To think that the government making cuts to domestic violence services is a bit... shit?

[FrothyDragon]

I mean, why put women in abusive relationships in a situation that makes it more difficult to leave?

This is depressing reading WTF are Cameron's cronies playing at?

They are cutting everything else, why should women who get the shit kicked out of them regularly be any different, what with equality and all that?

There's just too much at stake here.

We already have two women a week killed by a current or former partner. :( does the government want the blood of more women on it's hands?

Cutting DV services for women affects more people than just women

Many families are helped out of horrendous situations by DV services

This is also a kick in the teeth for children, and if we are being very, very charitable to men that abuse women, it will also mean that services for offenders will be cut too

here is a petition you can sign if you feel this is not fair, and not good Government policy for families

Please sign and add your voice

Well said, AF.

It's not "just" women who are suffering here. Every woman that is suffering is someone's daughter, sister, mother; whoever. Hell, it could even be you (general you, not a specific person) and it's not until you need those services that you realise quite how vital they are.

The Respect service which works with offenders has already had to cut the number of perpetrators it works with.

We're just trapping families in the cycle of abuse. :(

So sad, and yet so unsurprising. Nothing this government does will surprise me now. They are callous bastards, the lot of them. :(

Will definitely sign the petition.

YANBU

Strange how the Graudian can't be bothered to report about the things that are being done - google JSA domestic violence change (can't link on on phone) - the welfare reform act 2009 introduces changes to support people affected by DV to be able to claim ( or maintain their JSA)

Signed.
This government is just disgusting.

Llanbobl, correct me if I'm wrong, but surely for people affected by DV to be able to access JSA, as a single person, they'd have needed to have left the relationship? Not too easy if an abuser has eroded your trust in family and friends, isolated you, left you financially unstable, so basically, the only way you'd be able to leave the relationship would be with the support of these agencies.

Add to that, JSA doesn't provide the support that women get through Women's aid, the refuge service etc. It's a bit of a band aid over a servered limb scenario.

I've signed and posted it to my fb.

I think I even managed to post it on Twitter although I'm still not sure how to work that.

that's great, CA

Frothy - I'm not saying it's a replacement for cuts - it just illustrates biased/lazy reporting - typical press reaction of pressing the buttons that they know will get the public hoo- haa-ing the press is happy to report the negatives - but for every negative there are exceptions/positives.

I suppose my issue is that whatever is being done now seems to get a negative reaction here and in society as a whole. What I can't understand is why so many people think Ed and his pals will be a lot different or will change things radically. Let's face it New Labour did nothing to stop JSA becoming law and they did introduce the worst benefit in the world - ESA. Many of the ESA changes we see now we're kick started whilst labour still held power.

If I knew how I'd hide these benefit bashing threads. I make myself cross trying to inject a counter argument to help balance the view.....time to back out gracefully for me.

bump

I put a link to the petition on my FB earlier today but none of my friends have liked it or said they have signed

It's a depressingly small number of people who have signed though isn't it?

Apropos of nothing, I used to know Alexandra Topping! (the Guardian journo)

Nothing this asshole government does suprises me at the moment. They really couldn't give a damn about anyone vulnerable.

Will check out the petition.

Thanks for the link, have signed.

AGENDA

Yes.

The 'government' hasn't cut funding. The funding is being cut by local authorities. Rather than cutting the number of office staff or managers, local authorities are cutting funding to projects such as this.

Now, obviously that doesn't make the nice 'Boo Hiss Tories' headline that the Guardian likes, but it is what it is - a local decision made by local councils who are having to stop spending like lunatics for the first time in a decade. If you don't like it you can contact your local council.

The office staff or managers aren't going to make themselves redunant. Ofcourse frontline services are going to be cut. It aint rock science. There are wicked cuts being made in all kinds of areas. Ie. denying a child with serious special needs a statement or refusing to pay for taxis to get a severely disabled child to special school.

I think that councils have too many chiefs and not enough indians. Councils do need to be restructured. We need to stop paying huge salaries to essentially figureheads. We also need to look at expenses in local governant which are every bit as corrupt as the MPs.

Completely agree. Local council spending is full of waste. If you ever find your blood pressure is a bit low, it's worth reading the 'Non-Job of the Week' at the Taxpayers' Alliance website:

www.taxpayersalliance.com/waste

Week in, week out, councils are hiring people on £40k+ to do nothing but move paper.

"Week in, week out, councils are hiring people on £40k+ to do nothing but move paper."

However a lot of public sector workers like school support staff, people who run women's refuges, youth workers, are very lowly paid.

I think it would be good to have competition to ask the front line workers what ecomonies can be made.

ReallyTired - think you'll find that was done when the coalition came to power, the public and the public sector were asked to identify efficiences/savings/good practice/smartwer ways of working - so the public gets what the public wants........

In my experience no one is interested in what front line workers think. Its naivety to think that the views of the public count.

Local govenant and the public sector is like molasses.

So what you mean is that like many people it was too much effort to put forward your ideas at the time - much easier to just complain after the fact - like folk who moan about whoever is in power but cba to vote? Apathy is a terrible thing

I think its the structure of the public sector. You often have seven or eight layers between the front line person and the decision makers. In my experience private companies have a far flatter structure. It is why the private sector is so much more dynamic

Ie. Junior TA has an idea on the school saves money and suggest it to line manager who is a junior teacher. The junior teacher passes the idea on to her head of department. The head of department thinks it a good idea, but is busy and everything gets forgotten. Even if she does remember it has to go to the assistant deputy head then the deputy head before it reaches the headmaster.

While ideas pass a long a chain of management they sometimes get garbled. The spark of the orginal initative is lost. The difficulty is persauding all the people in the chain that something is worth doing.

For example I wanted to implement having monitors (ie. a couple of kids) in each class who were responsible for turning computers, monitors, projectors off at the end of the school day.

Schools often have hundreds of computers and the electricity savings add up. Also projector bulbs last longer if they are not left on all night.
However as an ICT technician needed the support of the teachers. Everyone agreed it was a good idea to turn off lights/ PCs/ etc. but converting ideas into reality was something different. The children were enthusiasic and drew posters, but the idea of actually turning off kit never got off the ground.