NIHE and Women’s Aid joint working protocol

The Housing Executive an Women’s Aid have developed a joint working protocol with the aim of promoting and enhancing the safety of those who have experienced domestic and/or sexual violence and abused through increased awareness, collaborative working and effective and efficient referral.

Domestic abuse in Northern Ireland: the statistics

PSNI statistics quoted in the protocol show that a domestic abuse incident is reported every 19 minutes of every day in Northern Ireland.  Police responded to an average of 77 domestic incidents per day in 2014/15.

During 2014/15

• 932 women and 689 children sought refuge with Women’s Aid
• 13 babies were born to women in refuge during this year
• almost 6,000 women who needed support accessed Women’s Aid floating support or outreach services
• 956 people told the Housing Executive that they were homeless as a result of domestic or sexual violence.

Improving access to services

The formal protocol will improve services for people who have been affected by domestic abuse and enshrines a commitment from both organisations to work in a coordinated way to achieve shared objectives.

Among the commitments which each organisation has made are

• improved links between NIHE and Women’s Aid at local levels
• an agreed referral mechanism
• provision of joint information and awareness sessions to front line staff.