Analysis - Support Agencies

Participants were asked to identify which agencies they had contacted when trying to leave the relationship:

• Police 79%
• Housing 71%
• Solicitor 64%
• Refuge 55%
• Benefits agency 52%
• Social Care and Health 48%
• Counsellor 41%
• Health Visitor 39%
• Education Service 23%
• Council Officer 19%
• Probation 11%
• Helpline 11%
• GP 7%

Others included: MIND, Child and Family Centre, friends, Community Alarm Service and the Youth Offending Team.

The majority of the participants had contacted a number of agencies when trying to leave the relationship or once they had left the relationship.

Participants were asked to score the agencies on a scale system rated from 1 being very poor to 5 being excellent. The participants were asked to rate staff attitude, helpfulness of service, response time, support received, and the overall service.

When considering the various elements of the services, the ratings applied did not significantly differ from the agencies overall rating. The ratings are mentioned in each of the corresponding sections.

When asked about the overall service the agencies were rated as below:

• Please note these are the responses of those who contacted the agencies and not the views of all the participants.

For most of the participants, the scoring for all aspects covered was the same with a few exceptions. The Police and Benefits Agency scored low on staff attitude, which lowered their overall rating. Whereas Education and Housing scored low mainly because of their slow response to action. To view how other agencies fared please see the corresponding sections.

Benefits Agency

There were a number of concerns raised about the Benefits Agency that lowered the overall score. Complaints were made mainly regarding staff member attitude, in particular they were viewed as rude and judgemental. The service was seen as slow to respond to payments, changes to benefits and delayed emergency payment.

Attending the local office was sometimes problematic as one participant bumped into the perpetrator at the office. Many were scared of this happening to them.

There were requests that the Benefits Agency recognise that not all incidents of domestic violence are reported to the police because there are other types of abuse e.g. financial and verbal therefore, there is sometimes a lack of evidence for the agency.

A small number of participants had fled from other parts of the country and did not have evidence with them to show they had left an abusive relationship. Those that were in this position requested allowances in such circumstances.

Social Care and Health

It seemed that with Social Care and Health there was a stigma attached to involving them. Many were concerned that their children would be taken away from them, which prevented them contacting Social Care and Health. However, those that had involved Social Care and Health were very happy with the service they received.

Probation Services

Those that had contact with the Probation Service were quite happy with the service. There were no additional comments about the service.

Counselling

Any counselling that any of the participants received was seen as helpful. One participant however, had seen 3 separate counsellors before they felt at ease. There were more participants who wished they had counselling. The majority of participants felt that counselling for their children would be helpful but many had problems accessing it.

Analysis - Schools | Analysis - Legal Service