compare with the services not included in the survey. Data on refuges in England are based on 124 responding services, data on community based services in England are based on 92 responding services. Data from Wales are based on 29 services. 5. Numbers of referrals accepted or declined for England will not sum to the total due to missing data. Download this table Table 5: Referrals of women to refuge and community-based services in England and Wales, year ending March 2016 .xls

There are likely to be many victims of domestic abuse that do not become visible to these services and are therefore not reflected in these figures. For example, there are likely to be victims who needed refuge support but didn’t disclose the abuse they were experiencing. In addition, some victims may not have been referred to specialist services; this could be because referring agencies did not identify a victim’s need for refuge support, or they already knew the refuge was full2 or could not meet the victim’s specific needs.

Availability of refuge spaces would also be subject to whether the service can support the specific needs of the person being referred to that space. It may be that a service is unable to support victims with complex needs in their refuge or that they have a limit on the number of victims with complex needs they can support at one time. Furthermore, there are limitations on the number of beds available in each space, which will limit a victim’s options depending on the number of children seeking refuge with them.

The census day for the Women’s Aid Annual Survey provides more detailed information on the women using refuge services in England who responded to this section of the survey. Data are presented for Wales where it is available. The data show:

on the census day in 2016, there were 131 responding services 3 providing refuge to 2,017 women (see Appendix Table 38); almost two-thirds of these women (64%) had children staying with them in the refuge (see Appendix Table 39)

for the women using refuge services in England on this day, the most common source of referral was a statutory agency (33%)

the most common source of referral in Wales was another domestic abuse service such as an independent domestic violence advisor (41%, see Appendix Table 35)

one-quarter (25%) of referrals to refuge services in England and around one-fifth (19%) of referrals in Wales were self referrals (see Appendix Table 35)

just under half of women in refuges in England on the census day had had the abuse reported to the police (49%) and around one-fifth (21%) had a criminal case made against the perpetrator (see Appendix Table 40) 4

over three-quarters (77%, 1,551) of the 2,017 women using refuge services on the census day had crossed local authority boundaries to access refuge in England (see Appendix Table 39)

just over half of clients in Wales (53%) came from either another local authority in Wales or across the UK (see Appendix Table 41)

Compared with refuge services, a lower proportion of referrals to the 92 community-based services that responded to this question in England were declined in the year ending March 2016 (10%) and less than 1% were declined in Wales (Table 4). Of those referrals that were declined in England, the most common reasons for declining the service were not being able to contact the victim5 (47%) and the victim not wanting support (45%, see Appendix Table 37a)6.

The victim’s decision to accept support on domestic abuse can be a very difficult one: the victim may feel shame about telling someone else about their relationship, they may fear that the perpetrator will find out, or may not feel emotionally ready to seek support. The victim may also have been referred inappropriately, without the victim’s consent or knowledge.

The census week for the Women’s Aid Annual Survey provides more detailed information on the women using community-based services in England who responded to this section of the survey. Data are presented for Wales where it is available. The data show:

the 104 community-based services in England who completed the census week section of the survey were supporting 11,568 women (see Appendix Table 38); half of these women (50%) had children (see Appendix Table 39)

the most common source of referral for the women using community-based services during the census week in both England and Wales was statutory agencies such as the police and health services (33% England, 40% Wales); however, the source of referral was unknown for around one-third of women (31%) in England (see Appendix Table 35)

around one-third (34%) of women using community-based services in England had had the abuse reported to the police and 17% had had a criminal case made against the perpetrator7 (see Appendix Table 40)

Routes to Support

Routes to Support (formerly UKRefugesOnline – UKROL) is a UK-wide online database, which contains information about domestic abuse and other violence against women services that are available for women and children throughout the UK. The database is representative of all domestic abuse services for women and is supported and part-funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government. The database is jointly managed by Women’s Aid organisations8 across the UK.

Routes to Support is a secure database and its primary purpose is to operate as a referral tool for the domestic abuse services sector. The data are obtained directly from the services listed on the system in the form of an initial questionnaire when they register and this is followed by an annual update form, which every service must complete to provide information about changes to provision. Data are further updated on an ongoing basis as Women’s Aid are made aware of changes and as new services are set up or take over tenders.

Routes to Support provides snapshot figures gathered on one day each year on the different types of domestic abuse services9 available in England and Wales. These are a range of services providing different types and levels of support, including the provision of information, therapeutic interventions, advocacy and accommodation-based support.

There were 305 refuge services recorded by Routes to Support in England and Wales in 2017; comprising, 274 in England10 and 31 in Wales (Appendix Table 43).

According to the snapshot figures captured once a year, refuge services in England11 have reduced in numbers over the last seven years, from 294 services in 2010 to 274 in 2017 (see Appendix Table 42). There are likely to have been fluctuation in numbers between these dates as services open, close or change providers as part of the commissioning process. In some instances provision is commissioned for a wider area than under the previous contract, leading to one service replacing multiple services whilst retaining the provision.

This can account for a decrease in refuge service numbers alongside an increase in refuge bed spaces during the same period. Routes to Support collects data on the number of bed spaces available in refuges in England, compared with a recommended number of bed spaces12. The number of bed spaces available in refuges in England13 has increased since 2010 from 3,467 to 3,798 spaces in 2017 (see Appendix Table 44). There were a total of 821 bed spaces available in refuges in Wales in 2017 (see Appendix Table 45).

These figures do not provide information on which specific access and support needs these services are able to support. Refuges can vary in size and some cannot support some specific groups of people, for example, those with high level mental health needs or physical disabilities. Services can vary according to the different types and levels of support that they provide. The number of bed spaces in England and Wales also vary geographically. For more detail, refer to Are there differences in local areas? section.

Routes to Support also collects snapshot data on an annual basis for other domestic abuse services in England14 (see Appendix Table 42):

helpline services have increased by 47% since 2010 (from 76 to 112 services)

the number of domestic abuse services available in England for children and young people has decreased by 21% since April 2010, from 238 to 188 services

Independent Domestic Violence Advisor and Domestic Abuse Prevention Advocate services15 have increased by 56% since April 2010 (from 82 to 128 services) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisor services have increased almost three-fold, from just nine services in 2010 to 35 services in 201716

In addition to providing data on the number of services available, Routes to Support has provided additional vacancy data from refuge services in London as part of a project with London Councils, including information on the migration of women seeking refuge from domestic abuse in the capital. Over two-thirds of women (67%) moved from another London borough to access refuge services in the year ending March 2017, and around one-fifth (21%) moved from outside London (Table 6). This broadly corresponds to data from the Women’s Aid Annual Survey 2016, which shows that the majority of women (77%) moved across local authority boundaries in England to seek refuge.

Table 6: Borough of origin of women accessing refuge services in London, year ending March 2017 London Number Percentage Own borough 42 3 Other borough 819 67 Outside London 258 21 Unknown 74 6 Missing 28 2 Total 1,221 100 Source: Women's Aid Federation of England, 2017 - data from Routes to Support , the UK violence against women and girls service directory Notes: 1. Data from Women's Aid Federation of England are not classified as official statistics. Download this table Table 6: Borough of origin of women accessing refuge services in London, year ending March 2017 .xls

Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs)

An Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) is a professionally qualified, specialist domestic abuse worker, who supports domestic abuse victims at high risk17 of murder or serious harm. All victims at highest risk from abuse should receive IDVA support, however, the current number of IDVAs supporting these victims is just over two-thirds (67%) of what is likely to be needed to support these cases18.

SafeLives operate a specialist outcomes measurement programme, Insights, which is a tool that allows for the collection and analysis of frontline support information. IDVAs complete an Insights form throughout the support period, capturing important demographic data and details of the abuse being experienced, and tracking any changes to those experiences over time.

The Insights dataset for the year ending March 2017 contains 4,555 unique individual cases at intake and 4,026 matched cases at exit19, drawn from 43 IDVA services across England and Wales that used the SafeLives Insights outcome measurement service. Just under one-fifth (19%) of these cases referred were repeat cases (see Appendix Table 46)20.

The most common referral route to an IDVA service was the police (60%), followed by self-referrals (14%, Figure 16). Fewer referrals to IDVA services were made by health services and other universal21 domestic violence services. This compares with referrals to refuge services that were most likely to be made by a statutory agency such as the police (in England) or another domestic violence service (in Wales), as reported in the Women’s Aid Annual Survey and by Welsh Women’s Aid.

Figure 16: Referral routes to Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) in England and Wales, year ending March 2017 Source: Insights Independent Domestic Violence Advisors dataset, SafeLives Notes: Insights IDVA data are not classified as official statistics. Data may not sum to 100 due to rounding. Download this chart Figure 16: Referral routes to Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) in England and Wales, year ending March 2017 Image .csv .xls

The pattern of referrals to IDVA services corresponds to clients’ use of public services in the last 12 months, with around three-quarters of clients reporting the abuse to the police in the year ending March 2017 (76%, see Appendix Table 49). This proportion is much higher than victims of partner abuse recorded by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), where only one-fifth (21%) reported their experiences to the police in the year ending March 2015 survey. This is compared with just over half of clients visiting a GP (52%) and lower proportions of clients attending A&E as a result of the abuse (18%), or using other specialist domestic violence services (23%).

Over 90% of clients using IDVA services had experienced domestic abuse from an intimate partner, ex-partner or intermittent intimate partner (see Appendix Table 49). This can be compared with 77% of victims of domestic abuse who said they experienced partner abuse in the last year, according to the year ending March 2017 CSEW.

Insights also collects information on the personal characteristics of clients entering IDVA services, which can be compared with CSEW data on the characteristics of respondents aged 16 to 59 years who said they experienced partner abuse22 in the last year (see Appendix Tables 4 and 48)23. The vast majority of clients accessing IDVA services in the year ending March 2017 were women (95%), whereas a lower proportion of adults who reported experiencing partner abuse in the last year in the CSEW were women (66%, Figure 17). This suggests that female victims are more likely to use IDVA services than male victims.

Figure 17: Sex of clients accessing Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) services and sex of victims of partner abuse in the last year, year ending March 2017 Insights IDVA data and Crime Survey in England and Wales Source: Insights Independent Domestic Violence Advisors dataset, SafeLives and Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics Notes: Insights IDVA data are not classified as official statistics. CSEW data are based on respondents aged 16 to 59 years who reported experience of partner abuse in the last year. Download this chart Figure 17: Sex of clients accessing Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) services and sex of victims of partner abuse in the last year, year ending March 2017 Image .csv .xls

The age profile of clients accessing IDVA services was broadly similar to the age breakdown of victims of partner abuse in the last year, as reported in the CSEW24. Around three-quarters (74%) of clients accessing IDVA services were aged 20 to 44 years compared with 63% of CSEW respondents who were victims of partner abuse in the last year (Figure 18). Lower proportions of people accessing IDVA services were in the older age categories (aged 45 to 59 years) compared with respondents reporting experience of partner abuse in the CSEW (16% compared with 28% respectively).

Figure 18: Ages of clients accessing Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) services and ages of Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) victims of partner abuse in the last year, year ending March 2017 Source: Insights Independent Domestic Violence Advisors dataset, SafeLives and Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics Notes: Insights IDVA data are not classified as official statistics. CSEW data are based on respondents aged 16 to 59 years who reported experience of partner abuse in the last year. Download this chart Figure 18: Ages of clients accessing Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) services and ages of Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) victims of partner abuse in the last year, year ending March 2017 Image .csv .xls

Almost two-thirds (63%) of clients accessing IDVA services had children living in their household at the time, whereas under half of respondents (44%) who said they experienced partner abuse in the last year in the CSEW had children living in the household (Figure 19). This suggests that victims who have children living in their household are more likely to access support services than those who do not.

Figure 19: Whether children are living in the household of Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) clients and whether children are living in the household of victims of partner abuse in the last year Year ending March 2017, Insights IDVA data and Crime Survey in England and Wales Source: Insights Independent Domestic Violence Advisors dataset, SafeLives and Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics Notes: Insights IDVA data are not classified as official statistics. CSEW data are based on respondents aged 16 to 59 years who reported experience of partner abuse in the last year. Download this chart Figure 19: Whether children are living in the household of Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) clients and whether children are living in the household of victims of partner abuse in the last year Image .csv .xls

The Insights dataset records the profile of abuse experienced by IDVA clients at intake and at exit of the service. For every type of abuse, the experience of abuse decreased following exit from IDVA services (Figure 20). In particular, the proportions of clients experiencing physical abuse and jealous or controlling behaviour decreased by almost 50 percentage points.

Figure 20: Profile of abuse experienced by Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) clients at intake compared to exit, year ending March 2017 England and Wales Source: Insights Independent Domestic Violence Advisors dataset, SafeLives Notes: Insights IDVA data are not classified as official statistics. These data are based on clients exiting IDVA services. There will be some clients who have intake forms submitted within the reporting period, but are still accessing services and therefore are not included in the exit data. Download this chart Figure 20: Profile of abuse experienced by Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) clients at intake compared to exit, year ending March 2017 Image .csv .xls

The majority of IDVA clients were not living with their perpetrator on exit of the service (84%, see Appendix Table 52). This is an increase from the sample taken at entry to IDVA services, where 71% were not living with their perpetrator (see Appendix Table 49). Despite not living together, around one-third of clients (32%) reported ongoing contact with their perpetrator, with the most common reason for this being child contact issues (67%, see Appendix Table 50).

Multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs)

A multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC) is a meeting where information is shared on the highest risk domestic abuse cases between representatives of local police, health, child protection, housing practitioners, IDVAs, probation and other specialists from the statutory and voluntary sectors. After sharing all relevant information they have about a victim, the representatives discuss options for increasing the safety of the victim and turn these into a co-ordinated action plan. The primary focus of the MARAC is to safeguard the adult victim. The MARAC will also make links with other forums to safeguard children and manage the behaviour of the perpetrator.

At the centre of a MARAC is the working assumption that no single agency or individual can see the complete picture of the life of a victim, but all may have insights that are crucial to their safety. The victim does not attend the meeting but is represented by an IDVA who advocates on their behalf and holds statutory agencies to account.

SafeLives are responsible for collecting data from every MARAC in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and from some MARACs in Scotland. The collection of MARAC data began in 2004 and since 2010, a national overview of MARACs covering England and Wales has been available.

There were 260 MARACs in England and Wales in the year ending March 2017 (Table 7). All MARACs fall within police force area boundaries, but police force areas can have more than one MARAC, depending on the size of the area and structure of the local authorities. This means that MARACs vary in size.

There were a total of 83,136 cases discussed at MARACs in England and Wales in the year ending March 2017. This equates to 36 cases discussed per 10,000 adult females25, which falls just below the recommended26 number of 40 cases discussed per 10,000 adult females (Table 7). This could suggest that not enough high-risk domestic abuse cases are being referred to a MARAC, or that some have been dealt with in another forum. For example, some areas will have a “pre-MARAC” meeting such as a Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), so not all high-risk cases identified will make it to a MARAC meeting.

The number of cases per 10,000 adult females discussed at MARACs varies significantly by police force area. For more information, refer to the Are there differences between local areas? section.

Table 7: Cases discussed at multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs), year ending March 2017 England and Wales Number Number of MARACs 260 Number of cases discussed 83,136 Recommended number of cases discussed 93,140 Number of cases discussed per 10,000 adult females 36 Recommended number of cases per 10,000 adult females 40 Recommended number of IDVAs for recommended cases2 984 Source: SafeLives Notes: 1. Data from SafeLives are not classified as official statistics. 2. IDVA refers to an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor. Download this table Table 7: Cases discussed at multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs), year ending March 2017 .xls

The number of cases discussed at MARACs has almost doubled since the year ending March 2010, from 19 per 10,000 adult females to 36 per 10,000 adult females (Figure 21). This is likely to reflect better identification by police and other statutory and non-statutory agencies of high-risk domestic abuse victims rather than an increase in prevalence, due to the recent decline in prevalence shown by the CSEW.

Figure 21: Number of cases per 10,000 adult females discussed at multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs), year ending March 2010 to year ending March 2017 England and Wales Source: SafeLives Notes: Data from SafeLives are not classified as official statistics. The population data are from the 2011 Census. The increase in the number of cases does not automatically translate into an increase in domestic abuse, only an increase in its reporting. Download this chart Figure 21: Number of cases per 10,000 adult females discussed at multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs), year ending March 2010 to year ending March 2017 Image .csv .xls

Victims of domestic abuse cannot self-refer to a MARAC, they are always referred by an agency such as the police or health workers. Almost two-thirds of MARAC cases were referred by the police in the year ending March 2017 (65%, Figure 22). The police should complete a domestic abuse, stalking and harassment and honour-based violence (DASH) risk assessment (consisting of approximately 25 questions) at any domestic abuse incident they attend. Alongside professional judgement and expertise from the police, this risk assessment will determine whether a referral should be made to a MARAC27, and additionally four police calls in a short space of time should also lead to a MARAC referral.

However, not all MARAC cases are reported to the police, because the victim may not want the police to be involved. There will also be some police domestic abuse-related incidents that will have been referred to a MARAC by somebody else. Consequently, it is not possible to calculate the percentage of police domestic abuse-related incidents that resulted in MARAC referrals. As so few victims of domestic abuse will report their experiences to the police (as shown by the CSEW28), the low proportion of referrals from other organisations are important to consider.

The proportion of MARAC referrals sourced from the police vary across police force areas. For more information, refer to the Are there differences between local areas? section.

Figure 22: Sources of referrals to multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs), year ending March 2017 England and Wales Source: SafeLives Notes: Data from SafeLives are not classified as official statistics. Healthcare services consist of referrals from a primary care service, a secondary service/acute trust, mental health or substance abuse services. Social care services consist of referrals from adult social care or children's social care. Other refers to education, housing, or another agency. Download this chart Figure 22: Sources of referrals to multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs), year ending March 2017 Image .csv .xls

Over one-quarter of cases discussed at MARACs across England and Wales were repeat cases (27%, see Appendix Table 52). A repeat MARAC case is one which has been previously referred to a MARAC and within the 12 months following the date of the last referral a further incident is identified. Any agency may identify this further incident regardless of whether it has been reported to the police29. Incidents that occur more than 12 months after the last MARAC referral do not constitute a repeat incident but instead would constitute a new referral to MARAC. The proportion of repeat cases discussed at MARACs varies across police forces. For more information, refer to the Are there differences between local areas? section.

There were a total of 104,985 children in households where a case was referred to a MARAC in the year ending March 2017 (see Appendix Table 52). The presence of children in these cases is defined differently across MARACs. For example, some MARACs state that a child was present in the household at the time of the abuse and others state that the child witnessed the domestic abuse. As a result, these figures should be treated with caution.

Notes for: What services are available to victims of domestic abuse?