Following on from the shocking story in last week’s Wokingham Today about the failures of the council’s contracted domestic abuse service provider, we wanted to assure victim-survivors of domestic abuse that you are not alone – support is out there for you.
At no point do we want you to feel that due to the failures of the Council’s contracted service provider that you can’t get the support you need, because you can.
The council is now nine months into its contract with Cranstoun, the organisation that won the tender to provide domestic abuse support and refuge in Wokingham. Sadly, the concerns many of us raised when the contract was first awarded have played out.
The reality is that victim-survivors are not getting the support from Cranstoun that they are contracted to provide.
Other organisations such as Berkshire Women’s Aid (BWA) and Kaleidoscopic have been stepping in to fill the void.
Cranstoun is obliged to provide a 24/7 helpline which must be manned during office hours with an out-of-hours emergency facility. The answer phone message that says that they will try and get back within 24 hours unless it’s a weekend or bank holiday is unacceptable.
It has taken Cranstoun nine months to host the first support group session with others coming online in May, almost a year after the contract started.
Cranstoun is also supposed to provide IDVA (independent domestic violence advisor) support, yet we know of survivors who have been let down by this aspect of the service. One we know of is in the process of submitting a formal complaint.
She has resorted to getting IDVA support from elsewhere.
Last week’s article in Wokingham Today highlighted the failure to provide refuge spaces in the Borough.
The statement that Cranstoun made in the article that “they are not responsible for providing a refuge provision” is factually incorrect. The service provider is obliged to provide a minimum of three rooms of refuge provision within Wokingham Borough.
Cranstoun’s comments in the Wokingham Today article also state that “the refuge provision was withheld by the previous provider when the service went live in July 2021,” which again is misleading. No assets were to be transferred as part of the contract, and Cranstoun submitted their bid knowing this.
Berkshire Women’s Aid have, throughout this period, provided the refuge provision, but it wasn’t until November 2021 that they finally started receiving funding from WBC for this, and even then, they had to apply for an emergency grant.
It is unacceptable that a core service like this is being paid for through grant funding and not properly contracted. It also raises the question of whether WBC are paying twice for a service that they are receiving only once? So far, no one has been able to answer this question.
WBC have acknowledged the many issues around this, and work is underway to rectify it, including some very careful contract monitoring.
Cranstoun should never have been awarded the contract in the first place though.
A competitive tender for a specialist service has resulted in the organisation with the best bid writer being awarded, rather than the organisation best placed to deliver.
An organisation that has never directly provided victim-survivor support before won and as such we are urging the council to reassess how it commissions specialist services like this.
Lessons need to be learnt.
There is a fantastic network of support in Wokingham borough, and we are grateful that organisations like BWA and Kaleidoscopic have been there and do the work that they do.
Should anyone need any support, below are a list of agencies and charities that you can reach out to. Please know that you are not alone.
Louise Timlin – Branch Lead of Wokingham and Reading Women’s Equality Party
Sarah Kerr – Liberal Democrat Councillor for Evendons Ward
How to get help:
In an emergency – 999
Thames Valley Police non-emergency – 101
Wokingham Domestic Abuse service – 0118 402 1921
Berkshire Women’s Aid – 0808 801 0882
National Domestic Abuse Helpline – 0808 2000 247
Kaleidoscopic UK – [email protected]
Wokingham Borough Council – https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/community-and-safety/domestic-abuse/
