From Fragmented to Holistic: Starting the Evidence Base for Client – Centred Practice through Navigation:a Report on the Research Evaluation of the Hammersmith Fulham Law Centre ‘Women’s Crisis Navigator Service Project’ (Pilot)

Abstract

This report entitled, From Fragmented to Holistic: Starting the evidence base the client centred practice through a navigator. A report on the research evaluation of the Hammersmith Fulham Law Centre’s, ‘Women’s Crisis Navigator Service Project’ Pilot, examines a project which is relatively new and novel in the United Kingdom. This sees a role entitled, ‘navigator’ assisting women experiencing domestic abuse through the complex, and fragmented system of services as they try to seek help, protection, appropriate orders and other non-legal related issues such as housing, prevention of eviction, homelessness and protection of their children from abuse. It also includes the navigator supporting the woman to have adequate financial means so that she is able to survive, escape the abuser, seek refuge and feed and clothe her children and pay the bills. This project was funded for a six-month pilot. Dr Liz Curran, the author of this report Principal of Curran Consulting: Enhancing Justice & Human Rights, was engaged in October 2020 to conduct the research evaluation within a five-month period from service start up and to deliver her report on 31st of March 2021. The aim of this was also to see if the project, could have started to make inroads in assisting women experiencing a crisis and domestic abuse in gaining access to the complicated systems and navigating them through these. The objective is to see that women do not fall through the service gaps or feel overwhelmed in order to access their legal rights. The key messages outlined in this report are drawn from the data collected. This included aggregated service data with specific areas identified by the evaluator, that were to be measured; a client feedback survey; a professional development training questionnaire for participants in training delivered by the pilot project; a professional journal with guiding questions that was kept by the pilot projects team and the manager of the Law Centre; an in-depth interviews conducted by the independent evaluator with staff of the pilot project and the identified stakeholders in the first two weeks of March 2021. This was deliberately timed to come at the end of the pilot project so that a limited amount of time had occurred for the service to start up to gain some traction but, also, to enable some reflections to shape and inform future service delivery and to provide an evidence base for funding decisions. The report highlights the problems of providing front-line service delivery to the most vulnerable people during a pandemic and the limitations and implications of providing services only online or by telephone. This is particularly highlighted by some of the participant reflections for women experiencing domestic abuse and for groups such as being members of the BAME community (black, Asian and minority ethnic people) and people living in poverty. This report makes recommendations as to how some of these matters might be addressed in future including flexible work arrangements, the use of succinct information and intake material and the need for a feedback loop between service providers to create better pathways, that do not compromise client confidentiality or privacy. The report, relying on the data gathered and other research, uncovers findings that highlight the problems with the way in which legal aid is funded in the United Kingdom, and the problems with legal aid services. This flows from contracts to multiple and different services, for different types of work. This makes the system fragmented, hard to navigate and compounds the sense of powerlessness of clients and community, re-traumatises clients and adds significant layers of difficulty that prevent victims of domestic abuse being protected and made safe and availing themselves of the laws and services which are supposed to support them. The report highlights, that for all service providers, the legal aid landscape in the United Kingdom is fractured, underfunded, encourages working in silos, and places (particularly women experiencing domestic abuse who often have children they are trying to protect) on a referral roundabout. This is likely to make them just give up. Even where there was navigation support, non-legal professionals support and referrals were made to receive further specialised legal help often when it seemed that help would be offered) the women found staff unhelpful, did not qualify for legal aid or the firm was unable to take on the work due to a lack of capacity and risk. As one participant in the research noted, this means testing of legal aid is giving a license to abusers to kill. The report makes some suggestions on how legal aid services in the United Kingdom might be improved and enable more joined up, generalist areas of work to be maintained in-house. This is critical so that women experiencing domestic abuse can be better supported through the process and not be placed on the referral roundabout. Current practice sees women falling out of the system, not seeking legal help, becoming more traumatised by the system than previously, and placed at significant risk of harm. The report, using the data collected, makes recommendations as to how a Navigator project might be able to make inroads on behalf of women experiencing domestic abuse and other vulnerable groups. This is by working holistically and collaboratively, in a cost-effective and efficient way, to provide the ongoing service support and casework for clients and their trusted intermediaries. This includes the value and role of secondary consultations.