The Wirral Domestic Abuse Alliance is a partnership group responsible for supporting Wirral Borough Council in meeting its duty under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into effect in April 2021 and places a duty ‘on local authorities in England to provide support for survivors of domestic abuse and their children in refuges and other safe accommodation’.
The Alliance will work together to support, advise, and work in partnership to ensure survivors of domestic abuse have access to adequate and appropriate support services. The Alliance aims to provide advice on a coordinated community approach to commissioning and delivering services within the community to prevent domestic abuse and improve the wellbeing of survivors and their children. The Alliance will be an advisory partnership with commissioning and decommissioning decision sitting within their existing organisational structures.
The Alliance will work together to improve outcomes for survivors of domestic abuse, including their children, through a strategic approach to identifying and addressing gaps in support.
The Alliance oversees the delivery of Wirral Council’s Domestic Abuse No Excuse Strategy. To en
sure that the services within Wirral are working together to achieve the 5 priorities set out within the strategy:
- Be there when needed
- Increase safety for those at risk, without adding to their trauma
- Reduce opportunities for perpetrators to abuse
- Support people to live the lives they want after harm occurs
- Create a brighter, kinder future for the next generation
The Alliance will include membership from several responsible bodies and agencies. This includes representation for, or on behalf of, statutory and voluntary organisations, representatives of survivors of domestic abuse, representatives of children of domestic abuse, charities and other voluntary organisations that work with survivors of domestic abuse, as well as health care and housing services. Members of the Alliance may be given responsibility for leading relevant sub-groups to ensure alignment of their agendas.
The following organisations are represented:
- Children Service’s
- Domestic Abuse Hub
- The Lighthouse, Involve Northwest
- Wirral Housing Options
- Merseyside Police
- Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board
- National Probation Service
- Paul Lavelle Foundation
- Tomorrow's Women Wirral
- Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership
- Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Wirral Ways to Recovery
- Wirral Women and Children's Aid
- Adult Social Care
- CWP Partnership Mental Health
- Wirral Housing Options
The Domestic Abuse Alliance will:
- Provide advice and data to support Wirral to undertake a robust local needs assessment to identify and understand the needs of domestic abuse survivors within the area.
- Oversee the delivery of Wirral’s Domestic Strategy, ageing the appropriate steps needed to meet the needs identified, ensuring the needs of all survivors, including those with protected characteristics and/or additional complex needs, are represented and met through the strategy.
- Oversee the delivery of Wirral’s Safer Accommodation Strategy.
- Support services to effectively engage with domestic abuse survivors and expert services in understanding the range and complexity of needs.
- Advise members of the Alliance on commissioning and decommissioning decisions (where appropriate). This can include when and how commissioning is undertaken to ensure the best and most appropriate services are made available for survivors and include a commitment to transparency and clarity regarding these decisions.
- Support in ensuring join up across other related across such as [not limited to] housing, health, early childhood services, social services, and police and crime services.
- Advise and support in dealing with issues raised and identified from engagement through formal and informal routes.
- Escalate issues to the relevant representative/body.
- Provide an annual report to The Children, Young People and Education Committee regarding the performance of the above duties and share this report with the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee and Safer Wirral Partnership for performance and monitoring purposes.
- Communicate the above developments and increase provision of support for survivors of domestic abuse, to wider stakeholders and the public.
For more information about the Domestic Abuse Alliance or Wirral's Domestic Abuse Strategy, please contact dahub@wirral.gov.uk