Decision details

The Director of Economic Development and Planning submitted a report seeking approval to renew the Domestic Abuse Service Level Agreement with Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Domestic Abuse Service (HARV) and to request approval to continue the additional staff hours to support the domestic abuse (DA) work.

A Service Level Agreement with HARV had been approved in 2024. The report recommended that the SLA was renewed from the 1^st April for 2025/26. As this was a specialist service with no other providers in the Borough this also required approval of an exemption to the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules. The SLA was included with the report for Members consideration with no significant changes other than an increase in cost due to the rise in National Insurance contributions. It was also proposed to continue with the increased hours of an existing member of staff to address the additional administrative duties.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.     Approved an exemption from Contract Procedure Rules in accordance with rule 5.2 a) that there is only one provider of this specialist service operating in the borough.

2.     Approved commissioning specialist Domestic Abuse support two days a week, in accordance with the new duties as set out in the SLA as attached to the report.

3.     Approved the additional 0.5 day per week of housing staff time to support the additional domestic abuse duties.