Q1. the Grants Programme Is Described in Annex E . Should This Programme Continue After

Submission to London Councils Consultation

Sept 2015

Q1. The grants programme is described in [Annex E]. Should this programme continue after March 2017?

Q2. The grants programme principles are described in [Annex E]. Please give any comments on these?

The support that vulnerable LGBT survivors have received through London Councils funding is vital. For example, Galop leads the only coordinated community response to domestic abuse for LGBT people in London, the Domestic Abuse Partnership (DAP). The DAP brings together five specialist LGBT organisations which put clients at the heart of service development to ensure rapid response to emerging community needs. The DAP service is acknowledged internationally as being a model of best practice. To end this groundbreaking project would have an enormous impact on our service users and London’s sizable and diverse LGBT communities, many of whom are in desperate situations and would simply have nowhere else to go for help.

Evidence of need

Indicators include: • In the last two years the DAP delivered above contracted targets by 9%, with 1100 LGBT survivors of domestic abuse and violence (DVA) contacting at least one organisation for advice and support around DVA. • Demand for our specialist services far exceeds capacity. • There is no other pan-London LGBT DVA partnership. • The DAP provides a unique pan-London service to LGBT survivors serving the different elements of their support, advice and advocacy needs, which could not be replicated on a local level in a cost effective manner. • Most individual boroughs are unable to fund specialist LGBT provision. • Survivors often need services outside of their immediate area/borough. • Local services often do not meet LGBT needs, for example, local IDVA provision may only work with female survivors and not gay, bisexual or trans* men. • Recent independent research (Safer Lives http://www.safelives.org.uk/file/lgbt-practice-briefing-idvas-finalpdf) has shown the lack of specialist and appropriate services for LGBT survivors. The evidence includes: 1. Only 1.3% survivors accessing IDVA services were lesbian, gay or bisexual. None were trans*.

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 1 2. Only 0.7% of MARAC cases were LGBT (2012-13), despite high levels of domestic abuse risk within LGBT communities. 3. LGBT people experienced higher levels of sexual abuse & harassment. 4. LGBT survivors of DVA are reluctant to approach mainstream or other specialist VAWG services. There are additional barriers of trust and confidence leading to fears of not being taken seriously or understood. 5. A possible reluctance was noted among IDVAs undertaking risk assessments with LGBT people to discuss issues relating to sexual violence, due to their own discomfort or lack of knowledge.

Mobility for safety:

Survivors of domestic abuse often have to flee their home and move to another borough for their safety. It is well established that survivors of domestic abuse are at the greatest risk at the time that they leave an abusive situation.

By providing pan-London services, domestic abuse organisations including Galop are able to ensure that survivors in this situation receive continuity of care and appropriate risk management at the point they are most vulnerable. When different organisations provide services in different boroughs, survivors who move outside of their borough are at risk of falling through the cracks.

The relationship of trust built with a specialist worker enables clients to move borough confident in the knowledge that that there is a skilled and professional organisation which can provide ongoing support wherever they are in London.

It also means that there are specialist workers responsible for ensuring MARAC referral are made where appropriate. It is the worst possible time for a survivor to have to find new support from organisations when they move, simply because the organisation that has been supporting them no longer operates in their borough.

Pan-London:

Galop provides services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* people whose needs are not being met by mainstream organisations. LGBT people face particular problems related to their sexual orientation and gender identity, including hate crime and domestic abuse. LGBT communities are not restricted to one locality, but live throughout London. However a lack of statistics and robust evidence on a local level mean that important issues for our community can often be overlooked or not prioritised.

This is compounded by the fact that the size of the LGBT community in individual boroughs may not be big enough to justify the expense of an LGBT focused service which is also specialist (for example tackling hate crime, domestic abuse, homelessness or mental health, rather than just a generic support organisation).

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 2 However by not providing this service, the borough fails to meet the real and specific needs of this group of residents. It is therefore more effective to provide these services on a pan-London basis, which creates a critical mass of need to justify a service which then benefits individual residents in all boroughs.

These pan-London LGBT services, such as Galop, allow residents to access a service in which they have confidence. Many LGBT people express a preference to access LGBT focused services. This can be because they worry about having to out themselves to generic services, or may have had bad experiences in the past. These clients’ issues are often inextricably linked to the sexual orientation and/or their gender identity, and solutions may also be limited because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Partnerships and compliance:

The funding that the DAP partnership receives from the London Councils Grants Programme is essential for delivery of a joined-up, coordinated service, enabling vulnerable LGBT survivors of domestic violence to quickly and easily access specialised support and advocacy around safety, criminal justice, housing and counselling. This close working also prevents duplication of work, enabling partners to best allocate resources efficiently. The success and effectiveness of our partnership working is reflected in The Domestic Abuse Partnership client feedback and consistently Green RAG ratings, scoring in the top 90 percentile.

Galop has an excellent track record as a lead partner on a variety of projects, most recently receiving the Campaign of the Year award on a project involving 35 hate crime organizations. Partner organisations value working with Galop, for example, we were names Partner of the Year by the Albert Kennedy Trust, and were also recently nominated by Naz for the same award. Stonewall Housing's advice services have been awarded the Advice Quality Standard and they have developed these services to incorporate floating support as well as partnerships with other providers. London Youth Gateway was nominated for an Andy Ludlow Award which recognised the unique partnership that it created. Stonewall Housing was also a key voluntary sector stakeholder in the North West London Integrated Pioneer.

Equality

The partnership actively seek to engage with hard to reach communities across all equality strands and indications of our success in this area include:

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 3 Disability: 27% of DAP clients report a disability; mental health difficulties are particularly high. Research, including the Safer Lives report above, found that LGBT DVA survivors were more likely to have complex needs around mental health and substance misuse.

Faith: Galop’s work to tackle forced marriage, ‘honour’ based violence, ‘corrective rape’ and ‘conversation therapy’ has been acknowledge for our successful interventions on behalf of clients at risk of these issues, for example by the Forced Marriage Unit.

Sexual orientation: LGBT specific services are crucial, as has been demonstrated by the continued high demand for the LGBT Domestic Abuse Partnership. Research by Safer Lives (2014) showed that few LGBT survivors accessed help from IDVA services, with only 1.3% of survivors accessing other domestic abuse services identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual, and none as trans*.

Gender identity: For trans* women experiencing domestic abuse there are significant barriers to accessing mainstream services. Research has found trans* people are more at risk of domestic abuse in both prevalence and level of severity, even than LGB people (for example see Count Me In Too 2007). The track record of specialist services such as Galop in serving this group is evidenced by the positive outcomes and high levels of service user satisfaction.

Sex: Specialist LGBT domestic abuse services provide a vital resource for women’s organisations tackling violence and abuse, providing key learning opportunities on serving the needs of lesbian, bisexual and trans* women. There is little or no service provision for gay, bisexual and trans* male survivors of domestic abuse outside of the DAP service despite evidence of high levels of need.

Age: The DAP includes specialist preventative work with young people to foster healthy relationships among young people and innovative work to serve the needs of LGBT youth experiencing domestic abuse from family and partners.

Race: Around 50% of DAP cases were non- White British and reflect London’s diverse LGBT population. Galop has developed strong working relationships with voluntary and community organisations serving London’s LGBT BAME communities. For example, this is evidenced by Galop’s recent nomination for the NAZ Project’s award for partner of the year.

Our unique services deliver added value to other organisations across London in a variety of ways including:

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 4 1. Our support to local authorities, criminal justice agencies and mainstream services by the provision of specialist training on equality issues.

2. Galop and partners provide specialist knowledge and regularly feed into consultations that benefit vulnerable LGBT Londoners including: Local Borough Joint Strategic Needs Assessments, Health and Wellbeing Boards, CPS and MOPAC consultations and most recently the Women and Equalities Select Committee Inquiry on Trans* Equality.

Q3a How important is it to fund pan-London services relating to homelessness through this grants scheme beyond March 2017? Please consider this in relation to need across London, current provision and services that boroughs already provide?

Very Important

Q3b If you think that it is very important, important or quite important and given that there is existing provision, should the funding continue to focus on the following?

Early intervention and prevention: Yes More LGBT people have approached Stonewall Housing advice services than ever before and they come from every London borough. Last year 80% of people who called Stonewall Housing for advice were out of work and there was an increase of 63% in the number of people calling for advice about debt and not being able to afford their accommodation. This number is expected to rise further as various welfare reforms are introduced. To meet this need the organisation has secured extra funding to be able to issue over £1,500 worth of hardship grants in the past year and we are now referral agents for Terrence Higgins Trust and Buttle's Anchor Fund for young people living with HIV as well as foodbanks from across the city.

Nearly 2/3 of people who contact Stonewall Housing for advice state that their housing problem is directly related to their sexual orientation or gender identity and many LGBT people do not approach mainstream advice services for fear that they may face homophobia, biphobia or transphobia or that the workers may not understand their full situation. Without Stonewall Housing’s advice they may not have access to safe accommodation and their physical and mental health would deteriorate as they remained homeless or in substandard accommodation with constant fear of abuse or violence.

If London Councils fails to continue to fund organisations that work with specific groups then this will reduce Stonewall Housing’s capacity to continue to offer the range of extra benefits that it offers to every local authority and their LGBT residents: - developing innovative new services, such as the LGBT Domestic Abuse Forum, funded through the Oak Foundation, which gives a range of providers opportunities to share best practice in meeting the diverse needs of LGBT people

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 5 which is now also based on additional advocacy and support offered to those experiencing domestic abuse. - attracting other funding from local authorities for specific local projects to engage better with LGBT communities by implementing local financial management workshops, filming LGBT communities’ views about living and socialising in a particular borough and encouraging LGBT people to register to vote during the election. - speaking up for the concerns of LGBT people about their housing issues on local forums, the Mayor of London’s Housing Forum, the national Equality Board of the Homes and Communities Agency and through the London Voluntary Service Council and London Voluntary Sector Forum, which Bob Green chairs. -supporting innovative research, such as Finding Safe Spaces, which was funded through the Homelessness Transition Fund, to compare services for LGBT rough sleepers in London, Brighton and Manchester. It found that LGBT rough sleepers were not being served by mainstream rough sleeping services. -working in partnership with a range of private, public and third sector agencies to improve services to LGBT people and help organisations meet their duties under the Equality Act, Care Act and Social Value Act: through the provision of training, consultancy and resources, such as the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Good Practice Guide for providing services to LGBT people. -Working in partnership with other charities to develop new schemes such as a new initiative developing new housing services and a stronger network of services for LGBT people across the city with local authorities and St Mungo's and other providers.

Youth homelessness Yes London Councils grants programme support the London Youth Gate (LYG) with is a partnership between the New Horizons Youth Centre, Alone in London, De Paul Trust and Stonewall Housing. This consortium has the sole London Councils commission. Stonewall Housing’s role within this relationship is to not only provide direct service (information, advice, advocacy and support) but to commission services from our existing partnership LGBT Jigsaw. This partnership was set up in 2008 to help LGBT young people who were homeless or having trouble at home. By working with other LGBT specific agencies such as PACE of mental health support, Galop of community safety and domestic abuse, the Albert Kennedy Trust for emergency accommodation and information and advice. Thanks to the London Councils funding LGBT young people in London has specific safety net. An inclusive safe space where they can be who they are. Stonewall Housing is proud that we are able to continue to deliver these service in partnership with the LYG thanks to funding from London Councils. It is vital we protect these services as homelessness amongst young people is increasing. According to Homeless Link’s Young & Homeless 2014 report, 52% of people seeking homelessness support are 25 years or younger. Recent years have also seen increased levels of rough sleeping by young people while, more generally, there is a well

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 6 reported and increasingly dire lack of affordable, suitable accommodation for this demographic. Pending welfare changes, including the removal of automatic housing benefit entitlement for 18-21 year olds. from April 2017, are likely to worsen the situation. Importantly, and unlike local authority housing services, voluntary sector agencies are ideally placed to offer the kind of holistic service need to prevent and address youth homelessness. In addition to the preventative measures already mentioned, the LYG, for instance, provides: . support in addressing underlying problems such as mental health and emotional and/or behavioural issues . Advocacy, which is becoming increasingly relevant due to the Care Act. . Low threshold primary health care and counselling . Benefit advice, debt support and financial literacy development . Intensive and ongoing employment, education and training support, including ongoing help when young people transition into employment and/or accommodation . In-house accredited training, including numeracy and literacy. Moreover, and especially by working in consortium, it is possible to maintain and develop the specialist understanding and activities that will maximise the impact for specific groups, such as homeless LGBT young people, young migrants, gang-affiliated young people throughout London. Importantly, the voluntary sector also offers the expertise in helping engage the most hard-to-reach young people who are homeless or at risk to access the services they need. The LYG, for instance, has proven this by being able to increase very effectively its pan-London outreach and availability via college, prisons and young offenders institutes and satellite advice service throughout the capital.

Support services to homelessness voluntary sector organisations: Yes Very significant changes and challenges are affecting homelessness and homelessness organisations. On issues such as welfare benefit reforms, the lack of affordable accommodation, voluntary sector funding as well as assembling and disseminating best practice, the ability to tap into and share expertise, best practice and brokering relationships are crucial to not only voluntary sectors services but also their positive impact on their beneficiaries. This may be of particular relevance to small to medium-sized organisations that will not necessarily have the full resources or width of expertise to address these matters independently. Instead they benefit greatly from the coordination that such support services offer.

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 7 With the election of the Conservative Government in May 2015, there continues to be significant changes to the environment homelessness services are operating in. Welfare reform changes are ongoing and likely to have significant impacts on homeless people and therefore on the agencies working with them.

Migrant homelessness in London is on the increase. It is important that agencies are supported to work with this client group.

Partnerships, both with the public and the private sectors is likely to increase going forwards. Second tier support has promoted and supported these partnerships.

Homelessness services through the Grant Programme will ensure that the communities' needs are highlighted and addressed efficiently and effectively. For example, Stonewall Housing is working with refugee and migrant organisations following a project called Double Jeopardy which highlighted the needs of LGBT refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Stonewall Housing has joined a number of other LGBT groups in London to prepare an LGBT narrative of our communities' needs to share ahead of the Mayoral elections. Funded by Trust for London it highlights the issues of poverty and complex needs, eg homelessness, mental health and substance misuse, that are specific to our communities.

Q3c. If you think it is very important, important or quite important to continue to fund this priority, are there other specific activities within homelessness now or in the future that you think funding should focus on to reflect changing patterns of need?

Current services have adapted to emerging needs, so continuing to fund homelessness services through the Grant Programme will ensure that the communities' needs are highlighted and addressed efficiently and effectively. For example, Stonewall Housing is working with refugee and migrant organisations following a project called Double Jeopardy which highlighted the needs of LGBT refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Stonewall Housing has joined a number of other LGBT groups in London to prepare an LGBT narrative of our communities' needs to share ahead of the Mayoral elections. Funded by Trust for London it highlights the issues of poverty and complex needs, e.g. homelessness, mental health and substance misuse, that are specific to our communities

Youth homelessness

As already mention in our answer to Q3b, youth homelessness remains a very pertinent problem whether in terms of rough sleeping, invisible homelessness or indicated housing need. With over half of all people seeking homelessness

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 8 support being younger than 25, we strongly feel that this needs to remain a key priority of the London Councils Grants Programme.

It is tempting to focus on those aged 18-21 given the anticipated introduction of ‘earn or learn’ as well as the removal of automatic housing benefit for this age group, which may contribute to this client group is to become at an even higher risk of homelessness and/or housing need. The majority will not be able to stay or return to the family home. Importantly, the voluntary sector will also be able to address the pan-London need for

 an integrated approach in which housing need is being addressed together with support around health and accessing and maintaining employment, education and training.

 support around emotional well-being and mental health as well as communication skills

 support and advice around welfare benefit changes and financial literacy

However, this should not deflect from the needs of young people under 25, because this age group as a whole continues to experience a particularly challenging housing market combined with lower incomes and/or more unstable (zero) contracts.

Prevention

Preventative work is crucial in an addressing potential long-term impact, because 42% of homelessness people with complex needs have a childhood history of running away or homelessness (Bramley & Fitzpatrick, 2015). In terms of the London Councils Grants Progamme, and as to an extent already delivered via the London Youth Gateway, this could include:

 support of the development of life and social skills of children and young , including communication skills, relationship skills, and financial literacy. Similar patterns and recommendations were also emphasised in the Railway Children’s Safe Places (2014) research as well as the EU Children Rough Sleepers project report (2014). Both these reports further highlight the complexity of underlying causes of, and routes into, youth homelessness, which the LYG addresses by placing importance on e.g. development of positive relationships, life skills, school workshops, and counselling services.

 delivery youth homelessness prevention workshops at school, college, youth centres

 targeted outreach on the street and in prisons/YOIs in order to provide preventative information and signpost to relevant services

 family mediation and floating support sessions

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 9 Youth-focused information and advice

JustRights Make Our Rights Reality (2014) young people’s manifesto, calls for clear, fair and accessible information, advice, guidance and legal support for young people. It confirms the need for the precisely the kind of specialist services the LYG provides to this demographic. This is becoming more

Emergency accommodation for young people

Emergency access for young people in housing need is becoming increasingly difficult to access, whilst there is an increasing pan-London need for emergency options, for example:

 LBGT young people who need to find some stability and safety and therefore require access to specialist emergency accommodation and additional support services

 young women who are survivors or at risk of DV and/or sexual exploitation

 young offenders and/or gang-affiliated young people who do

 'time out' accommodation during which beneficiaries - and which research by e.g. Railway Children (2014) has shown is effective in reducing repeat and/or longer-term homelessness

Migrant young people

We would like to see pan-London support for migrant, refugee and NRPF young people in housing and related needs.

Over the last couple of years we have seen increasing numbers of young NRPF people and, particularly, new EU migrants who struggle to access housing and other related service, also partially as an effect of the welfare benefit changes. Similarly undocumented young adults, many of whom have lived in the UK since early childhood, also often experience homelessness and destitution. By definition, many of these will not have a borough connection, but will require support as they are at very high risk of forced work (the has been a 47% increase in modern slavery in the UK (UK National Referral Mechanism Statistics)). In addition increased risk of poor physical and mental health, substance misuse, and offending behaviours. We anticipate that the Immigration Bill, under which private landlords will have to check the immigration status of tenants, will add another risk factor into rough sleeping and invisible homelessness.

Health/mental health

It has been encouraging to note the increasing attention to links between health

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 10 and homelessness, both in terms of prevention and support, as for instance outlined in Homeless Link’s Health Needs Audit (2015). This includes an emphasis on mental and emotional health, with many young homeless people increasingly presenting with complex needs, or who could benefit from a trauma-based approach, but experiencing difficulties accessing the necessary health services. The London Youth Gateway has evidenced the importance of its provision of low threshold health services, such as onsite nurses and counsellors, to improve beneficiaries’ wellbeing, anger management and self confidence.

Q4a: The current programme meets outcomes in respect of protected groups. Taking into account the groups which currently benefit from each priority area of the grants programme, what impact do you think the priority focused

Positive None Negative Age X Disability X Gender reassignment X Marriage and Civil X Partnership Pregnancy and maternity X Race X Religion or belief X Sex X Sexual Orientation X

Q4b: Please explain in what way you consider that the priority focused on homelessness impacts on particular groups of people.

If Stonewall Housing’s advice services were reduced or to end then LGBT people in housing need and LGBT people possessing other protected characteristics would suffer disproportionately. London Councils Grants Programme should continue to recognize the importance of organizations providing housing advice to lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender people which is not provided by other services or through other funding.

Removing homelessness would have a negative impact with regard to sexual orientation. Lesbian, gay and bisexual people may not be considered as a local priority because they may not exist in high numbers in certain localities and they may need to travel to other boroughs if they are fleeing harassment or abuse therefore they need a pan-London approach to fund the specialist housing advice services provided by Stonewall Housing to meet the their housing needs across

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 11 the whole of London. Nearly 2/3 of people who contact Stonewall Housing for advice state that their housing problem is directly related to their sexual orientation or gender identity and many LGBT people do not approach mainstream advice services for fear that they may face homophobia, biphobia or transphobia or that the workers may not understand their full situation. 1/3 of people calling Stonewall Housing for advice are experiencing domestic abuse and 2/5 are experiencing harassment. Without Stonewall Housing’s advice they may not have access to safe accommodation and their physical and mental health would deteriorate as they remained homeless or in substandard accommodation with constant fear of abuse or violence.

Stonewall Housing works with a variety of LGBT people, people living with HIV/AIDS and other disabilities those that are non-white British, those who have a religion or belief, woman, trans* people, married couples, same sex couples having children (which is increasing) people who are single and people of all ages. We work with people from all protected characteristic groups During the first quarter of 2015/16 90% of our service users identified as belonging to 2 or more protected characteristic groups. For that reason we think that these particular groups cannot be considered in isolation given that many will experience multiple exclusions and/or will identify in more complex ways than a protected groups list will be able to represent.

Age – young people, aged 16-25, are at particularly high risk of homelessness and in housing need given the complex interrelated issues of welfare reform, the 'housing crisis' and their specific problems experienced in the job market (e.g. zero-hour contract, lower wages. Equally Stonewall Housing has been working hard to secure a better future for our older communities. Some older people feel that mainstream services do no meet their needs especially when it comes to care and support.

Disability – many people in housing need will have underlying, often untreated or not yet diagnosed, mental health problem and/or learning difficulties and will require relevant support and advocacy to address these. LBGT people increasingly struggle to access the mental health services.

Gender reassignment – we are experiencing increasing demand for support housing by people identifying as transgender, gender queer or as other non- binary identities. London Councils funding currently funds the tenancy sustainment element to a trans* specific housing project. Should the grant programme get cut then theses people’s homes could be at risk.

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 12 Sexual Orientation In terms of the equality impact on the LGB population, more work is required across the homelessness sector to evidence of LGB homelessness. The 2014/15 CHAIN annual report evidence trans* rough-sleepers of the first time (3 people accounting for less than 0%). The GLA have never published data on rough sleeper’s sexuality. Notably this is this is the only equality strand not reported on. By failing to gather this information previously LGBT people may not be gaining fair access to publicly funded services. Protecting London Councils funding for LGBT homeless people is vital in order for us to continue our work with and for LGBT Londoners.

Race – the vast majority of the London Youth Gateway beneficiaries identify as BAMER, as also evidenced by the LYG diversity data, and is at much higher risk of homelessness in London. This includes a known over-representation of young offenders in custody who are at risk of becoming homeless on release

Q5a: How important is it to fund pan-London services relating to sexual and domestic violence through this grants scheme beyond March 2017? Please consider this in relation to need across London, current provision and services that boroughs already provide.

Very Important

Q5b: If you think that it is very important, important or quite important and given that there is existing provision, should the funding continue to focus on the following?

Prevention work in schools and youth settings: Yes Sexual education including FGM awareness in schools: This needs to include LGBT relationships awareness and education. Young LGBT people often have little or no education or positive role models.

Advice, counselling, outreach, drop-in and support for access to services: Yes

The LGBT Domestic Abuse Partnership (DAP) is currently funded by London Councils to provide advice, support and counselling to LGBT Londoners affected by domestic abuse. The DAP provides a unique specialist service that is not provided at a borough level. Survivors need to be confident that services understand their identity without them having to explain themselves.

The DAP demonstrates a clear need for the continued funding of a specialist LGBT domestic abuse service. From 2013-15 the DAP gave advice and support

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 13 to 1100 LGBT survivors of domestic abuse looking for help from specialist rather than mainstream services.

Advice: The DAP DV caseworkers delivered 563 sessions of one to one advocacy, including risk assessments, advice on safety and support to survivors leaving abusive relationships. The DV housing advocate provided a further 211 sessions of one to one advice and advocacy on housing needs, including a weekly housing advice drop-in service for LGBT DVA survivors, who have fewer options when trying to flee abusive relationships.

Counselling: LGBT survivors of domestic abuse continue to require help to cope and recover from abusive relationships that damage their mental well-being and self-esteem. From 2013-15 the DAP delivered 627 specialist counselling sessions and 8 weekend workshops to LGBT survivors, the majority of whom reported an increase in mental well-being and self-confidence.

Helpline and coordinated access to refuge provision: Yes

The DAP uses an integrated multi agency approach with two partners providing self referral directly into one to one support via a helpline or online (chat / email) facilities. The success of this approach is clear, with a total of 781 clients contacting the DAP helpline services (Broken Rainbow and Switchboard) in 2013-15. In addition Galop and Stonewall Housing provided advice and advocacy through their helplines. Our experience shows that helplines are essential to successfully engaging vulnerable survivors of domestic and sexual violence at point of first contact and to effectively and efficiently understand their needs and support access to the services required.

Emergency refuge accommodation that offers services to meet the needs of specific groups: Yes There is currently no emergency refuge accommodation that offers services to meet the needs of LGBT survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.

Support services to the sexual and domestic violence voluntary sector organisations: Yes There are currently no second tier support services to LGBT voluntary sector organisations funded by London Councils. However, the DAP Coordinator’s role involves engaging service providers at a borough and pan-London level to raise the profile and understanding of LGBT DVA.

Specifically targeted services FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), forced marriage and other harmful practices: Yes

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 14 The risk to LGBT people of FGM, honour based violence and forced marriage is significant. Our service data evidences an increasing number of our clients presenting with these issues. Our clients do not only experience DVA from intimate partners, but are at risk from DVA from family and wider community, including honour based violence and forced marriage. BME LGBT people are extremely reluctant to look for help within their own communities or from mainstream services, due to fear of being ‘outed’. Moreover LGBT people face additional risks such as being subjected to gay ‘conversion’ therapy, exorcisms and ‘corrective’ rape.

Q5c: If you think it is very important, important or quite important to continue to fund this priority, are there other specific activities within tackling sexual and domestic violence now or in the future that you think funding should focus on to reflect changing patterns of need?

Mapping support services for LGBT Londoners. We feel this will assist in commissioners being able to make more informed strategic decisions around pan-London LGBT DVA services.

Sexual education including FGM awareness in schools: This needs to include LGBT relationships awareness and education. Young LGBT people often have little or no education or positive role models.

Integration with health; sexual and domestic violence services placed in health settings (GPs and A&E) and better engagement with public health partners. Yes, it is very important to recognise and identify potential survivors of DVA within this setting. Commissioning, training and frontline services should focus on services being accessible and open to all survivors, regardless of their identity. For example, IDVAs in hospitals which have both male and female service users could also work with male survivors and/or refer them to specialist services. See for example the Domestic Homicide Review that identified gaps in knowledge/response from health professionals to a gay male survivor of DVA: http://www.safeinthecity.info/sitc-document/dhr-mr-c-executive-summary-final- anon-for-publication .

Services for domestic and sexual violence perpetrators Perpetrator programmes are directed at heterosexual male perpetrators and this means we have nowhere to send female or gay/bi/trans* male perpetrators. It would be helpful to pilot an LGBT perpetrator service.

Service for LGBT survivors of sexual violence: Galop’s specialist pan London LGBT Sexual Violence Service is unique, the only one of its kind in Europe. Demand far exceeds resources available and there is a growth in complexity of issues. Our data shows in addition to the trauma of sexual assault clients presenting with ongoing disabilities and health impairments. These include: HIV+ (16% clients); learning difficulties (16% clients); physical impairments (12% clients); and severe mental health conditions (45% clients).

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 15 Q6a: The current programme meets outcomes in respect of protected groups. Taking into account the groups which currently benefit from each priority area of the grants programme, what impact do you think the priority focused on sexual and domestic violence has with respect to the following characteristics?

Q6b: Please explain in what way you consider that the priority focused on sexual and domestic violence impacts on particular groups of people .

The DAP provides services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* people whose needs are not being met by mainstream organisations. In addition, it is important to consider intersectionality- LGBT people come from diverse backgrounds, and often have identities relating to other protected characteristics, not just gender idenitiy and sexual orientation. If funding for the DAP was reduced or stopped altogether, then LGBT survivors of domestic violence and LGBT people possessing other protected characteristics would suffer disproportionately. For example:

Disability: 27% of DAP clients have a disability, mental health is particularly high. Research by Safer Lives (2014) found that LGBT DV survivors were more likely to have complex needs around mental health and substance misuse.

Gender reassignment: The Safer Lives research (2014) was unable to identify a single trans* person using mainstream services. The DAP has around 5% of users that identify as trans* or other.

Race: Around 50% of DAP cases were non-white British and reflect London’s diverse LGBT population.

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 16 Sexual Orientation: LGBT specific services are key, as has been demonstrated by the continued high demand for the LGBT Domestic Abuse Partnership. Research by Safer Lives (2014) showed that few LGBT survivors accessed help from mainstream DV services, with only 1.3% of survivors accessing other DV services identified as LGB and none as T.

Intersectionality: In addition to the points made under the points above, we wish to highlight the following: • Accessing support requires disclosing identity. People who contact the LGBT DAP don’t have to explain their identity or experience discrimination or misunderstanding of their situation. The specialist service is tailored towards their needs and they know they’ll be understood. • LGBT survivors of DVA continue to be reluctant to approach mainstream services because they don’t feel they are for them or their identity will be sufficiently understood. - There is an evidenced lack of trust in mainstream services and a fear of not being taken seriously which resulted in a gap in appropriate service provision. The DAP has provided a successful and respected service for LGBT people that has responded to this gap. • The DAP has brought added value and built on existing expertise held by the DAP partners who have been serving the LGBT communities for many years. For example, assisting clients who’ve had a negative experience when reporting to the police to enable a successful criminal justice outcome. • Survivors with intersectional identities are often part of small communities where ‘word gets around’, so for many of our clients the fear of being ‘outed’ or identified in their community/local borough means that they prefer to approach LGBT services outside of their local area. • The issue of secondary victimisation / discrimination when LGBT people present to mainstream services. The DAP provides a comprehensive service, so survivors don’t have to explain themselves or their situation to several different services. • Counter allegations in intimate same sex relationships. This requires advocacy and support, as mainstream organisations often lack understanding of LGBT relationships, for instance identifying survivor/abuser. Our experience tells us that this issue can result in the incident being flagged by police as ‘NFA’ (No Further Action) or lead to confusion about survivor/perpetrator. • Fewer LGBT clients coming to the attention of MARAC. The DAP has an active role in many local MARACs, through representing clients or taking referrals from MARAC. • There are a small number of LGBT specific services to tackle complex needs – e.g mental health, substance misuse. DAP is able to refer to specialist LGBT agencies, e.g. substance misuse, mental health advocacy, where they exist. • Refuges not always appropriate for LBT women with ambiguous policies of admission of trans* people. The DAP housing service helps find people alternatives and gives options available, e.g. particularly for male survivors where there are very few options due to lack of refuge space.

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 17 Q7:

We are not answering Q7 as European Funding

Q8a: The current programme meets outcomes in respect of protected groups. Taking into account the groups which currently benefit from each priority area of the grants programme, what impact do you think the priority focused on tackling poverty has with respect to the following characteristics?

Not applicable

Q8b: Please explain in what way you consider that the priority focused on tackling poverty impacts on particular groups of people

Not applicable

Q9a. How important is it to fund pan-London services to support capacity building beyond March 2017? Please consider this in relation to need across London, current provision and services that boroughs already provide.

Important

Q9b: If you think that it is very important, important or quite important and given that there is existing provision, should the funding continue to focus on the following outcomes?

Yes No Please explain Increased ability of VCO’s in London to deliver efficient and effective services. X

The voluntary sector’s role and capacity is understood and new opportunities for X engagement of VCO’s are increased.

Frontline organisations or organisations supporting a particular equalities protected X group are better able to deliver well informed services that reflect the needs of equalities groups.

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 18 Q9c: If you think it is very important, important or quite important to continue to fund this priority, are there other specific activities within capacity building now or in the future that you think funding should focus on to reflect changing patterns of need

 Infrastructure support to smaller organisations providing specialist services to equalities groups.

 Building financial resilience.

Q10a: The current programme meets outcomes in respect of protected groups. Taking into account the groups which currently benefit from each priority area of the grants programme, what impact do you think the priority focused on capacity building has with respect to the following characteristics?

Q10b: Please explain in what way you consider that the priority focused on capacity building impacts on particular groups of people

See 6b.

Q11. Please list other issues that you believe should be considered as a priority of the Grants Programme and should be funded as such based on need across London.

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 19 Answered under questions 3 – 7.

Q13a. London Councils has worked to identify the groups which currently benefit from each priority area within its grants programme, in order to assess the equality implications of any changes to the programme. Do you agree with our summary of the groups which currently benefit from each priority area within the grants programme?

Yes Q13b. If you have answered 'No', why do you not agree with our summary of the groups which currently benefit from each priority area?

Not applicable Q14. Taking into account the groups which currently benefit from each priority area of the grants programme, please comment on how changing any of the priorities would impact on equalities, by reference to the following characteristics?

Comment Disability 27% of DAP clients have a disability, mental health is particularly high. Research by Safer Lives (2014) found that LGBT DV survivors were more likely to have complex needs around mental health and substance misuse.

Gender reassignment The Safer Lives research (2014) was unable to identify a single trans* person using mainstream services. The DAP has around 5% of users that identify as trans* or ‘other’ gender identity. Removing funding for this service would have a massive impact on this high risk community.

Race Around 50% of DAP cases were non-white British and reflect London’s diverse LGBT population.

Sexual Orientation LGBT specific services are key, as has been demonstrated by the continued high demand for the LGBT Domestic Abuse Partnership. Research by Safer Lives (2014) showed that few LGBT survivors accessed help from mainstream DV services, with only 1.3% of survivors accessing other DV services identified as LGB and none as T.

Q15. Do you have any comments on how the equalities impact of changing the programme could be reduced?

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 20 The key here would be to give genuine space to consulting (potential) beneficiaries of the programme especially of those demographics and communities more likely to experience multiple marginalisation (children, young people, LGBT groups).

Help to maintain and help to develop those services who provide expertise and open access resources not otherwise available.

Q16. Do you have any other comments on the London Councils grants programme, the proposed changes and/or the equality implications?

In addition to matters already raised, we consider the London Councils grants programme essential for a wide range of reasons:

Recent pan-European research into children and young people rough sleeping strongly points towards increasing levels of youth homelessness and lack of support provision caused by the economic downturn, poverty and austerity measures (Moss & Singh, 2014).

It enables the voluntary sector to develop and implement collaborative and cross-sector responses at strategic and operational, in a way that is sensitive to both social needs and local authority services

It underwrites the importance of service provision personalised to individual and complex problems at a scale and with a cross-borough reach otherwise

The programme not only succeeds in supporting the voluntary sector in reaching those with high levels of social and economic needs - it also helps the public, communities and civil society to engage with and learn about such issues through e.g. service profiling and volunteering.

Contact details

For more information or questions please contact Nik Noone, Galop’s CEO on: [email protected] or 020 7704 6767.

Submission to London Councils Consultation Sept 2015 21