Domestic Abuse Support Services

Project Update:

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this consultation. We recognise how difficult it is to recount your experiences in a consultation and we're extremely grateful to those who did so.

We used what you told us to develop the principles and priorities for our new domestic abuse strategy. Most particularly, it was very clear that you wanted us to listen to people's real lived experiences and to use these to understand what type of support would be most beneficial to those who need it.

The Hartlepool Domestic Abuse Strategy 2022-2025: Building A System Based on Lived Experience was approved by the Safer Hartlepool Partnership on the 8th March 2022 and then by the Council's Finance and Policy Committee on the 14th March 2022. You can view the report, the strategy document and the minutes of the Finance and Policy Committee meeting here: https://www.hartlepool.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/4233/finance_and_policy_committee

What happens next?

We are currently developing a new service specification based on the priorities highlighted in the strategy and the commissioning process for domestic abuse support services will begin in April.

We are also waiting for the government to publish the statutory guidance that will tell us how we need to comply with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

We will add further updates as information becomes available.

We are currently working with our partners, service providers and service users to review domestic abuse support services in Hartlepool. If you have experienced domestic abuse we would like to hear from you.

Whether the abuse happened recently or in the past you can help us understand if services provided are helping, what else we could or should be doing, or if there are long-standing issues that we need to prioritise.

We would also like to hear from you even if you did not use our services as this will help us to understand where we are not meeting the needs of the community.

How to take part

• If you have used local support services complete this survey
• If you did not use a local support service complete this survey
• If you want to tell us your story in more detail you can do this here
• If you have an idea about something that worked well for you tell us about it here
• If you have an idea about something that we need to improve you can do that here

Confidentiality and safety

We recognise that this is a sensitive subject and that some people who take part in the consultation may be currently in an abusive relationship. As such we have provided two different ways for you to take part:

• You can complete a survey - you will not be asked to provide any personal details and responses are not visible on the site
• You can add an idea or comment on one of our ideas boards - you will be asked to provide a screen name and an email address to post an idea or comment (to prevent people spamming us). Your screen name and comment will be visible to other participants but your email address will not be shown
• Of course you are welcome to do both of these if you want to!

We have turned off email acknowledgements so you will not receive a thank you email for taking part; but rest assured all contributions are really appreciated and will help to improve local services. All contributions will be held securely and when we produce our findings report all data will be reported in an anonymous or pseudonymised form so that no individuals can be identified. You can read more about our privacy and data policies using the links at the bottom of the page.

Closing date

This consultation is open until the 3rd January 2022.