Local Authority Support to People with No ... - Islington Council

Eligibility for funding from the Sojourner Project is restricted. Some groups fall out of the Sojourner
remit, including failed asylum seekers and those on student visas. About 50% of applicants are
ineligible; the project has had approximately 2000 referrals and of those around 890 have received
the service, including men (from 30/11/09 – 15/06/11).
Information sharing between local authorities and the voluntary sector was identified as an issue
during the workshop. There needs to be greater awareness-raising with local authorities and
voluntary sector organisations regarding the Sojourner Project, regarding who is eligible for support
and how to apply for support from the service and how this interacts with eligibility for local authority
support.
Benefits of the project identified during the workshop included: reduced local authority costs and a
quicker response to Domestic Violence Rule applications. It was recommended that organisations
collect data on domestic violence cases they come into contact with but are not eligible for Sojourner
funding, in order to help develop appropriate policies and procedures.
When the Sojourner Project ends in 2012 and is replaced with limited access to public funds for
victims of domestic violence in this group, careful planning will need to take place to ensure local
authority support is received instantly upon fleeing abusive situations.
NB. The length of funding under the Sojourner Project is 50 working days, not 40 as stated on the
information pack and Eaves Housing website. A person is entitled to 30 working days of
accommodation and support to enable them to submit a Domestic Violence Rule application and 20
working days post-submission.
Henry St Clair Miller, NRPF Network/Islington Council – NRPF
Connect
This workshop provided an overview of the NRPF Network’s project to deliver a national database for
NRPF cases. The work is funded by the NRPF Network and the UKBA. A steering group with local
authority and UKBA representation is in place to inform system development. The database will be
operational amongst the local authorities involved in the pilot by February 2012 with national-roll out
to follow.
The limitations of not having a centralised database have been known for many years. Better
partnership work between the UKBA and local authorities is needed in order to identify and resolve
cases more effectively. Secure data exchange will facilitate this working partnership and help monitor
outcomes.
The workshop began by canvassing opinion on what people thought the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of a
database for NRPF cases might be, participants were asked to provide one ‘positive’ and one
‘negative’ comment each.
In terms of the negatives, it was felt that people’s right to private life would be breached in relation to
privacy and data protection; it was raised that information held ‘would only be as good as the
commitment of the people who input the data’; maintenance, ownership and costs were also raised
as concerns.
In terms of the positives, comments included ‘creating a common language and understanding’,
transparency, ‘keeping people individual cases ‘alive’ and moving on’ and improved communication
between organisations leading to ‘resolution of status’. From a strategic point of view, providing
NRPF Network/British Red Cross Conference Report June 2011 12