MD2967 Domestic abuse support in safe accommodation - funding

1.1. Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (the 2021 Act) came into force on 1 October 2021. It confers a statutory duty on Tier 1 authorities (the GLA in London) to support survivors of domestic abuse and their children in safe accommodation. The Domestic Abuse Support (Local Authority Strategies and Annual Reports) Regulations 2021 (the 2021 Regulations) also came into force on 1 October 2021.

1.2. The key functions required of Tier 1 authorities – as outlined in the 2021 Act, the 2021 Regulations and statutory guidance – include preparing, publishing and keeping under review a strategy for accommodation-based support for survivors of domestic abuse and their children. They also require Tier 1 authorities to give effect to the strategy in carrying out their functions through commissioning and decommissioning decisions.

1.3. Mayoral approval (via MD2788 and MD2842) was given for the receipt and expenditure of £20.688m of funding (to cover both administration and support) for 2021-22 from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), and specific expenditure for grant funding in 2021-22 of up to £5m for 21 London boroughs and £1.433m for nine service providers. The Mayor also approved, via these Mayoral Decisions, the GLA entering into a shared services arrangement with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). Through this arrangement, MOPAC supports the GLA to undertake the activities associated with the new duty.

1.4. Informed by the London needs assessment and consultation with stakeholders, a draft strategy for the provision of accommodation-based domestic abuse support in London was published for consultation on 5 November 2021 (approved via MD2892) and the final strategy was published on 23 December 2021 (approved via MD2902).

1.5. DLUHC has allocated funding of £20,745,496 to the GLA to discharge its duty in 2022-23, for both administration and support costs. The vast majority of the funding will be used for the provision of support to victims/survivors of domestic abuse in safe accommodation. Approval is therefore sought to receive and expend this funding.

1.6. The commissioning approach for this support was approved via MD2898. This involves the establishment of a framework of providers. MOPAC, with the GLA, can then call off from the framework to support survivors of domestic abuse and their children in refuges and other safe accommodation. Details of the providers that have been successful in joining the framework will be announced shortly, and services procured through the first round of call-offs are due to commence in Spring 2022. While it is envisaged that, during 2022-23, most support services will be commissioned under this framework, the GLA may also provide funding to London boroughs and providers through other contracting arrangements and grant funding, within the total envelope of £20,745,496.

1.7. The administrative costs associated with implementing the duty will also be paid from the government funding provided to the GLA for 2022-23. The administrative costs include staffing, legal input and activities incurred, or to be incurred, by MOPAC under the shared-services agreement. Approval is sought to enable the Executive Director for Housing and Land to determine and approve spend on administrative costs, with a view to ensuring efficient and effective running of the programme while keeping overheads to a minimum.

1.8. Approval is also sought to provide grant funding of up to £5,000,000 (of the £20,745,496) to, and enter into grant agreements with, the above-mentioned 21 London boroughs and nine providers. This will enable them to continue providing support services during 2022-23 that were funded by the GLA in 2021-22.

1.9. Approval is also sought to delegate authority to the Executive Director of Housing and Land to approve the allocation of the remaining 2022-23 funding to providers and London borough councils. This is for the delivery of support services, to enter into contracts and grant agreements on behalf of the GLA, and for administration costs.

2.1. Key outcomes and outputs for 2022-23 will include:

• implementing the proposals set out in the strategy, including through:
  • commissioning and providing grant support to new and enhanced services, including via call-off and grant awards
  • workstreams being taken forward through the Partnership Board
• reviewing the needs assessment and the strategy.

2.2. All commissioning and grant funding will take forward policies and proposals in London’s Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Strategy, the objectives of which are as follows:

• To establish a clear and integrated pan-London pathway of support through all stages of a survivor’s journey, from early intervention through to crisis, recovery and beyond. This must include supporting victims/survivors to safely remain in their own homes, or to return if and when it is safe to do so.
• To support the right of victims/survivors to access physically and psychologically safe spaces where they and their children can recover safely from abuse, supported by services rooted in a rights-based, trauma-informed and gender-informed approach.
• To ensure that services, including refuges, meet the cultural, language, religious and other needs of those they serve and, where appropriate, are run by ‘by and for’ specialist providers.
• To reduce the barriers to accessing services faced by victims/survivors, such as those requiring interpreters, Deaf and disabled victims/survivors and non-UK nationals with no or limited recourse to public funds (NRPF).
• To ensure that services are of a consistently high quality, in terms of both support and the accommodation provided, to enable victims/survivors to recover and rebuild. Over time, all provision should be self-contained, to support independence and dignity.
• To be more strategic in the way support is commissioned, delivered and accessed, with the development of more multi-borough and pan-London level services, where appropriate, and to ensure victims’/survivors’ access to safety and recovery is not constrained by postcode.
  

3.1. Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as public authorities, the Mayor and the GLA are subject to a public-sector equality duty and must have ‘due regard’ to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
• foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2. Protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (all except the last being ‘relevant’ protected characteristics).

3.3. Characteristics of survivors of domestic abuse (national figures) are as follows:

• Gender: women are much more likely than men to be the victims of high-risk or severe domestic abuse. Three-quarters of domestic abuse homicide victims in London between 2005 and 2020 were women.
• Age: younger people are more likely to be subject to interpersonal violence. Most high-risk victims are in their 20s or 30s. Those under 25 are the most likely to suffer interpersonal violence.
• Pregnancy: nearly one in three women who suffer from domestic abuse during their lifetime report that the first incidence of violence happened while they were pregnant.
• Separation: domestic abuse is highest amongst those who have separated, followed by those who are divorced or single.
• Drug and alcohol use: victims of abuse have a higher rate of drug and/or alcohol misuse (whether it starts before or after the abuse); at least 20 per cent of high-risk victims of abuse report using drugs and/or alcohol.
• Mental health: 40 per cent of high-risk victims of abuse report mental health difficulties.

3.4. Given the above, the proposals in this paper are likely to have positive impacts on a number of groups with protected characteristics. Specifically, the activities carried out under the duty, supported by the government funding, will focus on arrangements to facilitate improvements in support for victims/survivors of domestic abuse (who are more likely than the general population to be women and to have mental health support needs). The equalities implications will be kept under review throughout this programme of work, including in relation to the commissioning of support.

3.5. An equalities impact assessment was undertaken and was published with the strategy.

3.6. The 2021-22 commissioning round, which involves setting up a framework of providers and then calling off that framework for specific services and initiatives, has been designed to help ensure that support is tailored to groups of victims/survivors with specific protected characteristics. This includes by having a specific lot for ‘by and for’ providers. The framework of providers will continue to be used in 2022-23 for call-offs.

Key risks and issues

4.1 Table of risks and issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2 The objectives of the proposals are in line with:

• the Mayor’s London Housing Strategy, policy 7.2c
• MOPAC’s Police and Crime Plan 2017-21 (tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of three priority areas for action to protect people at especially high risk of crime)
• MOPAC’s VAWG Strategy.

4.3 New versions of the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan, and the VAWG Strategy, are currently being developed.

Impact assessments and consultations

4.4 Both the London Housing Strategy and the VAWG Strategy were subject to public consultation and equalities impact assessments. These strategies contain policies relating to pan-London provision of safe accommodation for victims of domestic abuse.

4.5 The development of the draft and final London Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Strategy involved extensive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. This includes those with whom the 2021 Act requires the GLA to consult on the draft strategy: the London Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Partnership Board (Partnership Board) appointed by the GLA, the London boroughs, and such other persons as the GLA considers appropriate. There was also in-depth consultation and engagement during the development of the London Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Needs Assessment, which provides much of the data and information informing the proposals in the London Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Strategy. MOPAC also convened a series of stakeholder workshops with boroughs and service providers on the commissioning approach and process.

4.6 As stated above, an equalities impact assessment was undertaken and was published with the strategy.

Conflicts of interest

4.7 The officers involved in the drafting and clearance of this form have identified no known conflicts of interest.

5.1. This decision requests approval for the receipt of £20,745,496 revenue funding from DLUHC and expenditure of the same amount. This funding is to cover the administration and support costs. Administration costs arising from implementing the GLA’s duties under Part 4 of the 2021 Act include staffing resources, costs incurred and to be incurred by MOPAC for their activities under the shared services agreement with the GLA, and legal costs. Support costs include costs for contracted and grant-funded services and initiatives for victims/survivors of domestic abuse in safe accommodation.

5.2. This decision also requests approval for grant funding of up to £5,000,000 to 21 London boroughs and nine providers for support services funded by DLUHC in 2020-21, and by the GLA in 2021-22. This expenditure is funded by the receipt set out in 5.1 above and will be paid as grant.

6.1. Part 4 of the 2021 Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2021 and commenced on 1 October 2021.

6.2. Section 57(1)(b) of the 2021 Act provides that a relevant authority (which in London is the GLA) must prepare and publish a strategy for the provision of accommodation-based domestic abuse support in its area.

6.3. Section 57(3) of the 2021 Act provides that a relevant local authority that publishes such a strategy must, in carrying out its functions, give effect to that strategy.

6.4. Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 places a general obligation on the GLA to exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all that it reasonably can to prevent, the following:

• crime and disorder in its area (including antisocial and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment)

• the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in its area

• reoffending in its area.

6.5. Section 401A(2) of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 provides that arrangements may be entered into for the provision of administrative, professional or technical services whether for consideration or otherwise. The shared services agreement entered into by MOPAC and the GLA provides for consideration to be made in such sums to be determined by the parties.

6.6. Any funding granted must be provided in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code, and officers must ensure that the GLA – the relevant authority subject to the obligations set out in the 2021 Act – is a party to the provision of any funding arrangement.

6.7. Officers have indicated that services will be called-off the framework procured specifically for the purposes of discharging the GLA’s duties under the Domestic Abuse Act, and officers must ensure that the services required are procured fully in accordance with the requirements of that framework. Officers must ensure that the appropriate “call-off” documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder and the GLA before the commencement of the services.

6.8. For any services required which are not called-off the aforementioned framework, those must be procured by Transport for London Procurement and Commercial who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the GLA and the successful bidder before the commencement of the relevant services.

7.1. The commissioning approach will involve the publication of a tender (through an open tender process), followed by the award of contracts to successful bidders.