Appendix A – What to expect when making a disclosure
Hammersmith & Fulham Council takes domestic abuse seriously and will always do its best to ensure survivors who make disclosures to our staff are taken seriously and feel supported.
When making a disclosure, you should expect to be:
- believed and treated with empathy, respect and dignity
- offered a referral or signposted to a local domestic abuse service
- put in touch with the right service in housing depending on the support needed, if this isn't the person you made your disclosure to.
Your housing options
Depending on the support available to you, your housing options might include the following:
Homelessness support, including temporary accommodation
Accessible by contacting the homelessness service of the area you would like to make an application to. This can usually be found on that council's website.
For Hammersmith & Fulham, this is via the prevention and assessment service.
You can:
- fill in our housing advice form
- visit the reception at 145 King Street in Hammersmith, Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm
- call 020 8753 4321, Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm
- or call 020 8753 4200 outside of these times.
Management transfer
For H&F housing tenants, you can discuss this with your neighbourhood housing officer. This enables you to transfer to another property of the same size within the borough.
Staying safe at home
You may wish to have additional security measures on your property to remain in your home with additional protections. Your housing officer can refer you for sanctuary schemes or you can ask a domestic abuse service to refer you.
Financial assistance
You may require support to manage rent arrears or the financial implications of experiencing abuse so you can stay in your property. This could be through our rental income team, contactable on 020 8753 6032 or our link and support team, contactable on 020 8753 1587.
You could also access financial assistance through a Discretionary Housing Payment or Local Support Payments.
Support you'll receive
The support you receive will depend on your housing needs and what support the council can provide.
In general, while receiving support you should expect:
- the relevant officer to open a domestic abuse case on receiving a disclosure, recording what they were told, making any appropriate referrals, and discussing what help and support you need to keep safe
- your housing officer to work on an ongoing basis with you and other professionals to reduce the risk of domestic abuse. This will be in relation to your housing needs, while other agencies work to address other needs you may have
- to be kept updated about the support you are receiving as part of ongoing domestic abuse casework, including any changes or developments to the agreed housing support plan
- for case closures to be discussed with you, so you are informed when and why a case will be closed, and who to get back in contact with, and how, in case you ever need support again.
We will only close domestic abuse cases when there is no further action we can take to reduce risk from a housing perspective, or when you don't feel you need support anymore.
With your agreement, we will inform any other relevant agencies that the housing service is no longer actively working with you.