On 29 April 2021, The Domestic Abuse Act was passed by the Government to 'support all victims of Domestic Abuse' (DA).
The Act aims to make sure that victims have the confidence to come forward and report their experiences, safe in the knowledge that everything will be done both to support them and their children and pursue the abuser.
Councils were required to carry out a needs assessment and formulate and publish a strategy to address the statutory duties to provide support within “safe” accommodation for domestic abuse victims and their families.
Under the new Act councils are required to undertake regular needs assessments and review and update their DA strategy every three years. This new strategy sets out our priorities over the next three years and has been drafted based on a public consultation and feedback into the needs assessment. The strategy can be found on the Southend Democracy website.