Mapping Support Services to Children and Young People Experiencing Domestic Abuse in Scotland:
Executive Summary
February 2004
A. Stafford, The Glasgow Centre for the Child & Society, The University of Glasgow
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1 Background
This is the executive summary of the findings of a study to collect, collate and map information about the extent, nature and funding of direct support services to children and young people experiencing domestic abuse (CYPEDA) in Scotland. Funded by the Scottish Executive as part of the work of the National Group to Address Violence Against Women, it was conducted in part to support the sub-group working to establish a national strategic approach to the provision of services to CYPEDA; a national picture of current provision is essential in informing this strategy. 1
The report maps and identifies the direct services in local authority (LA) areas, provides information about a) the types of service offered, b) the level, source and nature of funding for these services and c) the potential for sustaining them and reflects the position at November 2003.
The sample consists of two main groups of respondents; the senior officials responsible for coordinating children's service planning in local authorities, Children's Support Workers (CSWs) in the 42 Women's Aid (WA) Groups in Scotland.
The study was limited to collecting information about services with a direct and explicit focus on CYPEDA. Services with a remit to provide general support to children and families were not included.
1. The research was conducted by the author. Steering advice was provided by Claire Houghton, National Children's Rights Worker, Scottish Women's Aid, Neil Rennick, Head of Integrated Children's Services Branch, Children and Young People's Group, Scottish Executive Education Department and Lorna Belfall, Head of Violence Against Women Unit, Scottish Executive Justice Department.
2 Service Provision
Information about the nature of services to CYPEDA (children and young people experiencing domestic abuse) and who provides them is illustrated below:
Table 1: Service levels by LA and service type
Information was collected in relation to 98 direct services and initiatives in 9 major categories across 32 local authority (LA) areas in Scotland. Of a total of 98 posts directly supporting CYPEDA, the following main headlines emerged:-
- Direct services to CYPEDA in Scotland are largely provided by the 89 Children's Support Workers (CSW) in Women's Aid.
- The majority of these (46) were exclusively based in Refuge. 43 offered various combinations of support including work in Refuge, Follow on/Resettlement support and Outreach support (5) to CYPEDA in the community and who have never been in Refuge.
- Spread of Children's Support Workers posts is uneven across local authority areas, ranging from none to 21 in a way not apparently related to need or to population density. Some of the larger authorities have a small number of CSWs while relatively small authorities are better resourced. For example, all but one LA area has at least one CSW, 17 authorities have 1 or 2 CSWs, 7 areas have 3; 2 have 4; 2 have 5 and 1 has 6. Notably, Fife and Glasgow have 11 and 21 respectively.
- 49 of the 98 CSW posts (50%) are full time (35 or more hours). Of the rest, 23 work between 25 and 34 hours; 26 work fewer than 25 hours
- The LA contribution to services to CYPEDA is currently largely through the funding of CSW posts at Women's Aid. Few local authorities currently provide direct services to this group. Of the 98 posts identified offering support to CYPEDA, 6 are managed directly by and based in LA areas. These posts and initiatives tend to be focussed on development, training and raising awareness for practitioners and /or in schools.
- Where LAs provide direct services to this group these are mainly posts focussed on awareness raising, training and development.
3 Funding
Table 2: Funding level by LA area and service type
Total spend for these services was of the order of 2.1m. Of this, around 1.8m (columns 2-7) goes to funding CSW at Women's Aid. The balance (around 296K) is spent on other direct services focussed on children and domestic abuse, including for development posts, awareness raising and training posts.
At 402K, Glasgow is the LA area with the largest number of CSW posts and with the highest level of spend in relation to services for this group of children. Fife spends in the region of 230K. Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire, North Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway and South Lanarkshire all spend in the region of 100K.
In Aberdeenshire, Dundee, East Ayrshire, Midlothian, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire, spend is between 50K and 100K. For Argyle and Bute, Midlothian and Highland, it is between 30K and 50K. Angus, the Borders, Clackmannanshire, the Western Isles, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian and Inverclyde spend somewhere between 20 and 30K.
Aberdeen City, East Renfrewshire, Orkney, Shetland and West Lothian all spend between 10K and 20K. Moray and Perth and Kinross are the lowest spending authorities with less than 10K. Moray however, was one of the authorities reporting a deliberate decision to 'mainstream' provision and had used new monies to support children and families and raise awareness across all services. Falkirk has no CSW service.
Funding for these services is highly mixed and currently financed from more than 20 sources. (See Table 3 below)
Table 3: Funding by Funder
The biggest single funding source for services to CYPEDA remains core LA grant funding. The table shows this as LA (Core), 714K out of 2m). Most of the other posts are funded from the newer funding streams, in particular the Domestic Abuse Development Fund (DASDF) (392K). This is followed by the Interim funding released by the Scottish Executive in 2002/3 to fund CSWs in those Women' s Aid Groups without one (173K).
In the Glasgow Area, 9 of the 21 CSW posts are funded using Child Care Strategy monies, 6 are funded by the Social Inclusion Partnership (SIPs), In Fife, 5 of the 11 posts are funded from Sure Start monies, 5 use LA core grant funding, and one from Scottish Executive interim funding. By 2004 all of these posts will be consistently funded using Sure Start. Some CSW posts are funded from Trust funds. A significant number use Supporting People monies. Others use New Deal.
The majority of the posts and initiatives currently supporting children and young people experiencing Domestic Abuse are recently funded and fixed term.
CSWs in Women's Aid were asked how confident they were about their posts being renewed. Of the 89 CSWs, 5 reported feeling confident of renewal, 25 fairly confident, with 59 feeling not at all confident about posts being renewed.
Where CSW posts were funded from LA Core funding, these posts tended to have been established longer, with staff feeling more secure and confident about funding being renewed. This was the case even where funding was negotiated year on year. Even staff in posts based in and managed by the LA, were not confident of renewal.
3.1 Planners Views on Funding
Planners views of the new funding streams was mixed. Some felt the funding enabled new innovative services to be tried and created. The best of these could be mainstreamed. This has ensured that CYPEDA is now a higher priority. Others felt that having to bid for short-term monies, often at relatively short notice, made it difficult to make best strategic use of resources. Others felt mixed. While it enabled authorities to create integrated and innovative new services that work, it has also raised issues of sustainability and difficulties in relation to planning.
Planners commented on their hopes for the outcomes of the current reviews of relevant funding streams and initiatives. Positive and negative views were expressed, including worries about poor coordination or integration due to the short timescales.
3.2 Children's Support Workers' Views on Funding
Most Children's Support Workers mentioned difficulties with current funding arrangements, e.g. fund-raising activities getting in the way of service delivery; demotivation due to a sense of not being valued; difficulty in planning and recruitment due to short-horizon funding.
CSWs with posts core funded by local authorities were more likely to express feeling 'fairly confident' funding for posts would be renewed.
4 The Need for Follow-on Services
One other main issue mentioned by CSWs was the need for resources for consistent Follow On/Resettlement services for children leaving Refuge and for Outreach work for children in the community. The need for a range of services for CYPEDA was emphasised. The majority of CYPEDA will never have contact with a Women's Aid Refuge, yet they have the same need to be supported. This was reflected in comments about the range of domestic abuse experienced by children within and outwith the refuge and the need for outreach work in schools.
5 The Planning Process
More than half of the LA planners said there had been mention of children and domestic violence in the 2001/2 - 2004 plan. This was mostly mentioned in the section in the reports dealing with 'keeping children safe'. Most claimed it was now higher up the LA agenda, that there would be more mention of it in the next planning process, that in the period since the last plan, local awareness was higher. The explanation for this was expressed in terms of the existence of the National Group, the work of the Multi-agency Domestic Abuse Forums, new funding streams, and mention of it in the Child Protection Review.
6 Partnership Working
Most authorities reported good strategic formal and informal links between relevant forums. New structures had been set up, old ones galvanised. Again this was reported to be the effect of the work of the National Group and of the Multi-agency Domestic Abuse Forums. While most authorities expressed the importance of these links, there was recognition that while it was working reasonably well in some cases, it was early stages, with some way to go. It seemed easier in smaller authorities where the overlap of personnel made links more possible, inevitable.
7 A National Strategic Approach
Planners were asked for their views about developing a national strategic approach to (funding) services to children experiencing domestic abuse. Most felt that this would help. It would give local strategies and initiatives legitimacy and credibility. It would help raise awareness of the effects of domestic abuse on children among local professionals and practitioners. Some planners had reservations. They felt it needed to be tackled locally, according to local conditions, taking into account, for example, rural/urban differences.
8 Conclusions
1. The mapping exercise collected information on CYPEDA in relation to 98 direct services and initiatives in 9 major categories across the 32 LA areas. Total spend for these services was of the order of 2.1m.
2. Services were largely provided by the 89 CSWs at Women's Aid with 1.8m spent on these services.
3. The main LA contribution to services to CYPEDA is through the funding of CSW posts at Women's Aid.
4. Where LAs provide direct services to this group these are mainly posts focussed on awareness raising, training and development. Around 296K is spent on services to this group managed by and based in LAs themselves.
5. There are now CSW posts in all but 1 LA area. This is partly as a result of the Interim funding released by the Scottish Executive to fund CSW posts in those Women's Aid Groups without one.
6. Spread of Children's Support Workers posts is uneven across authorities, ranging from none to 21 in a way not apparently related to need or to population density.
7. Spend also varies widely. It ranges from 402K in Glasgow, through 229K for authorities such as Fife, to less than 10K in others.
8. The majority of these posts are fixed term and uncertainly funded. Approximately half are full time, with 25% employed for less than 20 hours per week.
9. Posts are financed from more than 20 different funding sources, including LA grant funding, the Changing Children's Services Fund, Child Care Strategy monies, DASDF, Scottish Executive Interim monies, Sure Start, SIPS and New Deal.
10. Planners expressed mixed views about current funding arrangements for these posts and initiatives and about the new funding streams. There were problems sustaining and mainstreaming the services on the one hand. On the other, authorities had been able to create more integrated and innovative services.
11. CSWs were united in expressing difficulties caused by current funding arrangements. The short-term nature of the funding made it difficult to work effectively with vulnerable children and young people.
12. The main provision of service is by CSWs to CYPEDA while they are in Refuge. A gap in service exists to the majority of CYPEDA living in community who never have contact with a Women's Aid Refuge. About half of the CSWs are able to offer a combination of services, including Refuge work, a Follow on/Resettlement service and/or Outreach to children and young people in the community. LA generic social work teams, family support teams and other local services provide indirect support to this group.
13. Most LAs reported initiatives to raise awareness among professionals, practitioners and in schools of the effect of domestic abuse on children. The work of the National Group and the Multi-agency Domestic Abuse Forums was mentioned as important in enabling this.
14. There is active debate in LAs about how best to provide service to this vulnerable group. There is recognition that the effect of domestic abuse on children is an issue that affects all council services, (child protection, family support, drugs, juvenile and criminal justice). There is also awareness of the importance that practitioners understand the effects of domestic abuse on children and young people and know how to deal with it. However, practitioners were also clear about the need for specialist services to refer to.
15. Authorities reported that formal and informal links between relevant forums and committees were in place or in development, (for example, Children's Services Planning, Child Protection Committees, Community Safety, Multi-agency Domestic Abuse Forums). Most owned that while progress had been made there was some way to go.
16. Views on the need for a National Strategic approach to the provision of services to CYPEDA were mainly favourable. There were reservations about ensuring the particular needs of CYPEDA in rural settings were taken into account. A national approach could be important to underpinning and reinforcing new local initiatives.
Key to abbreviations: 'Services': CSW = Children's Support Worker., CWS-FO = Children's Support Worker - Follow On, CWS-OR = Children's Support Worker - Out Reach, CSW-RFO = Children's Support Worker - Refuge and Follow On , CSW-All = Children's Support Worker - Refuge, Follow On and Out Reach, CSW-FOR = Children's Support Worker - Follow On and Out Reach, Dev/Aw = Development Awareness post, Sp Proj = Specialist Project, NS = No service
Key to abbreviations: 'Funders': DASDF/LA = Domestic Abuse Development Fund and Local Authority, CCCSF = Changing Children's Services Fund, SE - Int = Scottish Executive Interim Funding, LA (Core) = Local Authority Core Funding, Supp Peop = Supporting People Funding, SIPS = Social Inclusion Partnership Funding, Comm Fund = Comm Fund, Sure start = Sure Start Funding, CCCSF = Changing Children's Services Services Fund monies, LA/Trust = Local Authority and Charitable Trust Fund monies, C C Strategy = Child Care Strategy Monies, Vol Sec Gt = Voluntary Sector Grant funding