Introducing the Domestic Violence and Abuse toolkit March, 2017 This presentation can be used as a foundation for your own; please feel free to add more slides and amend as you wish.

Introduction to the toolkit Welcome to the Domestic Violence and Abuse Financial Capability toolkit. Over the next hundred or so pages, you will find resources and guidance to help front-line practitioners working with clients that are experiencing or leaving domestic violence. So who made it? Development of this toolkit has been led by a financial capability specialist, and it is hosted within the Financial Capability section of the Citizens Advice website. It exists to help and support agencies – and local Citizens Advice offices – provide financial capability to a specific demographic group of clients. We highly recommend bringing a physical ‘master copy’ of the toolkit along to show to people

Why is it needed? Last year one in every fifteen women and one in every thirty-three men experienced domestic abuse at the hands of their partner or former partner. Around a third of those who are victimised experienced ‘severe force’, and for some this is an almost continuous feature of their lives: three per cent of victims experienced abuse in the previous year “more than fifty times or too many times to count”. Specialists - in the form of refuges, legal professionals and police, and helplines or support services - play a critical role for many victims. However, many victims don’t engage with these groups, and this is the problem we are attempting to address.

Who is this for? This toolkit is designed to be used - in part - by advisers working at local Citizens Advice, and also by front-line staff in other organisations working specifically with victims of domestic violence. This toolkit is not designed to be used in its entirety by Citizens Advice. It has been developed with the specific aim of supporting the wider third sector in three ways: By consolidating guidance and tips from a variety of specialists in Domestic Violence By providing and sharing financial capability expertise from Citizens Advice By providing a singular toolkit that agencies across the sector can use to support working in partnership. Provided on our public website to all partner organisations, this toolkit is one that is split into four clear areas. Stages A, B and D are ones that we strongly feel are best used by a partner agency that specialises in helping those experiencing domestic violence. Stage C is one that Citizens Advice is ideally positioned to provide, but is also made available in a way to support other organisations to provide it if needed.

Is it for advisers, or clients? The toolkit is written in plain language that is appropriate for clients to access and use any part of it that they wish. In fact, it contains many handouts and factsheets that advisers are encouraged to give to clients to take away. That said, some sections are aimed more directly at advisers. These sections will be noted clearly in the top-right corner of the page, and those sections aimed directly at clients will similarly be labelled clearly as shown.   Advisers   Handout

The toolkit model, and the client journey Stage A – Aimed at supporting those who have not yet left a difficult situation. Stage D – Aimed at clients who are preparing to leave refuge and live independently. Stage B – Called Cutting ties, this tackles the immediate needs of a client entering refuge. Stage C – The largest section is focussed on supporting clients build financial capability. There is also a detailed introduction section available for adviser use and training

Stage A – First contact Stage A is for the first contact advisers are likely to have with a client. As such, it is designed as a one-stage contact rather than a sustained intervention. It addresses issues that relate to clients who are currently experiencing domestic violence and abuse, but are not necessarily in a position to leave immediately. The emphasis in this section is providing money guidance that raises a clients awareness of what preparations are sensible and practical if they later choose to leave this situation and live independently. We would generally recommend that a generalist advice charity try to involve a specialist charity to provide this support, but there are times this is not practical. For example, a client may only be available for the one advice session they are having, and are not willing - or able - to have a secondary session with another agency. Stage A – Aimed at supporting those who have not yet left a difficult situation.

Stage B – Cutting ties Stage B is for use with clients who have left domestic violence and abuse and are now seeking a place in a refuge. It is split into two sections. The first section contains a small, very achievable and bite-size action plan that focuses on the most effective ways to stay safe and consolidate their departure. As with Stage A, this is a step we recommend a specialist charity undertakes, but again there may be some circumstances when generalist charities find themselves involved in providing some of this support. Stage B – Called Cutting Ties, this tackles the immediate needs of a client entering refuge.

Stage C – Financial capability Stage C is the largest part of the toolkit, and contains detailed financial capability advice and information. Although there is nothing preventing a specialist agency using these materials, Citizens Advice advisers are trained to deliver financial capability, and are familiar with an entire resource library beyond the confines of this toolkit. As such, specialist domestic violence agencies now have the option of working in partnership with their local Citizens Advice office. This can be in various ways but no matter how this is done, both the specialist agency and the local office are working from the same toolkit. This means that the front-line workers in both agencies will have a common set of processes, tools and resources that they can user to inform their combined approach with their client. More importantly, this allows agencies to support their clients in their area of expertise, but to also ensure their client is supported by another agency in similarly specialist areas. Stage C – The largest section is focussed on supporting clients build financial capability.

Stage D – Independent Living Stage D is the final stage for advisers to support clients with, where they are transitioned to living independently. It is again composed of two sections: primarily it addresses the practicalities of finding a new home and living alone, and then it covers more advanced and general tips, including new employment. Much of this is ideally placed for specialist agencies to use, but some of it – relating to tenancy and employment in particular – is an area where Citizens Advice has established expertise and can support clients if needed. Stage D – Aimed at clients who are preparing to leave refuge and live independently.

The spectrum of advice The advice and tips contained in this toolkit are ones that are offered for advisers to select from. We do not recommend that all clients be offered every tip in these resources: advisers need to choose what is suitable for the client they are helping. Severity of domestic violence and abuse Increasingly acute situations Less acute situations Number of clients affected General tips Specific tips

Location on the website The toolkit is pretty sizeable at 231 pages. We understand that it might seem a bit much to print this all out in one go, so the five parts that make up the toolkit are also available as separate downloadable sections. Introduction - 17 pages Stage A - 36 pages Stage B - 26 pages Stage C - 109 pages Stage D - 43 pages

The ASK RE campaign Separate to this toolkit is a new Citizens Advice programme (the ASK RE programme) to help victims of all forms of domestic abuse - including financial abuse. Local advisers are trained and supported to identify instances of domestic abuse with a simple but sensitive approach during face-to-face advice sessions. The staff and volunteers are then able to provide support and advice to those who are experiencing, or have experienced, any instances of domestic abuse. The pilot of this programme - in 2013 - led to an 800 per cent rise in the number of people who told Citizens Advice they were experiencing a form of domestic abuse. The ASK RE Programme is a phased training and support programme for all local Citizens Advice, enabling advisers to ask a routine enquiry to those who come to seek advice in Citizens Advice local offices in debt and benefit enquiries, asking whether they are experiencing, or have experienced, domestic abuse, or other forms of gender-based violence.

What happens next? The Domestic Violence Financial Capability toolkit is a big step forward for our partnership work in this area, but is still in the pilot stages. The Toolkit is provided for all local Citizens Advice and partner organisations to use, but is still very much a ‘work-in-progress’ and should be used as such. New versions will be uploaded online at regular intervals, in response to continued feedback and practical testing. The Domestic Violence Financial Capability toolkit is available on our website with the rest of the financial capability resource library. This presentation is also available to be downloaded from the same resource offer. Refer to the Frequently Asked Questions in the Toolkit Introduction to field the most common questions you will be asked at this point

For any further information or feedback, contact us at Financial For any further information or feedback, contact us at Financial.Skills@citizensadvice.org.uk

The Financial Skills for Life team Christy McAleese Team manager 03000 231 209 David Mahon Forums / Training & resources 03000 231 582 Hannah Luck Forums / Communication & information 03000 231 581 Also - Basam Diablos Financial capability development consultant Basam is attached to the FSfL team, but also works across other teams and divisions equally.

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