Escaping Violence Payment.

The Escaping Violence Payment Program offers financial assistance and confidential support for people who have recently left a violent intimate partner. It will help you move forward and set up a home that’s free from violence.

The Escaping Violence Payment Program can help you re-establish safety after leaving a violent partner or after they have left or been removed from the home. There is financial assistance and other confidential support services. You might be eligible for up to $1500 in financial assistance such as cash or cash equivalent and depending on your needs, other goods and services and wrap-around support up to a total, combined value of $5000

You do not need to be a client of the UnitingCare Network to access the payment and you can also be referred by any family violence or other support service. If you already have a case worker, they can help you work out if you are eligible and apply for the EVP with you. If you are not in contact with a service, you can apply directly via the eligibility form on this website.

• If you are over 18, experiencing financial stress, and you have changed residence due to intimate partner violence within the last 12 weeks
• Remain in your home where the perpetrator is no longer living within the last 12 weeks
• Have a safe plan in place to move soon (including from a refuge or other temporary accommodation) you may be eligible.

The Escaping Violence Payment is available to Australian Citizens and Permanent Residents. If you are applying through this website, the application form steps you through basic eligibility criteria.

We will contact you within a few days to confirm that we have your details and that information you have submitted is correct. We may also ask for additional information. There is no need for you to follow up on your application.

After you have been contacted about your application, and we have received any additional information requested, a dedicated EVP worker will be in touch. This will be within a few weeks, and they will work with you to tailor your EVP package including identifying your goals and priorities, commencing payment of the cash component and working with you to create a future free from violence.

Your EVP package is kept open for 12 weeks from when you start with your EVP worker.

The Escaping Violence Payment is not a crisis service. Help is available now if you, or someone you know is experiencing or at risk of domestic, family or sexual violence. In case of an emergency call 000, and for information, support and counselling you can contact one of the following services:

• 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or visit 1800respect.org.au. This is the National Sexual Assault, Family and Domestic Violence Counselling Line. This service is free, confidential and open 24 hours a day and supports anyone affected by domestic and family violence and sexual assault.
• Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au. Lifeline can provide all individuals with crisis support and help put you in contact with a crisis service in your state.
• Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or visit kidshelpline.com.au. Kids Helpline is a free telephone and online counselling service for young people aged between 5 and 25.
• MensLine Australia on 1300 78 99 78. MensLine Australia is the national telephone and online support, information and referral service for men with family and relationship concerns. The service is available from anywhere in Australia and is staffed by professional counsellors, experienced in men’s issues.

Visit dss.gov.au for a list of domestic and family violence services and supports in each state and territory.

The information you submit will help us determine your eligibility as quickly as possible – we have been receiving a large number of applications and responses may take a few weeks.

The Escaping Violence Payment is not a crisis service, so if you need immediate assistance, you should call 000 or 1800 RESPECT.

Yes. Your case worker can complete your application with you and send it through to us. Your case worker is your main point of contact and can help you tailor your package if you are eligible. You can still apply directly to us via the eligibility form on this website if you prefer.

No one will know you have accessed the service unless you tell them. When you contact the Escaping Violence Payment program, you tell us how and when we can communicate with you safely, so that your enquiry will not be discovered by a perpetrator.

We have a privacy policy and will not disclose your details to anyone else except where we have concerns about your immediate safety or the safety of others.

In this situation we will make every attempt to talk to you about our concerns and what steps we may need to take to ensure you and others are safe.

Privacy, confidentiality and safety will be maintained at all times.

If you aren’t eligible for the Escaping Violence Payment program, you may be referred to other support services, such as specialist family violence services and local, state wide or national programs.

You may want to put together your documentation ahead of contact from the EVP team about your application. If you have been working with a DV service or counsellor, they may have all of this

information already and you can ask them to liaise with us on your behalf, rather than applying directly for the EVP and telling your story again. It may be helpful to have information or documentation to support your application. Examples of this may include:

• Identity documents – (e.g. Australian passport, birth certificate).
• Information relating to your experience of Family and Domestic Violence
• Information relating to your change in living circumstances
• Information relating to your experience of financial difficulty
• A bank statement where a cash transfer is being requested