Welcome to the Escaping Violence Payment Program.

Ensuring that you understand your rights and responsibilities is central to our commitment to providing quality services. 

Your rights  

As a client accessing the EVP program, you have the right to: 

• Be treated with respect and dignity and feel welcome regardless of ethnicity, faith, age, disability, culture, language, gender identity or sexual orientation 
• Be provided with services in a safe and secure environment free from abuse and neglect 
• Be given information on your rights and responsibilities in an accessible language and format 
• Have your privacy and confidentiality respected and protected 
• Have access to your personal information held by the EVP program 
• Be informed, consulted and encouraged to take an active role in decisions made about your support
• Make complaints in the secure knowledge that they will be listened to respectfully, taken seriously and responded to promptly
• Give feedback on ways in which you believe the EVP program can be improved 
• Access a support person or advocate. 

Your responsibilities 

As a client accessing the EVP program, it is your responsibility to: 

• Treat staff with dignity and respect and behave in a non-violent, non-threatening manner 
• Participate in any activities in accordance with the policies, rules and guidelines of the service 
• Attend scheduled appointments or notify staff members in good time if you are unable to attend 
• Work towards the achievement of any plans and goals you have agreed to 
• Not be under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs when engaging with EVP services  
• Not bring any illegal items or substances onto EVP program premises 
• Have regard for your personal safety and that of others 
• In an emergency, follow reasonable clear directives from staff if attending an EVP location. 

The EVP program is committed to keeping your personal information private. The program recognises your right to privacy and confidentiality, and we are committed to protecting these. The EVP program is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles, and the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and supporting State laws.

Your records are held centrally by Uniting Vic.Tas as the lead agency for the EVP program. This Privacy Policy sets out general information about how the program manages your personal information and how you can contact us to access and update the information we hold about you.

The EVP program will only ask for information that is required to give you access to the program and any other supports or help you may need. Your information will be stored in a secure database. Your information cannot be accessed by others without your direct and written consent. As a program funded by the Department of Social Services (DSS) we are required to share data with the DSS in a secure database known as Data Exchange. The data we share on the Data Exchange is deidentified. You can choose to participate in Research and Evaluation to assist with identifying improvements to the program or your general experience of support. If you consent to participating in Research and Evaluation, your contact information can be utilised by a designated evaluator or researcher for the purpose of this activity only. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

Personal information is defined as any information which identifies or potentially identifies an individual, such as name, address, date of birth, health and medical information, or family details.

We collect information from you in a private, confidential way and make sure you feel safe to share your information. We may also receive information from referring agencies. When collecting information, we will take reasonable steps to let you know why we are collecting it, who we will give it to and how we will use or disclose it. You can withdraw or alter your consent at any time.

Your personal information will only be used for the purposes for which it was collected. Its use will be directly related to providing EVP services and activities, such as assessing your eligibility, or to tailor services to meet your needs. We will ask for your consent if we need to share your personal information with other services or organisations.

We do not disclose sensitive information about you unless you agree or would reasonably expect us to disclose it. Please refer to the Privacy Policy for full details on what we consider ‘sensitive’.

There are situations where the EVP program is required by law to disclose information without your consent. These may include, but are not limited to, when we believe that there is a concern regarding an individual’s life, health, safety or welfare, for family violence protection or assessment purposes, where we have a legal obligation to provide information, or when we are required to report critical incidents to our funding body.

Your records will be stored securely in a safe and secure centralised system. We will take all reasonable care to ensure the confidentiality of your information and to protect it from misuse, loss, or interference. We will only keep personal information for as long as it is required, after which time it will be disposed of securely. In accordance with the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme, the EVP program will notify you if your personal information has been involved in a data breach likely to result in serious harm. If we are unable to contact you, then we will post a notification on our website that an eligible data breach has occurred.

The EVP program strives to ensure that all the personal information we hold is relevant, accurate, complete and up to date. You have the right to access your personal information held by the EVP program. You also have the right to correct the information held about you, unless there is a sound reason under privacy legislation for EVP not to allow this.

Depending on the nature of your request, we may ask you to verify your identity. The EVP program will take all reasonable steps to provide access to the information you request and reserves the right to charge for any reasonable costs incurred in complying with your request.

Please contact us if your details have changed or if you think there is something incorrect with the information we hold about you.

The EVP program is committed to providing quality services and recognises that your feedback provides valuable information to help us improve the services we provide.  

Compliments and suggestions 

We welcome compliments and suggestions to help us continue providing quality services. Where appropriate, we’ll forward compliments to appropriate staff and management and provide you with the outcome of any decisions made regarding your feedback and suggestion(s). 

Complaints  

If you wish to lodge a complaint, the EVP program will make sure you are not penalised or denied any services. We’re committed to resolving your complaints. If you make a complaint, we will:  

• Investigate the complaint and keep you informed throughout the process  
• Act with fairness and objectivity and manage the complaint with professionalism and courtesy 
• Provide you with a response on completion of our investigation. 

Feedback 

If you have a complaint or want to provide feedback about our services, you can do so in the following ways: 

• Speak to your main contact at the EVP program. If you are not happy with the outcome, or if you are not comfortable speaking with your main contact, then contact the program manager 
• Contact your local EVP agency: 
• NSW/ACT: Wesley Mission 
• QLD: UnitingCare QLD 
• WA: Uniting WA 
• VIC/TAS & NT: Uniting Vic.Tas 
• SA: Uniting CountrySA ,  Uniting Communities , UCWB – UnitingCare Wesley Bowden, or UnitingSA 
• Complete the national EVP online Feedback form 
• Email [email protected] (please include which state you are located in) 
• Phone 1800 EVP EVP (1800 387 387).