Northamptonshire approves new five-year strategy to tackle domestic abuse and sexual violence
Joint plan by West and North Northants councils aims to improve victim support, prevention and accountability
A new domestic abuse and sexual violence strategy covering the whole of Northamptonshire has been approved by both unitary councils in the area.
The five-year strategy, which is a joint venture between West and North Northants councils, aims to make the county “a place where abuse is neither tolerated nor hidden, where victims are believed and supported, and where perpetrators are consistently challenged and prevented from causing further harm”.
The new document went to a meeting of North Northants Council’s (NNC) executive on Tuesday, May 12, following on from West Northants Council’s approval of the policy a week prior. It covers five priority areas of early intervention and prevention, support and protection for all victims and survivors, trust and confidence, coordinated community response and partnership working, and holding perpetrators accountable.
Speaking at the executive meeting, Corby resident Syl Rielly raised concerns that financial abuse was not explicitly included in the strategy, which she warned would have “life-changing consequences”.
She told the chamber: “At 19, I was in a relationship where control began in ways that didn’t look like abuse. Slowly, my independence was taken away until I no longer had the means, or the confidence, to leave.
“The abuse didn’t start with violence, it started with control, isolation, and financial restriction. Because those warning signs were not recognised, it escalated.
“By 22, it had become physical and life-threatening. I escaped with my three-year-old child into a women’s refuge.
“Looking back, financial abuse was the foundation. If it had been recognised earlier, I believe I would have left much sooner.
“No one should have to wait until they are physically harmed to be taken seriously.”
She said that a decade later, she was still seeing the same failures and women seeking help at an early stage “being made to feel like a nuisance” and not being believed. She asked for a clear commitment to training, accountability, and consistent standards on recognising different types of abuse from the council.
Officers told the meeting that the strategy was a live document and could be altered to make the reference to economic abuse clearer.
Hannah Martin, the CEO of the Northamptonshire Women’s Empowerment Group, also spoke on the strategy in the West cabinet meeting on May 5.
She praised the overall vision in the strategy and its commitment to partnership working and centring survivors’ voices, but warned that it must not become “aspirational”. She asked councillors to ensure that the success of the document is properly measured throughout its lifetime by whether victims feel safer, services are trusted, and if lives are improved.
In Northamptonshire, there were 17,572 domestic abuse and sexual violence-related incidents and crimes recorded in the year to March 2025.
The joint Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (DASV) Partnership board will monitor key targets such as routine enquiries about domestic abuse and sexual violence being carried out, the evidence-led prosecution rate for perpetrators, and how many victims report feeling ‘believed, supported and safe’.
Cllr Gregory Wilcox, NNC’s executive member for communities, said: “As executive member, I am clear about the responsibility here – to provide political leadership to ensure we meet our statutory duties and hold the system to account whenever it falls short, especially when victims are not treated with dignity and belief.
“The strategy shifts responsibility onto the perpetrators, it prioritises prevention and it commits us to building back trust where trust has been lost.”
Cllr Charlie Hastie, the cabinet member for housing and communities in the West, who spoke on the topic at the WNC cabinet meeting added: “Domestic abuse and sexual violence remains one of the most widespread, harmful and underreported crimes affecting our communities.
“It’s absolutely vital that people, when they come forward, are protected and put in an environment where they can tell their side of the story and they’re not going to feel they’re not believed.”