New project to hold perpetrators of domestic abuse to account

To reduce the number of domestic abuse victims, perpetrators must be challenged to change their behaviour, say specialist charities and three leading Police and Crime Commissioners

• Two women die a week as a result of domestic homicide
• 100,000 people are at high risk of being murdered or seriously harmed every year
• Fewer than 1% of perpetrators receive a specialist intervention to change

Leading social sector organisations, Respect, SafeLives and Social Finance are working together with Police and Crime Commissioners and Local Authorities in Sussex, Essex and South Wales and the Lloyds Bank Foundation to launch the Drive project.

The project will develop and evaluate a new approach to hold perpetrators of domestic abuse to account in order to keep victims and children safe.

The response to domestic abuse in the UK has always focused on expecting the victim to leave and start a new life in a new community, causing major disruption and taking them away from their support network of family and friends.

Often the perpetrator is left to continue their life as normal and frequently repeats the same behaviour with new partners, creating more victims.

Providing an extensive system of support for victims and their children is essential, but on its own it will not stop domestic abuse. We need to develop effective interventions for perpetrators that minimise repeat and serial patterns of abuse and complement support for victims and children.

There is a failure to respond to perpetrators coherently - or in many cases at all. If long-term change in the prevalence and patterns of domestic abuse is to be achieved, perpetrators must be challenged to stop.

In response Respect, SafeLives and Social Finance are working with the Police and Crime Commissioners in South Wales, Sussex and Essex to launch the Drive pilot. Starting in April 2016 it will test an innovative approach to challenge the behaviour of perpetrators, and co-ordinate the response they receive across all agencies. For the first time in England and Wales, Drive case managers in these three areas will work with some of the most dangerous perpetrators, on a one-to-one basis, to reduce their abusive behaviour.

Drive is funded by Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, Tudor Trust, Comic Relief and the Police and Crime Commissioners in all three areas. The project has also benefited from local authority support. 

Commenting on this important new initiative Diana Barran, Chief Executive of SafeLives, a leading national charity working with to tackle domestic abuse said:  “SafeLives is committed to reducing the number of victims of domestic abuse - this is not possible without reducing the number of perpetrators. The victims we work with have asked us why they are always the ones expected to change – and why too often the perpetrator is left free to continue their abuse of them and others. We want to help victims today and reduce the number of victims of tomorrow. We are evidence-led and will therefore be testing this intervention in three areas, with the aim of proving it could work and be rolled out nationally”.

Minister for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime Karen Bradley said:  “Domestic violence is a devastating crime that shatters the lives of victims and families and the Government is determined to put an end to it. Protecting victims will always be at the heart of our approach, and this includes future partners and children who may also be at risk.

“Our new Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, which we will publish shortly, will look at ways to better understand and address the causes of offending behaviour to stop these terrible crimes from happening in the first place.

“This innovative pilot will give us greater insights into the causes of offending behaviour and the role of rehabilitation.”

Jo Todd, CEO of Respect, said:  

“Keeping families safe from domestic violence requires a focus on the perpetrator, a sustained focus on both reducing further harm and changing behaviour. When we fail to do this effectively, it allows perpetrators to continue to abuse from one relationship to the next.”

Emily Bolton, Director of Social Finance’s Impact Incubator, said:

“We work hard to tackle many of the most serious social issues we face in the UK. But we cannot break the cycles of vulnerability and harm if we do not properly address the causes of domestic abuse. To really improve the life chances of the children and victims, we must develop a national and coordinated response to deliver long-term change in perpetrators’ behaviour.”

Katy Bourne, Police & Crime Commissioner for Sussex, said:

“By addressing perpetrators’ behaviour this project will target the root cause of domestic abuse and, crucially, improve outcomes for victims and children. It is vital that we improve the response to perpetrators to reduce the number of victims currently experiencing domestic abuse, limit the harm to children and prevent further victimisation.”

Nick Alston, Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said:

“All too often, when an individual has been subject to domestic abuse, the question is asked ‘why didn’t they try to leave their situation’. However it is the behaviour of the perpetrators of domestic abuse that must be questioned and challenged as they are at the root of this crime. We must take steps to address the behaviour of dangerous and serial domestic abusers if we are to seek a long-term and meaningful solution to this problem. I welcome the Drive initiative which is bold but necessary if we are to stop abusers in their tracks and create a safer future for victims of domestic abuse and their families.”

Paul Streets, OBE, Chief Executive of Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales said:

“We have invested in a range of charities providing services to support victims of domestic abuse for over 30 years. Whilst vital, we know that sometimes we are helping only to patch-up victims again and again -  if we are ever to reduce domestic abuse, we must effectively deal with the perpetrators who are causing the hurt, violence and harm and ensure they have to address their behaviour to reduce the number of victims now and in the future. Our funding will support the development, testing and evaluation of this model with the aim that it will demonstrate a long-term solution to a national problem that causes so much misery to too many”. 

-ENDS-

For more information – Head of Communications Penny East at SafeLives penny.east@safelives.org.uk 07818 593 562

Available for interview:

• Diana Barran (Chief Executive of SafeLives)
• Neil Blacklock (Director at Respect)
• Police and Crime Commissioners – Katy Bourne, Nick Alston and Alun Michael
• Emily Bolton (Director at Social Finance)
• Duncan Shrubsole (Director at Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales)

Notes to Editors:

Drive challenges perpetrators of domestic abuse. It will develop, test and evaluate a new model to permanently change perpetrator behaviour to make victims and families safe. To reduce the number of victims, we must reduce the number of perpetrators. The Drive Partnership is made up of SafeLives, Respect and Social Finance. The pilot prowill be delivered in Essex, South Wales and West Sussex. It is funded by Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, Tudor Trust and the Police and Crime Commissioners in all three areas. It has also benefited from local authority support.

Respect: the main UK membership organisation working with domestic violence perpetrators, male victims and young people. It has developed standards and accreditation, and provides training and support to improve responses to adults using violence and abuse in intimate relationships. Respect accreditation is the benchmark for the provision of quality interventions with men who use violence against their female partners.

SafeLives: a national charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse. It combines support for local services with hard data to find out what works. Then it does everything it can to make sure families everywhere benefit. SafeLives new strategy addresses the needs of the whole family - including perpetrators.

Social Finance: a not-for-profit organisation that partners with the government, social sector and the financial community to find better ways of tackling social problems in the UK and beyond. It has mobilized £100 million of investment and designed a series of programmes, including the Social Impact Bond model, to tackle social challenges including rehabilitating short sentenced offenders, supporting vulnerable adolescents to avoid being taken into care and helping vulnerable youth access employment. Drive is an initiative of Social Finance’s Impact Incubator. The Impact Incubator is a collaboration between charitable foundations and Social Finance to develop new social business models in areas of acute social need.

Lloyds Bank Foundation England and Wales: is one of the leading community grant makers. An independent registered charity funded by the profits of Lloyds Banking Group the Foundation invests in charities supporting people to break out of disadvantage at critical points in their lives and promotes practical approaches to lasting change. For over 30 years the Foundation has invested in specialist charities tackling domestic abuse and is now investing £1m over three years in Drive to support innovation and the development, management and evaluation of the model.