Domestic Abuse Policy Statement - Louth Town Council

Louth Town Council

Domestic Abuse Policy Statement

Adopted June 2025

Louth Town Council recognise that Domestic Abuse is everyone’s business and that it is our responsibility to equip ourselves with the ability to recognise abuse and know what action to take.

As a town council we will ensure that:

We raise awareness in our community of Domestic Abuse
As individuals and collectively to never use, excuse or remain silent about violence against others
Have a policy statement
Have a Domestic Abuse lead officer
Equip ourselves as individuals with the information to make a referral

Having the contact details for local services is a good place to start. ……

If you are concerned about someone, male and female being abused and want to make a referral then call:

Lincolnshire Domestic abuse Service : 01522 510041 (opt 2) email: info@ldass.org.uk

What Is Domestic Abuse?

The Home Office 2021 definition of domestic violence and abuse now states:

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
psychological, emotional or other abuse

Whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct does not matter.

*Personally connected definition: They are, or have been, married; civil partners; have agreed to marry one another; have entered into a civil partnership agreement; are or have been in an intimate personal relationship; they have or have had a parental relationship in relation to the same child; are relatives or in the same household.

Controlling behaviour is: a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.

Coercive behaviour is: an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.

Why Does Domestic Abuse Happen?

All forms of domestic abuse come from the abuser’s desire for power and control over other family members or intimate partners. Although every situation is unique, there are common factors involved. The most important factor to remember is that the survivor is NOT to blame for the abuse.

What Are the Signs of Domestic Abuse?

Destructive criticism and verbal abuse: shouting, mocking, accusing, name calling, verbally threatening you, making you feel bad about yourself.
Pressure tactics: threatening to withhold money, taking away your phone or car, threats to commit suicide or take the children away, report you to welfare agencies unless you comply with their demands.
Disrespect: persistently putting you down in front of other people, not listening or responding when you talk, interrupting your telephone calls, taking money from your purse without asking, refusing to help with childcare or housework.
Breaking trust: lying to you, withholding information from you, being excessively jealous, having other relationships, breaking promises and shared agreements.
Isolation: monitoring or blocking your telephone calls, telling you where you can and cannot go, preventing you from seeing friends and relatives.
Harassment: following you, checking up on you, opening your mail, repeatedly checking to see who has telephoned you, embarrassing you in public.
Threats: making angry gestures, using physical size to intimidate, shouting you down, destroying your possessions, breaking things, punching walls, wielding a knife or a gun, threatening to kill or harm you and the children or pets and people you care about.
Sexual violence: using force, threats or intimidation to make you perform sexual acts, having sex with you when you don’t want to have sex, any degrading treatment based on your sexual orientation.
Physical violence: punching, slapping, hitting, biting, pinching, kicking, pulling hair out, pushing, shoving, burning, strangling.
Denial: saying the abuse doesn’t happen, saying you caused the abusive behaviour, being publicly gentle and patient, crying and begging for forgiveness, saying it will never happen again.
LGBT community specific signs: threatening/outing partner/family member, ridiculing body parts or assaulting medically altered body parts.

Statistics

Here are just a few statistics to demonstrate how serious domestic abuse is:

1 in 4 women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, with 57% subjected to repeat victimisation
2 women a week are killed by a current or former partner
1 in 6 men will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime
One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute
Jealous and controlling behaviour, harassment and stalking, sexual abuse and physical abuse are noted to be more prevalent in the LGBT+ community according to SafeLives insight report 2018

S.A.F.E Course

Lincolnshire Domestic Abuse service run a free course , S.A.F.E, which stands for Safety, Awareness, Freedom, and Empowerment, has been specifically designed for adult victims of domestic abuse. However, it is also a useful resource for anyone who wants to learn more about domestic abuse. This online e-learning course has the following learning outcomes:

It will help you to:

Gain a better understanding of the causes and effects of domestic abuse
Explore the different types of domestic abuse
Understand the cycle of abuse
Examine the behaviours in a healthy relationship
Explore the impact domestic abuse has on children
Look at potential warning signs for future relationships
Identify core values, empowering you to take these values into future relationships
Consider your overall well-being

Accessing the Course

The S.A.F.E course is currently accessed via the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership online training system, Enable. To access the course, follow these instructions:

Go to the LSCP website and scroll down to where it says “Login to access training” and “Register to access training”.
If you don’t have an account, register to create one. This is a simple and straightforward process.
Once you have successfully logged into Enable, click on “Learning” and scroll down to the “Available Learning” section.
Choose one of the two S.A.F.E e-learning courses (they are identical except one version includes an extra learning module on how domestic abuse impacts children).

Our training – LSCP (lincolnshirescp.org.uk)

Further resources:

White Ribbon

White Ribbon is the UK ‘s leading charity in engaging men and boys to prevent violence against women and girls. White Ribbon, is a Canadian based organisation, dedicated to raise organisational awareness to preventing abuse against women and girls by supporting individuals and organisations to intervene before harmful attitudes and behaviours towards women and girls can take place. This work is called primary prevention

The White Ribbon Promise is to Never, Use , excuse or remain silent about men’s violence against women.

www.whiteribbon.org.uk/about-us

EDAN

EDAN Lincs is a registered charity providing support & assistance to anyone suffering or fleeing from Domestic Abuse in Lincolnshire.

www.edanlincs.org.uk

SafeLives

SafeLives is a UK-wide charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse. They provide a package of support for professionals. Click on the link below for further information.

https://safelives.org.uk/training

Lincolnshire County Council Professionals Hub for Domestic Abuse in Lincolnshire

www.professionals.lincolnshire.gov.uk/domestic-abuse-1

Clear Path

Awareness raising and Trauma based resources to assist professionals

https://www.clearpathuk.org/resources

Other Domestic Abuse Services

Lincolnshire Domestic Abuse Specialist Service (LDASS)

www.ldass.org.uk

01522 510041

National Domestic Abuse Helpline

www.nationalhelpline.org.uk