THE SOUTHERN Domestic Abuse Service (SDAS) has challenged government proposals for funding changes which, it believes, could see the closure of women’s refuges and put the lives of vulnerable women and children at risk.

Concern has been triggered following the release of plans by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department of Work and Pensions, to remove refuges and other short-term supported housing from the welfare system, meaning vulnerable women will not be able to pay for placements using housing benefit.

Responsible for managing refuges that offer support and temporary accommodation to women and children escaping domestic abuse, SDAS argues that housing benefit is the last guaranteed source of income available to refuges. Making up 50 per cent of refuge revenue, withdrawal would remove their autonomy with future funding levels based on local authority projection rather than response to immediate need.

However, the 54-page document reveals that a new grant funding model has been designed for short-term supported housing which will “lead to provision being commissioned at local level and funded locally through a ring-fenced grant, and underpinned by a new local planning and oversight regime”.

“All the funding for housing costs (including rent and eligible service charges) that were previously met from housing benefit will instead be allocated to local authorities to fund services that meet the needs of their local areas. This will give local authorities an enhanced role in planning, funding and commissioning short-term supported housing in their area,” the document states.

According to the document, this will “entirely remove short-term supported housing from the welfare system (housing benefit and the housing element in Universal Credit)”.

Covering the boroughs of Fareham, Gosport and Havant, as well as East Hampshire District, SDAS chief executive Claire Lambon has registered her concern in a Women’s Aid briefing paper, sent to seven local MPs, among them East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds, prior to a backbench debate on the future of refuge funding.

In a strongly-worded message, Ms Lambon points out that refuges are “more than just a bed for the night”.

“They are,” she says, “specialist services, providing safe and anonymous shelter and support for women and children escaping domestic abuse. Demand for refuge remains high; on just one day this year, 90 women and 94 children were turned away.”

Her fear is that the Government’s proposals to reform refuge funding, as part of a new funding model for short-term supported housing services from 2020, will “dismantle the national network of refuges and put women and children trying to escape domestic abuse at risk”.

“Women’s Aid’s research shows the new funding model would force over half of refuges to close or reduce their provision in England. It is also estimated that refuges would have to turn away 2,058 women and 2,202 children from life-saving shelter,” she said.

“Currently, housing benefit provides around half of a refuge’s total income. The Government’s proposed model would end a woman’s entitlement to housing benefit – or Universal Credit – when in refuge, and devolve this ‘housing funding’ to local authorities. This would end the last sustainable national income that refuges receive, and result in the full devolution of responsibility and resourcing - at a time when we already have a ‘postcode lottery’ of refuge provision.”

While the government argues that the new system will provide more flexibility and fairer access to funding, there is clear concern within SDAS over the ability of local authorities to take on this additional, highly specialised work, with its unpredictability in terms of ability to meet need, including the sensitivity surrounding the work of refuges and the requirement to take women and children, often from outside the local authority area.

In recognising the work of SDAS as “outstanding”, in a statement Mr Hinds acknowledged that they provide “an irreplaceable service at often the most critical moment in a woman’s life.”

Bur he believes taking reliance on individual housing benefit out of the equation in favour of grant funding could make life easier in the provision of these services.

“There are particular key requirements in providing support for refuges,” he said. “Time is clearly of the essence. There is an obvious need for the highest levels of confidentiality and anonymity. There may be issues with bank account access. Victims will often be in an area unfamiliar to them.

“It is vital that domestic abuse victims can rely in future on safe accommodation, as now. There is a current consultation on funding so that it is sustained, and refuges and support organisations can have confidence for the future.

“The government plans to ring fence a specific grant to local authorities and intends to retain that in the long term. Councils will get a grant based on projections of future need. All the funding that was previously provided by housing benefit will instead be allocated to local authorities to fund services. The changes are currently proposals and the government will continue to explore all options. It is in everyone’s interests to get this right and to ensure that refuges are supported to continue to do their vital work.”