Life after leaving

From sorting out a new place to live to finding new school places for your children and working out how you will support yourself financially.  You will have lots of questions and concerns after taking the brave step to leave an abuser. At Central Women’s Aid, we can help you work through everything and start to recover after domestic abuse.

The team of specialist workers provide ongoing emotional support to help you through what can be a tough time, we can help you process your experiences and begin to move forward, free from fear.

What help is available?

Housing

If you leave your home because of domestic abuse and you are fearful to return, the local authority may have a duty to help you1. Guidelines set out for local authorities2 mean that they consider domestic abuse as including coercive or controlling behaviour, threatening behaviour, violence or other types of abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) and that local authorities cannot require proof of domestic abuse before they will act.

You can get more information here or contact your local authority housing office. The local authority will then have a duty to investigate your case.

1 Under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 (HA1996) and the Homelessness Act 2002
2 The Homelessness Code of Guidance 2006

Financial support

Entitlement to benefits, may include:

  • Housing benefit
  • Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
  • Universal Credit
  • Discretionary Housing Payments
  • Migrant partner support – Destitution Domestic Violence (DDV) concession
  • Destitution Domestic Violence (DDV) concession

For more info visit the Department of Work and Pensions website.

How can Central Women’s Aid help?

Our charity provide emergency accommodation for women and children escaping domestic abuse. We provide support and activities for women and children in our accommodation and run courses in the community for all women and women only aiming to directly empower women and help them process their experiences .

We will put you in touch with other agencies too, to provide any additional help or support you might need. Give us a call to discuss how we can help.

What other help is available?

Women’s Aid England have published a Survivor’s Handbook‘ which touches on many of the questions and concerns women who have left an abusive relationship experience. It is available in a number of languages and also as an audio file.

You may find it helpful to visit the Women’s Aid Survivor’s Forum, which can provide a safe and anonymous space to share experiences and support one another.

Central Women’s Aid has helped many women and children escape from abuse. Read about some of the women we have helped on our impact page.