Force Control Room - Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA)

The Humberside Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner are seeking views from the supplier marketplace relating to a Force Control Room IDVA service.

To apply please complete the attached questionnaire and return to stewart.atkinson@humberside.police.uk

Further details:

Humberside Police Force received funding from the Home Office, in partnership with five other force areas, to implement innovative programmes which aimed to increase responses to domestic abuse and improve victim experience and criminal justice outcomes. This programme, named Domestic Abuse: A Whole System Approach (DAWSA) was led by the Northumbria Police force and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Northumbria, and an independent evaluation of DAWSA was conducted in 2019 (CordisBright, 2019a).

Within DAWSA, each force area implemented a different approach, depending on geographical area, available resources and the needs of local communities, with the aim of improving responses to domestic abuse and victim support. To achieve this, three force areas, including Humberside, implemented a domestic violence support and assistance scheme (DVSA), in which DVSA partners, such as IDVAs, were located in the Force Control Room.

The specialist domestic abuse support workers were available in the Force Control Room at peak demand times. This scheme aimed to increase support for victims at the point of, or immediately following, a domestic abuse incident being reported to police, to enhance knowledge of police and DVSA workers though partnership, to increase the number of victims 16 engaging with safeguarding and specialist support and improve victim experience of reporting domestic abuse incidents.

Humberside Context

The Humberside approach to DASWA was a Force Control Room (FCR) IDVA, a specialist domestic abuse support initiative, which co-locates an independent IDVA service with Humberside Police FCR. Where 999 and 101 calls relate to domestic abuse, callers are offered a referral to the FCR IDVA by the initial call handler. The IDVA FCR provides an independent service designed to empower and support the victims of domestic abuse, support repeat victims and refer to onward support and into MARAC. The co-location of IDVAs in the FCR builds good working relationships between the police, and has led to improvements in the speed and quality of decision-making around risk.