THE number of domestic abuse victims seeking help from the council’s homelessness team rocketed by almost a third during the pandemic year, new figures have revealed.

Statistics collected as part of Cheshire West and Chester’s new Domestic Abuse Strategy revealed the number of incidents of alleged abuse in the borough recorded by police also increased during 2020-21, from 5,056 to 5,281.

For the same period, the council’s homelessness team saw an overall increase of 30% for those seeking support due to domestic abuse.

Other findings in the report include:

  • Almost half (44%) of child victims of domestic abuse were aged under five.
  • Men made up more than a quarter (28%) of domestic abuse victims.
  • Almost a third (30%) of domestic abuse starts or escalates during pregnancy.
  • Disabled people experience disproportionately higher rates of domestic abuse.
  • Older people are almost equally as likely to be killed by a partner/spouse (46%) as they are their (adult) children or grandchildren (44%).
  • Between 30-60% of women with a mental health problem report experiencing domestic abuse.

In April this year the Domestic Abuse Act placed a legal requirement on all councils to have a strategy in place for dealing with the problem.

Cheshire West and Chester’s new strategy is an updated version of its previous one and runs until 2025. It will go before the Cabinet on November 24 for approval.

Its priorities include:

  • Assessing risk
  • Intervening earlier
  • Providing services for those who are harmed
  • Providing services for children and young people
  • Challenging those who harm and giving them effective support to
  • change

Speaking at a meeting of the council’s Places Overview and Scrutiny Committee which considered the strategy before it goes to Cabinet, Cllr Bob Cernik, Cabinet Member for Children and Families, told members: “All the indications we have from the region indicate that early intervention really works.

“We also want to provide services to those who are harmed, children and young people have a particular focus.”

He added that a vital part of the strategy was trying to change the behaviour of those who perpetrated acts of domestic abuse.

He said: “It’s important we also challenge the domestic abusers, give them effective support to change.

"Where they want to change, where they engage with the programme, we’ve got good evidence that there are positive outcomes.

“The strategy sets out how we can achieve these priorities.”