Funding to help domestic abuse victims

Liverpool has been awarded almost £400,000 to help victims of domestic abuse and their families over the next three years.

The money, which comes from the Violence against Women and Girls Transformation Fund, will be used to provide specialist services for those who have experienced domestic abuse through the city council’s Early Help Hubs to reduce the risk and chance of being a victim, and prevent the abuse from escalating.

Staff will be hired to highlight the focus on domestic abuse, increasing the capacity and expertise of those working with victims and their families.

A relationship programme will additionally be run for perpetrators with the goal of changing their behaviour, which will be independently evaluated to assess outcomes.

Between April 2016 and March 2017, there were 4,622 offences of domestic violence recorded by Merseyside Police, of which 1,274 were high risk.

Due to underreporting of domestic violence, it is estimated that in 2015 there were roughly 14,500 female victims aged between 16 and 59 in Liverpool.

The economic and social costs of this are around £5 million a year, related to physical and mental health services, criminal justice, social services, housing, civil, legal and employment bills.

Emily Spurrell, cabinet member for Community and Safer Neighbourhoods, said: “We know that domestic abuse is something that affects many households in Liverpool and can have a devastating impact, not just on those directly involved but also their families and friends.

“More than a third of women and girls experience some form of physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime and most of the time it is from someone they know. Violence in any form towards women is not inevitable or predictable – it can and must be stopped.

“Domestic abuse does not just affect the victim, but children as well and Department of Health figures show at least 750,000 children a year witness it, with many being abused by the same perpetrator.

“Our funding will be used to support families through our Early Help hubs meaning a range of partners will be able to offer support to both adults and children.

“We know that domestic abuse is highest in the north and central areas of the city so we will be initially piloting our work there before rolling it out across the rest of the city.”