What is domestic abuse?
The UK Government states that domestic abuse can be an incident or a pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between people aged 16 or over.
This can include partners and ex partners, family members and can happen to anyone regardless of gender, sexuality or ethnic group.
Domestic abuse can include, but is not limited to:
- Physical - hitting, kicking, pushing, slapping, spitting, damaging your property
- Sexual - making you do things you don’t want to, videoing you or sharing images against your will or without your knowledge
- Economic - taking your money, not paying the bills or rent, withholding money for household items, getting you into debts, not letting you work or study
- Psychological - mind games, isolating you from others, stalking you, blaming you for their behaviour,
- Emotional - calling you names, making you feel worthless, using your children against you.
Domestic abuse can also include, so called Honour Based Violence, Female Genital Mutilation and Forced Marriage.
How we can help
If you feel afraid of someone in your home or you have concerns about one of our residents please
contact us, as our specialist domestic abuse team can help confidentially.
Always call 999 in an emergency. Further advice is available from the National UK Domestic Violence 24-hour Helpline: 0808 2000 247.
This is what you can expect from us:
- We treat all reports of domestic abuse in a non-judgemental way.
- We’ll provide support, even if you don’t want to involve the Police.
- We’ll keep you informed and seek your consent before we take any action.
- We can refer you to specialist organisations such as Womens’ Aid or Victim Support. We can help make your home safer and help you to stay safe.
- We’ll not require survivors to take legal action or to contact the police before we provide assistance. Any action we take will be with the survivor’s consent. The only exception is if there is risk of serious harm to the survivor or another person.
We want to ensure you get the right support and may work with other agencies such as
Refuge,
Victim Support,
Women's Aid, the police and local authorities.
What else can will we do?
We will assess cases within one full working day and produce a plan of action within seven working days. This will include being given a named case owner.
In high risk cases, we may make a
Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) referral.
We may take legal action, which can result in the offender losing their home, in order to protect you, our residents and the local community.
Further information about the process can be found in our
Domestic Abuse policy.
Contact Us
Matters concerning children
Under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 children are now considered victims of domestic abuse.
If we’re concerned a child (under the age of 18) is abusing an adult, or a child is being abused, it’ll be addressed under our safeguarding policy.
If you are suffering abuse or you are concerned that one of our residents may be a victim of domestic abuse, please contact us.
Coercive and Controlling Behaviour
Domestic abuse isn’t always physical. Coercive control is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.
This controlling behaviour is designed to make a person dependent by isolating them from support, exploiting them, depriving them of independence and regulating their everyday behaviour.
Online and digital abuse
Online platforms are increasingly used to perpetrate domestic abuse.
Online domestic abuse can include behaviours such as monitoring of social media profiles or emails, abuse over social media such as Facebook or Twitter, sharing intimate photos or videos without your consent, using GPS locators or spyware.
Visit the Women's Aid website find out more about staying safe online.
Other useful contacts