'Gender-neutral’ domestic abuse plan could force Women's Aid closures, council is warned

Women’s Aid could be wiped from the map in the Scottish Highlands under council plans to adopt a single provider covering men and women, it is claimed.

In an unprecedented step, four local groups collectively serving more than 1,000 women and 250 children per year have united to warn of what they say is an existential threat to their organisations.

Inverness Women’s Aid, Lochaber Women’s Aid, Ross-shire and Skye Women’s Aid and Sutherland Women’s Aid have been serving the public for decades.

But they say discussions with Highland Council have revealed plans to move towards a single service provider for the entire region, covering both men and women. Backed by national umbrella body Scottish Women’s Aid, they are calling on the council to rethink the proposal.

The call coincides with the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.

This proposed commissioning strategy wipes out decades of support

Lorraine Revitt, manager of Lochaber Women’s Aid, said: “Whilst we acknowledge that men can be victims of domestic abuse it is a gendered crime which has a detrimental effect on more women than men. The need for an individual service for men should not detract from the women’s only services that have been in place for many years in individual areas of the Highlands.”

Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA), said: “Women, children and young people living with domestic abuse cannot bear the burden of local government financial challenges. Keeping women and children safe should be a significant priority in response to Scotland's current economic challenges.

“The local women’s aid services are grass-roots services that have grown out of their communities to help the women and children in local families. This proposed commissioning strategy wipes out decades of support for the people and the services your communities have developed and nurtured.”

More than 2300 reports of domestic abuse were recorded by Police Scotland in the Highlands in 2022-23.

A questionnaire was issued following initial talks between women’s aid groups and officials, with the tender process expected to begin last month. No notice has yet been issued, but the groups say a “gender-neutral” service run by a single contractor was discussed.

A source compared the model to that adopted by North Lanarkshire Council in 2021, when the local authority defunded local women’s aid organisations and awarded a  £1.4million contract to community justice organisation Sacro, arguing that this presented better value for money and would better help male victims.

Highland women’s aid groups claim the awarding of such a contract could mean their refuges will be forced to close. They say the competitive tender of domestic abuse services for men and women “does not work for gender-based violence” and “traumatised women, children and young people need safe spaces away from men”.

Support for male victims of domestic abuse should not be created through the disruption of lifeline services for women

In a statement, they said: “Women’s aid groups support services for men but these must be proportionate to the demand.”

Caithness and Sutherland Women’s Aid alone serves an area as big as Belgium, with is staff travelling almost 30,000 miles to provide outreach services over the last year. The groups fear centralisation will harm localised cover and connection to other essential supports, as well as preventing those experiencing domestic abuse from choosing a service that suits them.

Ultimately, they claim the changes could cost lives.

Leanne Maxwell of Ross-shire Women’s Aid said: “Creating safer communities is key to Scotland addressing gender-based violence and we are concerned that forcing communities to seek a centralised service during times of high risk and vulnerability is both counterproductive and potentially dangerous.

“We very much hope the council rethinks their desire to develop a one-off mega service. Support for male victims of domestic abuse should not be created through the disruption of lifeline services for women, children and young people.”

We recognise and acknowledge the concerns that have been raised

A Highland Council spokesperson said: “Several Highland Council contracts are currently under review including the provision of domestic abuse services.

“The Highland Council is a member of a shared procurement service which leads on commissioning across Highland, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils. As part of this exercise, we are looking to maximise public value for our expenditure and have taken advice from our shared procurement service in relation the contracts we currently have with the four Woman’s Aid groups that operate in Highland.”

The spokesperson said the drafting of the specification for domestic abuse services will reflect best practice principles and “continues to be developed with feedback from the Highland Violence Against Women Partnership, the four local women’s aid groups and Women’s Aid Scotland”, including “the voice and testimony of service users”.

The statement went on: “As we develop our approach to consultation, we plan to issue a Prior Information Notice (PIN) to test the market to see if there are potential service providers who could demonstrate a lead provider model which would cover all domestic abuse victims across all of Highland. This will enable us to reach out to wider partners to better understand the needs of our communities. This notification will help us determine whether a lead provider model is viable and will ensure that all potential providers can engage with us as we seek to deliver improved domestic abuse services across Highland.

“We recognise and acknowledge the concerns that have been raised by the women’s aid groups and will continue to take cognisance of their views and those of other stakeholders as we develop our model.

“No final decision has been taken on the future funding and service delivery model and the process of review outlined is very much in the ‘consultation’ stage. We hope that we can continue to work with stakeholders as we draft the specification and PIN and consult more widely before considering our next steps in any tender process. We will continue to support the current funding model during this process.”