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6) Getting Help from the Council
Housing
If you are experiencing abuse within your home or by your neighbours, you have the legal right to leave it and to be given safe temporary accommodation. You can do this while you decide what to do next, without affecting your right to return to your home or your rights to the tenancy or ownership of your home.
Your local council housing department has a legal duty to provide you with temporary accommodation if you are homeless due to domestic violence. You do NOT have to return home, or to stay with relatives or friends. If you are told that you are not entitled to help because you left your home by “choice”, this is not true.
You should not be placed into a residential care home unless this is acceptable to you. You should be given appropriate independent accommodation with the support you need.
Contact the Homelessness Officer at the housing department, and say that you cannot return home because of domestic violence. Take a friend, helper or advice worker along for support if possible.
Take along any evidence that you have, such as police or medical reports or court orders. If you are not applying to your own council because you are concerned for your safety if you remain in your local area, you should try to provide evidence of why it would be unsafe for you to stay there.
You may later be able to exclude your abuser from your home in order that you can return to it safely. See 10: “Getting Help from Solicitors and the Civil Courts” for more information.
If you need to be permanently rehoused because you cannot return safely to your home, as a disabled woman you will normally have a right to given suitable council housing (or to be referred to a housing association for rehousing), although you may spend some time in temporary accommodation first.
If you are already a housing association or council tenant and want to move home because of abuse, whether this has been from within your home or from a neighbour, you are entitled to be transferred to a suitable home elsewhere.
It is best to get independent advice and support before applying for permanent rehousing or a transfer: see 4: “Getting Help from Groups and Organisations” and 13: “Resources for Fighting Abuse” for more information.
Social Services
If your abuser is/was a paid support worker, you should contact your social services department. They should investigate this and take immediate action, whether or not your support was funded directly or indirectly by your council.
If your abuser provided you with unpaid care, you may experience additional support needs, whether or not you have had to leave home because of the abuse. If you have previously had contact with your social services department, they should have assessed your support needs under the “1990 NHS and Community Care Act”. In this case, you have a right to ask for an urgent reassessment of your needs.
If you have not had any contact with your social services department in the past, you have the right to ask for an urgent assessment of your needs under the “1990 NHS and Community Care Act”. You can do this yourself, or if you have the support of a friend or an advice worker, they can contact social services on your behalf.
A social worker will then contact you and carry out a full assessment of your support needs. It is best to have a friend or advice worker with you while the assessment is carried out.
After the assessment you should then be provided with the help that you need to live independently, either by a care agency employed by the council, or through being given “direct payments” by the council to employ your own support workers. You may have to make a financial contribution to this, depending on your income and where you live.
The social services department should also provide an Occupational Therapist or “OT” to assess the suitability of your home. OTs can give or lend you a wide range of disability aids and equipment to assist you in living independently.
Help with Access
When you first contact the council, they should
normally be able to make arrangements to meet your access needs, including providing
an interpreter or meeting you away from the office if this is necessary.
If you are applying for temporary or permanent accommodation, this should be
suitable for your access needs. You should always involve the social services
department to assist you with ensuring that your needs are met.
You should be able to turn down offers of permanent accommodation if it does not meet your access needs without this affecting your right to be offered further properties. If this happens, get help from an independent advice worker - see 4: “Getting Help from Groups and Organisations” for more information.
If the council is unable to provide you with suitable temporary accommodation, there are an increasing number of women’s refuges which can provide accessible accommodation, and the council should refer you to one of these. See 4: “Getting Help from Groups and Organisations” for more information.
Other Help from the Council
Some councils have special departments to deal with domestic, racist, homophobic and disabilist abuse. These may be based in the social services departments, or in other departments. Councils often list their departments in the phone book, or you can ask a receptionist or social worker if a special department exists.
If you are being harassed by a neighbour and they are a council or housing association tenant, the “Housing Act 1996” gives landlords the power to evict them. Sometimes private tenants can be evicted too.
Both the police and local councils can also apply for “Anti-Social Behaviour Orders” under the “Crime and Disorder Act 1998” to stop someone from harassing or abusing you.
You may find it helpful to get support from an independent advice worker when dealing with the council - see 4: “Getting Help from Groups and Organisations” for more information.
Next: Getting Help from the NHS