Make a Stand Pledge: Domestic Abuse

Domestic abuse is a hugely destructive problem and we have a collective responsibility to tackle it.

That’s why we’ve signed the Make a Stand pledge, alongside more than 100 other organisations. It’s a way for housing organisations like us to publicly commit to take action to support victims of domestic abuse.

It's estimated two million adults aged 16 to 59 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

And the Chartered Institute of Housing report that two women each week and one man each month are killed in England and Wales by a current or former partner.

“We house more than 20,000 people across north Kent and our workforce is made up of almost 300 colleagues. Any of these people could be affected by domestic abuse, which is why we’ve signed the Make a Stand pledge, to join the global fight against domestic abuse”, said Andrew Bircher, Assistant Director of Customer Services and Housing.

“We owe a duty of care to our employees and have a legal responsibility to provide a safe and effective work environment. We also have a duty of care to the people we house; we need to make sure we continue to act on our safeguarding responsibilities and signpost customers to support”, he added.

The Make a Stand campaign was launched in June this year as part of Alison Inman's presidential appeal to tackle domestic abuse.

It’s focussed around a pledge that the Chartered Institute of Housing developed in partnership with the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) and Women's Aid.

There are four focused, but easily deliverable commitments, which participants are encouraged to deliver by September 2019.

One of the objectives is to make information about national and local domestic abuse support services easily accessible for our residents and our staff. We’ve already started sharing advice and guidance, which you can see on Twitter or Facebook. There are some useful links at the bottom of this page too.

The other three objectives focus on implementing policies and appointing a champion to support the work we’re doing.

We’re also supporting the 16 Days of Action Against Domestic Violence campaign which runs from 25 November to 10 December.

It’s aimed at businesses to help them take action against domestic abuse and violence.

 How to get help and support for domestic abuse