Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration introduced a report on the contract for the “remove abuse” perpetrator intervention pilot project.

To keep survivors, children, and families safe, the Council had been developing a whole system response to domestic abuse that supplements the existing offer to survivors with work focused on changing the behaviour of perpetrators.

During the COVID-19 response it had become apparent that in order to give survivors and their families greater choice and control, this system must include the option for them to remain safe in their own homes should they choose to do so. In practice, this ambition can only be achieved if the Council was able to provide short-term accommodation to the perpetrator that would sit alongside an evidence-informed programme of behaviour change work.

The Cabinet Member advised that the work had attracted significant interest and the Council had been awarded £209,052 to deliver the work for six months with match funding sourced locally for an additional six months. This allowed the Council to deliver a year’s pilot which would be evaluated and inform future decision making.

Cabinet Members spoke in support of the proposal and were keen to spread the message “we believe you” during the current difficult climate.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Agree to waive tendering requirements in accordance with the Council’s Contract Rules and award a 12-month contract to Cranstoun for the provision of the “reMOVE abuse” perpetrator intervention pilot project in accordance with the strategy set out in the report; and

(ii)  Delegate authority to the Director of People and Resilience, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration, to enter into the contract and all other necessary or ancillary agreements with the successful partner.