North and West Northamptonshire Councils unveil new countywide domestic abuse and sexual violence strategy
The councils have unveiled their new countywide domestic abuse and sexual violence strategy, but concerns have been raised that the current system leaves many feeling ‘worse off’.
North Northants Council’s (NNC) place and environment scrutiny committee heard the proposed five-year strategy at a meeting on April 2. The joint project between the West and the North has set five priority areas in the aims of reducing domestic abuse and sexual violence and supporting victims/survivors.
These include early intervention and prevention, support and protection for all victims and survivors, trust and confidence, co-ordinated community response and partnership working, and holding perpetrators accountable.
This comes as the previous strategy for 2022-2025 has expired.
Sylvia Parkes, a North Northants resident, spoke on the strategy at the meeting as someone who has experienced domestic abuse and helps to support others in the same situation.
She said: “On paper, it’s a positive start. Support isn’t just words in documents, support is how people are treated when they come forward.
“If leaving abuse is supposed to make someone safer, why are so many people feeling worse off after they’ve left? Too often, it feels like unless there was visible physical violence, the response isn’t the same.
“I’m currently supporting a woman who has fled domestic abuse with her young child. What she has experienced since leaving is deeply concerning – she has had to repeat her story multiple times, relive the traumatic experiences, navigate the complex systems on her own, all while dealing with panic attacks, anxiety and impact on her child.
“What I am seeing time and time again is people who showed incredible strength to leave abuse now being left to deal with everything themselves. Until that changes, we’re not just failing survivors, we’re discouraging the next person from ever coming forward.”
According to the report, across Northamptonshire 17,572 domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes were recorded in the year ending March 2025. It added that Northampton records the highest number of reported incidents, with Kettering and Wellingborough following closely behind.
Lyn Buckingham, a former Labour councillor on NNC, asked the council to ‘focus on what happens beyond the point of crisis’ and lived experience. She also raised concerns that she had spoken to a victim who said she would prefer to stay in an abusive situation rather than put her children through the ‘ongoing battle’ with the council to access support.
Ms Buckingham said: “That should stop us in our tracks because if the system meant to help is seen as harder than the abuse itself, something is fundamentally wrong.
“When people flee domestic abuse, they often do so with nothing. Yet, we place them into empty properties and expect them to rebuild immediately.
“A property without the basics, without immediate support, and without space for recovery, especially for children, is not a fresh start. It is instability in a different form.
“The real question is not simply whether accommodation is being provided, but whether it can generally be described as suitable in the context of trauma and disruption.”
The Domestic Abuse Act places responsibility on all tier one authorities to provide accommodation-based support to victims of domestic abuse and their children. The new strategy says it will set minimum standards for temporary accommodation and increase the number of refuge units across the county.
Kerry Purnell, assistant director of communities and leisure at NNC, said they acknowledged as a system that ‘we don’t always get it right all the time’ and that listening to the voice of survivors is ‘absolutely crucial’.
She added: “We want the county to be a place where abuse is neither tolerated nor hidden, where victims are believed and supported and perpetrators are challenged and prevented from causing further harm.
“The difference from this strategy and the previous strategy is more of a focus on that preventative element. We also recognise that the victim needs to have a seamless journey through the system.”
The strategy has set specific targets up until the plan ends in 2030 to ensure routine enquiries about domestic abuse and sexual violence are completed at 90 per cent of maternity, health, mental health, substance use and housing services, that there is an increase in evidence-led prosecution rate for perpetrators, and more victims report feeling ‘believed, supported and safe’.
The effect on children is also a key thread throughout the plan and further targets for 100 per cent of schools delivering healthy relationships/consent education and children in domestic abuse-affected households receiving needs assessments have also been set.
Progress on the objectives will be reported through quarterly performance reporting to the strategic board and a public-facing dashboard.
A joint statement from both councils said: “In the creation of this strategy, we have undertaken a considerable amount of joint work alongside our partners, including domestic abuse service providers and victims.
“The final version of the strategy is still due to go through both council’s governance process and will be considered by North Northamptonshire Council’s executive and West Northamptonshire Council’s cabinet in spring 2026.
“Both councils are incredibly aware of the importance of raising awareness of domestic and sexual abuse across communities, supporting victims and their families in a joined up and sensitive way whilst holding up those who perpetrate abuse to account.”