“Perpetrators should be removed from the family home so victims can stay safe,” say charities, Police and Crime Commissioners

Drive, alongside 35 signatories that span from Police and Crime Commissioners, leading domestic abuse frontline services and charities, academics, and local government, have come together to write to Minister Robert Jenrick asking the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to support risk-managed accommodation for perpetrators of domestic abuse.

This approach aims to remove the perpetrator from the home so that the victim-survivor(s) can remain safe, with support, in the home. The letter raises concerns that adult and child victims of domestic abuse are being put at risk by a failure to find housing solutions during COVID-19 for perpetrators. This is forcing victims to leave their home through no fault of their own. The signatories of the letter are calling on MHCLG to produce guidance on accommodation for perpetrators to save lives and to provide temporary funding to local authorities to house perpetrators with DVPNs/DVPOs or other occupation orders.

This position is shared by the domestic abuse sector and is aligned with the Home Office, as the Home Secretary Priti Patel stated on April 11^th that, “perpetrators should be the ones who have to leave the family home, not the supposed loved ones whom they torment and abuse.” Yet, there has been little progress on this. The MHCLG have an essential role – to ensure there is appropriate risk-managed accommodation available so that police and courts are able to effectively remove and house perpetrators away from victims. There is an urgent need for leadership, guidance and funding from the MHCLG enable this work to happen at the local level. Victims cannot wait.

This also comes after a paper has found that where possible, perpetrators should be removed or diverted from the victim-survivor’s home to stop and/or prevent abuse and serious harm from occurring. The paper welcomes efforts being made to open up additional pathways to safe accommodation for victims and families, but argues that where it would be in the best interests of the victim and better ensure their safety and wellbeing, adequate housing provision is urgently needed for perpetrators. The lack of availability of such accommodation is limiting options available to victims and the police in their endeavour to keep victims safe. Without this provision, opportunities to keep victims-survivors safe are being missed.

For victims and survivors, having the choice to remain safe in their own home is important, as one survivor, Rachel, reflects:

“The offer has to be there for a victim to use refuge. But it should be choice alongside other choices – especially being able to be kept safe in your own home, where you’ve probably got a good set of neighbours who can look out for you. You know the layout of the house; you have a good network around you. My Nan lives on the corner. Neighbours can alert police.”

We urgently need leadership and funding for local authorities from the MHCLG to make this happen.

Read the full paper here.

Signatories to the letter to Robert Jenrick include: