Purpose

The purpose of the report is to seek approval
to award a direct grant to The First Step to support the delivery
of an independent community based domestic abuse self-referral
pathway in Knowsley from 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026. The
grant agreement will be based upon an agreed specification as set
out by Knowsley Council and will be subject to stringent grant
conditions and monitoring processes.
 
The reason for the decision is to ensure that
the Council:
 
·      
Implement the Knowsley Domestic Abuse Review Recommendation 2024,
to invest in existing established domestic abuse services and
enable consistency and continuity of provision and respond to the
demand for services.
·      
Ensure that the survivors of domestic abuse have a choice of
provision (via the Councils In house Specialist Domestic Abuse
Service or from Knowsley’s independent specialist domestic
abuse service. in line with good practice as recommended by the
Domestic Abuse Commissioners Office and;
Maintains a continuity of care to this
vulnerable group of Knowsley residents to address issues of
inequality and fairness.

Decision

That the Executive Director (Communities and
Neighbourhoods) in conjunction with the Interim Executive Director
(Resources):
 
Award the direct grant to The First Step to
support the delivery of an independent community based domestic
abuse self-referral pathway in Knowsley   from 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026.

Alternative options considered

The option to do nothing and not invest in a
community based self-referral pathway was not considered a viable
option. The Domestic Abuse Review 2024 identified that
victim/survivors of domestic abuse who self-referred to the
Knowsley independent domestic abuse service were placed on waiting
list due to the high demand for the service. The review highlighted
a gap in allocated resources in this pathway and identified that
there is an evidence base of need in terms of self-referral demand
to our local specialist domestic abuse service to respond to
self-referred low and medium risk domestic abuse.
 
There is an alternative option to continue to
undertake a procurement
exercise and embark on an open and competitive
tender process/quotation.
This option was considered however it was
rejected as there would be no
benefit to undertaking this process due to the
following reasons:
 
·      
The First Step is the only independent specialist domestic abuse
service within the borough and provides the existing community
based self-referral pathway intervention. The direct grant award
enables the Council and victim/survivors to benefit further from
this specialist area of work.
·      
The First Step as an Independent Domestic Abuse Specialist Service
has provided a self-referral pathway for over 20 years.
·      
The continuity of care and organisational ethos is crucial to this
vulnerable group of residents.
·      
The Domestic Abuse Commissioners Office recommends that domestic
abuse victim/survivor should have an option to receive independent
specialist services.
·      
Feedback from the victims /survivors who have engaged with The
First Step as an organisation is positive and they have confirmed
that this is due to the approach and specialist expertise provided
by current provider and
·      
Supporting the current provider as a locally based voluntary sector
organisation is preferable and supports the Councils commitment to
social value.