Funding call for domestic abuse services in Shropshire

Figures from West Mercia Police show the force is receiving thousands more domestic abuse reports than it did four years ago.

Services and charities helping victims in Shropshire say they have also seen reports rise and say more funding will help stop victims slipping through the net after police are initially called.

The Shropshire Domestic Abuse Service, which receives funding from Shropshire Council, operates a 10-bed refuge in south Shropshire as well as two smaller refuges elsewhere in the county.

It also operates an outreach service supporting victims within the community in Shropshire, but there are currently 61 families on the waiting list.

The service helped more than 200 people in 2012/13 but it took a dip in referrals in 2015 due to funding cuts and helped 136 people in 2015/16.

Since April, the service has expanded to help victims across the county, rather than only in south Shropshire which was previously the case.

The support service, which operates with 11 paid employees and about a dozen volunteers, has already supported 250 victims since April.

Wendy Bulman, Shropshire Domestic Abuse Service manager, said: "There has been a rise in calls to police. That's about awareness raising that you don't have to accept domestic violence anymore.

"You can pick up the phone and you will be believed."

She said sometimes victims will call police to get themselves out of immediate danger, but she added: "We need to be giving them the back-up a couple of days later. "But there aren't the resources and capacity to pick them all up.

"Some of the biggest gaps are there because there is no money.

"We are fortunate to have funding from the local authority but it needs to be joint commissioning.

"We get nothing from health but the impact on health is massive. We get a lot more people now with drug, alcohol and mental health issues who have been victims of domestic abuse.

"We are always trying to help them working in partnership with other agencies."

West Mercia Women's Aid, a charity which supports domestic abuse victims in Shropshire and the Midlands, says it has also seen a rise in calls to its helpline.

In Shropshire, there were 953 calls in 2013/14 compared to 1,590 in 2016/17.

The charity runs a 24-hour helpline, three refuges and an outreach service.

Sue Coleman, chief executive of West Mercia Women's Aid, said: "We are not necessarily noticing a great deal of something we weren't seeing before, just an increase in volume.

"The changes in legislation and the focus on coercive control has heightened people's awareness. Police can now charge someone for controlling or coercive behaviour."

She said the charity mainly received calls from women, but had received a small proportion of calls from men.

Ms Coleman added: "We have been seeing over the past 18 months, particularly in refuge, an increasing number of women whose needs are quite complex, including those whose mental health is poor."

Prosecutions against domestic abuse offenders in Shropshire have included Telford car salesman Matthew Wall.

He was involved in a two-year period of sustained domestic violence and was jailed for 18 months at Stafford Crown Court earlier this year.

Following a trial in December he was convicted of nine offences of assaulting his victim causing her actual bodily harm.

Wall, of Partridge Drive, Ketley, had kicked, punched, strangled and scratched his former partner and had struck her with various household objects.

At least one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime.

Currently, an emergency call for domestic abuse is made to the police every 30 seconds, according to the Shropshire Domestic Abuse Service website.

Anyone concerned about domestic abuse can call West Mercia Women's Aid on 0800 783 1359, Shropshire Domestic Abuse Service on 0300 303 1191 or visit www.shropsdas.org.uk