Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing

Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing which indicated that the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2021. The Act introduced several new duties and a range of implications for local authorities including safe accommodation strategic planning, safe accommodation provision and support for victims, and the prioritisation of domestic abuse victims within homelessness applications.

Coventry City Council has been provided a grant of £852,283 in 2022/23 to continue to fulfil the functions of the new statutory duty on Tier 1 Local Authorities relating to the provision of support to victims of domestic abuse and their children residing within safe accommodation and further grant funding is due 2023/24.

Due to the time required for the acceptance of the grant award expiring prior to the date of this meeting, the Council’s Constitution in Paragraph 2.3.2 (c) of part 3F permits the relevant Director (in this case being the director of public health and wellbeing) in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member and Scrutiny Chair to accept the grant and thereafter to be reported to Cabinet retrospectively

The report indicated that it is proposed that the grant continues to fund services detailed in the report and to extend the eligibility of these services to households that are homeless as a result of being a victim of domestic abuse and who are provided temporary accommodation until the housing duty can be discharged through provision of settled accommodation. To support this, it is proposed that the grant also funds an Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA) to work within the Council’s Housing function, an extension of the WISH provision for children and young people and part-funds a specialist post within Change Grow Live (CGL) for victims requiring support with substance misuse issues. Appropriate contract monitoring and evaluation will be developed to assess the effectiveness of the new provision.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:-

1)  Notes the acceptance of the grant of £852,283 in 2022/2023 from the Ministry of Housing,Communities and Local Government to fulfil the functions of the new statutory duty on Tier 1 Local Authorities relating to the provision of support to victims of domestic abuse and theirchildren residing within safe accommodation: and

2)  Delegates authority to the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities, to approve further grant due for 2023/24 up to a maximum of £2.5 million pound.