Information for Domestic Abuse Practitioners

It is estimated that it can take up to 7 years for a victim to leave a violent and abusive relationship. By agreeing to policies, procedures and service level agreements, it may be possible to reduce this period, along with the number of repeat victimisations, which costs all organisations money and resources.

If agencies work together and agree policies, procedures and service level agreements through their Domestic Abuse Forum, real progress can be made.

Clause 6 of Best Value Practice Indicator 225 (designed to measure the effectiveness of local authority services to help victims of domestic abuse and prevent further domestic abuse provision), asks the question of local authorities whether an information sharing protocol with key statutory agencies has been developed and agreed to.

This theme is carried through to our Domestic Abuse Strategy 2006 - 2009 and our Action Plan 2006/2007 (these are available on the right). One of the underlying principles of this is that ‘all agencies, communities, individuals and businesses have a role to play in tackling domestic abuse.’

In our Action Plan, one of the objectives is ‘to streamline policies and develop information sharing between all agencies dealing with domestic abuse in the Borough’. The Action Plan contains the details of organisations which can be contacted for this purpose.