APPENDIX 51
Memorandum submitted by Citizens Advice
Bureaux
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Citizens Advice welcomes
the opportunity to give evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee's
inquiry into domestic violence.
1.2. The Citizens Advice service
provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice
to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. It values diversity,
promotes equality and challenges discrimination.
1.3. The service aims:
— To provide the advice people
need for the problems they face; and
— To improve the policies and
practices that affect people's lives.
1.4. The Citizens Advice Bureaux
(CAB) network is the largest independent network of free advice
centres in Europe, providing advice from over 3,200 outlets throughout
Wales, England and Northern Ireland. We provide advice from a
range of outlets, including GPs' surgeries, hospitals, community
centres, county courts and magistrates' courts, and mobile services
both in rural areas and to serve particular dispersed groups.
1.5. In 2006-07, the CAB service
dealt with 5.7 million enquiries on the whole range of issues
bureaux give advice, including 1.7 million on debt, 1.6 million
on benefits and 424,000 on housing.
1.6. Citizens Advice Bureaux
regularly help victims of domestic violence; and 26 percent of
all bureaux actively promote services for domestic violence victims.
In 2006-07 bureaux dealt with 16,266 enquiries about domestic
violence—an 11 per cent increase from the previous year,
2,890 enquiries about homelessness caused by domestic violence
and 1,322 enquiries about injunctions. From this work, we have
a wealth of experiences to contribute to this inquiry.
1.7. It is important to recognise
that domestic violence victims experience overlapping and multiple
problems with their home, family, health and financial well-being,
as numerous surveys and studies demonstrate.[289]
These are extremely important aspects and they are often relevant
to why victims remain with their abusers. The Government's Families
at Risk Review shows that experiencing multiple disadvantages
and behavioural problems has a massively compounding effect. For
example:
A woman experiencing domestic violence from her
estranged husband sought advice from a CAB in Oxfordshire about
her options. She was still living in the same property as her
husband, even though he was using abusive language towards her,
threatening behaviour, threats to kill, and assaults. Recently
the violence had risen to such a level she left the house to stay
with her friend. The police also advised her to leave. The client
wanted to know what her rights were in terms of the children and
the house. By moving area she felt she would lose all her social
networks and might have to move her children to new schools. It
was difficult to move the abusive husband from the house as he
was a joint tenant of the property
1.8. Typically, CAB clients
experiencing domestic violence also have to deal with other problems,
so our evidence covers a range of issues. For the purposes of
this inquiry, our submission focuses on the following issues:
— Police powers, legal protections
and the Criminal Justice System
— Access to support services
for victims of domestic violence
— Access to civil remedies and
legal support
— Homelessness and housing
— Benefits, financial support
and financial inclusion
2. POLICE
POWERS, LEGAL
PROTECTION AND
THE CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM
2.1. Citizens Advice welcomes
the National Delivery Plan for Domestic Violence and other recent
government initiatives to enhance strategies for criminal justice
agencies in tackling domestic violence. We support the ACPO Guidance
on investigating domestic violence, including the national definition,
the positive arrest policy, and the requirement that police undertake
risk assessment and ongoing risk management in all cases of reported
domestic violence. However, domestic violence remains a chronically
under-reported problem, with only 24 per cent of women experiencing
domestic violence actually report incidents to the police.[290]
2.2. Overall, our evidence
raises concerns about whether the current framework does enough
to encourage robust and pro-active police and CPS action in tackling
incidences of domestic violence, and establishing reporting and
monitoring schemes. The Home Office needs to monitor whether the
Government's targets in the National Delivery Plan for the delivery
of domestic violence training, increased reporting and prosecutions
are being met. Bureaux regularly report cases where the approach
taken by the police and prosecution appears to demonstrate poor
enforcement, and variable practices for dealing with victims of
domestic violence.
A CAB in Yorkshire described the experience of
a woman from the Philippines who had permission to work in the
UK as a care assistant until January 2012 with no recourse to
public funds. The client had to call the police when her husband
was violent towards her, causing bruising, but the police arrested
her instead and held her at the station for four hours. The client
was traumatised by being treated as the guilty party after making
an emergency 999 call for help when being assaulted by her drunken
husband. She also felt that the arrest jeopardised her position
working in a care home where requirements on personal integrity
were very high
A CAB in the West Midlands reported that their
client's husband attacked her by kicking her leg and breaking
her femur. When the police arrested him they said to her that
he would be prosecuted and not allowed to return to her home.
However, the case was dismissed in court on a technicality and
the husband returned home. The client was immediately thrust back
into a violent situation. She then moved into a woman's refuge
for her safety, but felt disappointed at the failure of the Crown
Prosecution Services and the magistrates' court procedures to
prosecute her husband despite their full knowledge of his violent
behaviour.
2.3. Citizens Advice favours
a proactive approach in which police services can partner with
other agencies (eg Victim Support, Citizens Advice, local authorities)
as third party reporting centres, on a similar basis to the initiatives
taken by the police services in dealing with racist incidents
and establishing racist incident monitoring schemes. The challenge
seems to be to achieve consistency of approach across all police
forces. Such initiatives also need to be supported by public awareness
campaigns.
2.4. The current ACPO guidance
should be used as a working definition across all agencies to
help clarify that domestic violence can take the form of emotional
or psychological abuse as well as physical assault.[291]
Often policy interventions have failed to provide a clear definition
of domestic violence, and research studies have come to very different
conclusions on the incidence of domestic violence, ranging from
less than one percent of the population to approximately one in
four adult women having experienced domestic violence at some
point in their lives. Indirect violence (threats, verbal abuse
and denigration) may, in some cases, be as detrimental as actual
violence. The following case illustrates problems people can face
when they look to police and local authorities to take action
against incidences of domestic violence which stop short of being
a criminal offence.
A CAB in Surrey reported the experience of a
woman with three children living with an abusive partner. Her
partner drank, was in debt and had verbally abusive towards her
for some time. The client felt extremely frightened
whenever she was at home and her children were badly affected
as well. She had tried to get him to move out but he would not
go. The relationship between them had completely broken down.
She had been in touch with the local Domestic Violence Unit but
they said that there was very little that can be done unless the
abuse became physical. The police said the same thing. The bureau
commented that the law should recognise the enormous damage caused
to individuals suffering psychological abuse where there is no
physical harm done.
2.5. We welcome other recent
steps forward in criminal justice responses to domestic violence,
specifically in the development of Specialist Domestic Violence
Courts, Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and Multi Agency
Risk Assessment Conferences. These measures are, however, limited
to victims who report to the police and are at high risk of harm,
and are dependant on the area they live within. Given that only
24 percent of women experiencing domestic violence actually report
this to the police, the needs of the further 76 percent can only
be met by a range of specialist support and outreach services,
based within the community.[292]
3. SUPPORT
SERVICES
3.1. A consistent theme from
bureaux evidence concerns the lack of consistent levels of support
services for victims of domestic violence, especially in emergency
situations. The 2007 report Map of gaps: The postcode lottery
of violence against women support services, published by the
Commission for Equality and Human Rights and the End Violence
Against Women coalition, detailed some of the gaps in service
provision.
3.2. Government policy currently
acknowledges the benefits of the voluntary sector, and promotes
partnership working between the voluntary sector and the state.
However there are concerns that organisations providing vital
services to domestic violence victims are insufficient to meet
existing needs. Citizens Advice regularly gets reports about the
difficulties of accessing specialist services especially in emergency
situations, particularly where individuals have to deal with multiple
agencies.
A client of a CAB in the South West fled her
abusive husband with her 13 year old son. Initially she stayed
with her mother, but at the time of seeking advice, she was sleeping
on the floor of her adult daughter's flat. The client needed advice
about rehousing, getting benefits for her son transferred into
her name and to apply for jobseekers allowance. The client and
her daughter had already visited local agencies and the local
authority, and were told that help was only available to statutorily
homeless people. The client was advised to go to the CAB. The
CAB adviser rang Women's Aid but was told that all advisers were
busy. The adviser rang the local authority's homeless team who
said they could only put her up for one night at a shelter.
3.3. Bureaux also regularly
report the difficulties experienced by clients trying to find
refuge and other emergency accommodation:
A client of a London CAB was in a violent relationship
and applied to a local authority co-ordinated domestic violence
agency and the homeless persons unit for emergency accommodation
but the only refuge with a place available was in Scotland, which
was simply not practical.
A CAB in Surrey reported that a woman with two
children was being harassed by her ex-partner ever since they
split up. After her ex-partner had smashed up her car and threatened
further violence, the client asked to be moved to a place of safety.
The police and local social services spent a lot of time that
day trying to find emergency accommodation for the client. However
as it was late, no refuge or bed and breakfast spaces were available.
The client had to remain in her home overnight. Due to an administrative
oversight, nothing further was done to find the client emergency
accommodation until the following afternoon, when she was referred
to the CAB who managed to find a refuge space for her and her
children. However the refuge asked her not to go there until the
following day. This meant that the client had to spend two nights
in her home feeling very frightened.
3.4. Citizens Advice believes
that the government needs to develop a comprehensive funding strategy
for support services for victims of domestic violence.
4. CIVIL
REMEDIES AND
LEGAL SUPPORT
4.1. We have particular concerns
about the availability of civil legal aid services on offer through
the Community Legal Service to assist with applying to the civil
courts for injunctions. It is concerning that the Legal Services
Research Centre's periodic survey of legal needs reveals that
45,000 victims of domestic violence do nothing because they are
unaware of their rights or are "too scared to do anything",
whilst another 250,000 with relationship problems take no action
because they don't want to damage the relationship.[293]
CABx often report that the problem of domestic violence victims
not seeking appropriate legal help is exacerbated by shortages
of LSC contracted family lawyers willing to take on domestic violence
cases. Between 2001 and 2007 the number of solicitor offices with
a General Family Contract fell by 39 per cent, from 4,593 to 2,784.[294]
4.2. Civil legal aid is available
in family matters where people qualify for the legal help means
and merits test. Whilst there are more civil legal aid contracts
in family law than in other categories of social welfare law,
and 18,531 recorded acts of legal aid help in domestic violence
cases, our evidence suggests that provision is inadequate as there
are problems of lack of access at a local level when it is needed,
especially on an emergency basis. Clients often have appointment
waits of several weeks, or travel significant distances to find
an appropriate firm before a solicitor will handle their case.
Eligibility tests which include inaccessible equity or savings
can also prevent access to legal support. And private providers
typically charge a hefty up-front fee which may be unaffordable:
A client of an East Yorkshire CAB suffered domestic
violence and left the family home. The client and the CAB tried
all the solicitors in the city but couldn't find one who would
do an initial free interview to discuss the client's options regarding
an injunction. The minimum payment requested was £200, but
this was unaffordable for her. Eventually after pressure from
the CAB, one firm accepted the client for free interview.
A woman who had suffered domestic violence sought
advice from a West Midlands CAB about an injunction and occupation
order. However, although the bureau called over 10 solicitors
listed by the Community Legal Service, none would take on the
case. The only solicitor that offered to take the case charged
a minimum of £200 per hour. As the client was on low wages,
she could not afford this. The bureau called the domestic violence
unit at two local police stations who said that they had the same
list of solicitors and were experiencing the same difficulties
for their cases.
A CAB in Hampshire reported that the police had
advised a woman with four children to get an injunction against
her violent partner and his family. The client did not want to
go into a refuge unless she really had to because of uprooting
the four children. The client wished to see a solicitor in her
local area, as she could not afford to travel further. The adviser
contacted all solicitors in the local town who could undertake
family legal aid cases. Only one was able to take on the case,
but as the client's partner was already using them, there would
be a conflict of interest.
4.3. The Domestic Violence
Crime and Victims Act 2004 extended rights to civil remedies to
a wider group of applicants. It is therefore likely that there
will be an increase in the number of applications for civil injunctions,
which will impact on the problem of accessing emergency services.
What is needed is a dedicated emergency service for obtaining
civil injunction or protection orders, perhaps developed in partnership
between the Legal Services Commssion, HMCS and other agencies.
One solution might be that where an emergency service is required
and family law services are unavailable, victims of domestic violence
could at least be able to access existing Police Station Duty
Solicitor Schemes for the purposes of obtaining injunctive relief.
4.4. We welcome the Domestic
Violence Helpline Service, run in partnership between Women's
Aid and Refuge, as an important initiative which can supplement
access to family solicitors' services available through the Community
Legal Service and Community Legal Advice Direct. This service
helps people gain faster access to legal support. However, with
a dwindling supplier base for family legal aid, there are still
concerns about insufficient capacity to meet demand. A partnership
approach is needed to ensure that victims can access any spare
capacity amongst family lawyers who are able to do this work.
5. HOMELESSNESS
5.1. Many victims of domestic
violence need to apply to local authorities for rehousing as homeless.
For the local authority to have a duty to rehouse someone, they
must show that they:
— are habitually resident in
the UK and are eligible for "recourse to public funds"
under immigration law;
— are statutorily homeless or
threatened with homelessness;
— are not intentionally homeless;
and
— have a local connection.
5.2. Under existing homelessness
legislation and guidance, victims of actual or threatened domestic
violence should be considered to be in priority need. If they
are seeking rehousing in another local authority area they should
not be referred back to the local authority area where they used
to live if they would be at risk of further violence.
5.3. However, there is insufficient
social housing to deal with demand and the Department for Communities
and Local Government (DCLG) has encouraged local authorities to
adopt a homelessness prevention approach by undertaking a housing
options interview with any potentially homeless households in
order to explore alternatives to making a homelessness application.
However bureaux report that some local authorities appear to be
using this to discourage victims of domestic violence from making
a homelessness application which they will need to assess. This
practice is known as "gatekeeping" and has particularly
acute effects for victims of domestic violence.
A client of a West London CAB had been a victim
of domestic violence for over twenty years from her husband. When
she made the decision to leave her home and apply as homeless
to the local authority, she was told that she was not homeless
as she owned a property with her husband and could stay there.
When the client explained to the homelessness officer that she
was a victim of domestic violence and that she was a carer for
her disabled adult son, she was told that there was no point putting
in a homelessness application as the decision would only find
that she was not homeless. Instead, she was advised to rent privately.
A woman with two teenage children sought advice
from a CAB in Somerset. She had left her husband because of his
mental cruelty to her and violence towards one of her children.
The council refused to recognise that this was sufficient cause
to leave home and therefore refused to provide her with alternative
accommodation. As a consequence the client and her children were
forced to sleep rough.
A CAB in Worcestershire reported that a woman
suffering from domestic violence made an approach to the local
authority to make a homelessness application. The local authority
insisted that she sought legal advice to get an injunction against
the perpetrator before they would accept her application. The
client felt she had no option but to return home where she was
subjected to further abuse.
5.4. We recommend that the
DCLG issues further guidance to local authorities on the importance
of ensuring that homelessness prevention strategies are not used
to avoid accepting homelessness applications from victims of domestic
violence.
6. HELPING
VICTIMS OF
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
STAY IN
THEIR HOMES
6.1. One option which local
authorities are encouraged to develop under their homelessness
prevention strategies are sanctuary schemes to help victims of
domestic violence stay in their home. A sanctuary scheme provides
a safe room, or sanctuary, within a home fitted with various safety
measures. Such measures would include the installation of alarms,
mortice locks, security lights, reinforced door frames, emergency
lights and CCTV. These measures are intended to give the victim
the confidence and security to stay in their own home, if they
wish to do so, after their partner has moved out. However, it
is important that:
— Victims who do not choose
a sanctuary scheme should not deemed to be intentionally homeless;
and
— advice and support should
be provided to help the victim achieve longer-term solutions to
their housing problem, by creating space and opportunity for them
to move on in a planned way.
7. BENEFITS,
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
AND FINANCIAL
INCLUSION
7.1. Citizens Advice considers
that the DWP and HMRC should ensure that staff administering claims
for benefits and tax credits are sufficiently trained to respond
appropriately when dealing with victims of domestic violence.
Victims of domestic violence who have left their partner and home,
may not have any money of their own, and therefore need access
to benefits quickly.
A CAB in Wiltshire reported that a woman with
two young children had to move five times over a period of five
months to escape a violent partner. She hadn't filled in income
support claim forms for each address and had therefore lost her
entitlement. She was now living in private rented accommodation
and needed a further social fund loan. She already had one crisis
loan, and could not get a community care grant until her income
support claim had been sorted out. She was overwhelmed with filling
in forms and not getting anywhere, and in the meantime her and
her family were living on around £97 per week. The DWP were
unable to be flexible in accepting her claim due to her frequent
changes of address, even when she was only somewhere for a couple
of days. The CAB felt there should be more discretion on this.
7.2. It is particularly important
for HMRC staff collecting and enforcing overpayments of tax credits
to be sensitive to the issues faced by victims of domestic violence.
Couples have to make a joint claim, and if any overpayment arises
on this joint claim, they are both liable to repay. This liability
continues after couples split up:
A woman sought advice from a CAB in Sussex about
a tax credit overpayment. The client's ex-partner with whom she
co-habited for 6 months proved to be violent, therefore she ended
the relationship and he moved out. The client then received a
letter informing her that she had been overpaid Tax Credit. The
client agreed that she owed them some money but not the amount
stated. The client needed advice about an appeal letter. HMRC
insisted that all claims had to be dealt jointly with her ex-partner,
something the client did not want to do because of the risk to
her and her family.
8. CONCLUSION
8.1. Domestic violence is
a multi-faceted issue. Policy initiatives to tackle the problem
therefore need to be sensitive to associated issues social and
financial exclusion. Too much domestic violence is invisible due
to under reporting. The Government should aim to deliver improved
access to legal remedies and develop flexible responses that can
work between different agencies. The key is early identification
of, and intervention with, victims of domestic violence earlier
by utilising all points of contact with statutory services and
voluntary sector agencies.
8.2. Citizens Advice recommends
that:
— There should be a strengthening
of the legal and reporting framework across the criminal justice
system, and a drive to achieve a consistency across criminal justice
agencies and areas to support initiatives to increase reporting
prevalence.
— There should be far greater
investment and capacity building in dedicated services and partnerships
supporting the victims of Domestic Violence and a greater focus
on service gaps, specifically the supply of refuge places and
the availability of the publicly funded legal services for obtaining
civil redress.
— The National Delivery Plan
for Domestic Violence should be promoted and developed, as the
basis for further guidance for statutory services dealing with
domestic violence victims, developing co-ordinated responses,
and delivering training for frontline service providers in local
authorities, DWP and other relevant agencies.
February 2008
289 Families at Risk Review, Social Exclusion Task
Force-Cabinet Office 2007 Back
290
Womens' Aid Annual Survey, 2007 Back
291
Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological,
physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults, aged
18 or over, who are or have been intimate partners or family members,
regardless of gender and sexuality. Family members are defined
as mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister and grandparents,
whether directly or indirectly related, in-laws or step-family.
ACPO Guidance (2006) Back
292
Womens' Aid Annual Survey, 2007 Back
293
Causes of Action-Civil Law and Social Exclusion (LSRC) Back
294
Making Legal Rights a Reality for Children and Families. Vol II
Legal Services Commission 2007 Back
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