Domestic Abuse Support Services (DASS)

Our Domestic Abuse Strategy 2022-2027 sets out a vision for Kirklees to work together around individuals, families and communities to prevent, respond to and repair the damage caused by domestic abuse, with a range of services that are accessible and available to anyone who may need them. To support this vision, we required a seamless offer for victims of domestic abuse and their children that shifts responsibility for safety away from individual survivors to the community and services existing to support them. The Strategy also provides a commitment to exploring how we can support more perpetrators to change their behaviour. Unfortunately, our current offer included only limited interventions available for perpetrators of domestic abuse. In line with the outcomes required for the Strategy we were looking to commission a new service that could: - provide trauma-informed support to medium-high risk victims of domestic abuse, and their children, to recover from abuse and to access the support they need from other services (building on the successes of the existing Independent Domestic Abuse Advisor Service, community-based complex needs intervention, therapeutic support service for children and young people and therapeutic support for victims); - develop a skilled workforce that can use a trauma- informed 'Team around the Family/Couple' approach to support perpetrators of domestic abuse to address the root causes of their abusive behaviour and access support with a range of needs (building on existing group work programmes to provide tailored 1-1 support); - take the lead in coordinating the range of support required for those on their caseload and actively participate in multi-agency arrangements to safeguard children and vulnerable adults; - navigate complex delivery arrangements with existing providers to minimise duplication and maximise best use of resources; and - participate in multi-agency arrangements at a strategic level and support the Domestic Abuse Partnership to identify and redress gaps in available support. We are fortunate to have very strong specialist services in Kirklees, but in order for the delivery providers to build on their existing practice and provide a more holistic service it is recognised that they need the opportunity to work more closely together. The new contract will develop approaches that do not currently exist in Kirklees; through a lead provider/sub-contractor model developed through a Social Impact Bond (SIB) via collaboration with a social investment partner and using a payment by outcomes model to deliver the proposed new offer for victims of domestic abuse and their children. The new payment by outcomes contract will start 1st April 2024 for a 5 year period until 31st March 2029. The nature of the payment by outcomes model is grounds to enter into a 5 year contract to ensure the social investor is able to recoup it's investment and, as a minimum, recover full costs by the conclusion of the contract.