Domestic abuse

If you are experiencing domestic abuse, or are concerned that another West Kent tenant may be, we are here to help and support. 

If you are concerned about your own or someone else's safety, or you see or hear disturbances with neighbours that worry you, call us on 01732 749400 Monday to Friday between 8.45am and 4pm. You will be asked to press '3' to report your concerns and will quickly be connected to a member of staff. 

You can also use the form below to report concerns. You can report anonymously if you choose to and our tenancy team will still respond to and investigate the concern. 

If you are in immediate danger, call 999. For non-emergencies call 101 and you can speak to a police officer in confidence. 

There are also a number of specialist agencies who you can contact for help:

DAVSS offer a free and confidential helpline on 01892 570538 which is available from 10.00am to 1.00pm Monday-Friday

Kent and Medway Domestic Abuse Support Services offers advice and information on services for victims, friends & family, and perpetrators of Domestic Abuse and can link you with local services. 

Call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline for free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 0808 2000 247

Respect work with perpetrators of domestic abuse to help them change their behaviour. Call free on 0808 8024040 Monday-Friday 9am-8pm

This definition is from the Domestic Abuse Act 2021

Behaviour of a person (“A”) towards another person (“B”) is “domestic abuse” if:

• A and B are each aged 16 or over and are personally connected to each other, and the behaviour is abusive.
• Behaviour is “abusive” if it consists of any of the following:
• physical or sexual abuse;
• violent or threatening behaviour;
• controlling or coercive behaviour;
• economic abuse (see below)
• psychological, emotional or other abuse

It doesn't matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct.

• “Economic abuse” means any behaviour that has a substantial adverse effect on B’s ability to acquire, use or maintain money or other property, or
• obtain goods or services.

For the full definition, please visit: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/17/part/1/enacted

DAHA accreditation is the UK benchmark for how housing providers should respond to domestic abuse in the UK.

The Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) was founded in 2014 because of the close links between housing and domestic abuse. The alliance recognises that housing issues can be the biggest barrier to someone leaving a domestic abuse

situation and that housing providers are in a unique position to identify and respond to domestic abuse situations. West Kent is currently going through the DAHA accreditation process, which measures housing providers against a set of standards. They look at an organisation's operations and find out if they deliver safe and effective interventions in domestic abuse. It builds in processes that help guide staff to adequately address the needs of survivors and hold abusers to account.

A key part of the DAHA accreditation process is to involve residents from the very start, particularly those who have had experience of domestic abuse. Our domestic abuse policy and procedure was c-created with our residents.

Find out more below. 

Our domestic abuse policy review started in early 2020 and was the first step on the journey to DAHA (Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance) accreditation - the benchmark for how housing providers should respond to domestic abuse in the UK.

From the very beginning, residents, and the voice of survivors, we put residents at the heart of this work. 

Residents were sent an initial survey to check how much they knew about West Kent's response to domestic abuse and then attended carefully planned virtual workshops. They shared their own experiences and views to shape the policy and designed campaign materials to raise awareness about the help and support West Kent can offer. The workshops included contributions and support from DAVSS, a Kent based domestic abuse charity West Kent works closely with and a representative from DAHA. 

We felt so privileged that residents trusted us enough to share their experiences and felt empowered to make a difference.

This work was recognised at the 2021 Tpas awards, where West Kent won the award for 'Outstanding Tenant Communication.'

The judges commented, “We were delighted to award West Kent Housing Association for their work on revising their Domestic Abuse Policy. The judges were impressed with how the residents were sensitively involved in this challenging issue with impressive outcomes for all. Congratulations to all those involved.”

A huge thank you to our residents.