Health and social work services

Tender description

The Council is looking for a competent contractor to deliver independent domestic abuse advocacy to male and female victims of domestic abuse aged 16 or above, who live or work in the borough, regardless of ethnicity, faith, gender, sexuality or disability. The service includes: ▪ specialist support to victims of domestic abuse living or working within Tower Hamlets (Service Users). Support will be from experienced, domestic abuse caseworkers, which will include accredited Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVAs); ▪ the Council expect domestic abuse caseworkers to work within the SafeLives recommendation limit of 60-80 cases per annum. The exception to this are the Housing IDVA/FS worker, who between them will support only 100 victims per annum; ▪ the Council do not expect every domestic abuse victim to receive casework support from this Service alone. Alternative support options available locally and/or nationally will be offered to the victim where this Service is at capacity; ▪ Court support to Tower Hamlets residents who are victims of domestic abuse. Currently the Specialist Domestic Abuse Court (SDAC) runs on Mondays, Tuesday and Thursdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at Stratford Magistrates Court and Thames Magistrates Courts respectively. The service will offer the following support to service users who are victims of domestic abuse: ▪ an assessment of current needs and risks using Form DV1, the Council’s Multi-Agency Referral Form, (attached at Appendix A) and the SafeLives DASH Risk Assessment tool; ▪ assessment of the impact of domestic abuse and risks posed to any children living with the service user; ▪ one to one crisis intervention, emotional support and safety planning sessions; ▪ provision of information about the range of services and interventions available to the service user, including domestic abuse easements, debt and financial support available from DWP or other specialist services; ▪ referral and advocacy to enable service users to understand their rights, access and use other relevant services (according to their individual needs and entitlement), such as housing, legal advice and representation, financial and benefits services, counselling and mental health services; ▪ representation at any multi-agency case management procedures e.g. MARAC, The Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) or at Initial Child Protection Conferences; • out of borough practical and emotional support to victims who have been placed in temporary accommodation by Tower Hamlets.