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Domestic abuse victims housed in bed and breakfast places

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domestic abuse victims, B&B, insecure housing,This although local authorities ‘should not place victims in bed and breakfast accommodation’.

The number of domestic violence victims forced into bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation in England has shot up by 16 per cent in two years.

A total of 125 responses from local authorities to Freedom of Information requests show that councils placed 1,980 domestic abuse victims in bed and breakfast accommodation in 2013/14, compared to 1,701 in 2011/12 – an increase of 279.

These findings by Inside Housing will fuel ongoing fears that cash-strapped councils’ reductions in funding for providers of refuges is leading to more abuse victims being placed in unsuitable accommodation.

B&Bs are not as secure as refuges, and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has said local authorities should not place victims in such accommodation.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said: “Women and children are often placed in B&Bs when they cannot get a space in a refuge, and recent cuts to refuge budgets are making the situation even worse.”

A number of councils have blamed the rise in B&B placements on an increase in reports of domestic abuse.

Luton Council, which has seen B&B placements for domestic abuse victims rise from just one to 56 between 2011/12 and 2013/14, said there had been ‘a steady increase’ in the numbers of people approaching the council for advice after experiencing domestic violence.

A spokesperson for Croydon Council, where B&B placements for victims increased from 55 to 63 over this period, said there had been a 26 per cent rise in the number of reported domestic abuse incidents in the last year, as well as ‘ongoing council budget pressure’.

And according to the National Audit Office, the government will have reduced its overall grant funding to local authorities by an estimated 28 per cent in real terms between 2010/11 and 2014/15.

David Sparks, chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), said in a radio interview recently that councils are being forced to cut other services to maintain social care budgets.

In November, the Department for Communities and Local Government expressed concern that local authorities were closing domestic abuse provision because of budgetary pressures and launched a £10m fund to stop refuges closing down.

A survey by Women’s Aid published recently showed that 13 per cent of 132 domestic violence services in England had suspended or closed an area of service due to lack of funding in 2013/14.

Polly Neate said women and children escaping domestic violence ‘need specialist, needs-focused support and a place they know they will be safe’.

“B&B accommodation cannot provide this support, and is unsuitable for women leaving violent perpetrators, who will often try and track them down to further abuse them,” she pointed out.

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