Domestic Abuse

In 2004, Northern Rock Foundation launched a £4 million, five-year initiative on domestic abuse. It brought together statutory and voluntary sector partners in two projects, one urban, one rural, working with victims, their children and perpetrators. The aim was to demonstrate better ways of supporting victims, and ultimately to reduce the incidence of domestic abuse. A longitudinal evaluation was commissioned to draw lessons from the projects throughout and beyond their lifespan.

One in four women experience domestic abuse. On average they are abused 35 times before they call the police. Where there are children in the home, 90% will witness the abuse, with far-reaching consequences for their well-being. For the estimated 500,000 victims of domestic abuse each year, only 250 perpetrators will receive a custodial sentence. Victims of domestic abuse face a bewildering array of agencies when seeking help: police, social services, housing, crown prosecution service, probation, education, health, solicitors and the courts as well as voluntary services such as refuges and support networks.

In 2000 Northern Rock Foundation commissioned the International Centre for the Study of Violence and Abuse at Sunderland University, under Professors Marianne Hester and Jalna Hanmer, to research why so many cases of domestic abuse drop out of the criminal justice system. The research, published in July 2003, highlighted the need for comprehensive and rapid-response advocacy services for victims and children, alongside professional intervention with perpetrators. It also argued that to make any difference to attrition rates, and ultimately to the incidence of domestic abuse, key statutory agencies needed to put the victim at the heart of a co-ordinated approach, where organisations would better share information and skills.

After the research was published, the Foundation brought together a group of senior practitioners, policy makers and academics (including Professors Hester and Hanmer), to discuss what it might do in response. The group agreed a model for an intervention project that would address the needs identified in the attrition research and draw on examples of good practice from across the country. The aim was to show that a new way of working would have better outcomes for victims, who would see more cases progress through the criminal justice system to successful prosecutions, which in turn could reduce the incidence of abuse. It was also hoped that the project would influence public policy and spending by showing how statutory resources could be used better to achieve more.

Northern Rock Foundation invested £4 million in the resulting initiative, and invited consortia of statutory and voluntary organisations to tender for funding to run services – one urban, and one rural – based on the model. The two successful consortia were Gateshead Domestic Violence Forum which received £1.9 million to expand the Safer Families project in the borough, and Cumbria Domestic Violence Strategic Management Board which received £1.6 million to set up the Let Go service in Eden and rural Carlisle. Both launched in summer 2005.

Between them the two consortia employed 15 new full-time staff. Just as importantly, each partner committed to improve their own response to domestic abuse. The police, Crown Prosecution Service, Probation Service, primary care trusts, local authorities and voluntary sector providers promised to train existing staff, improve the recording of incidents, share information and increase the capacity of their existing services. These developments were as critical as the new services, and the consortia set themselves tough targets including reducing repeat victimisation, increasing the reporting of incidents and reducing the attrition rate of cases in the criminal justice system.

Alongside the consortia’s work, the Trustees set aside £350,000 for a five-year study to measure the impact of the activities and the process of multi-agency working: ‘Making Connections Count’ . The Foundation commissioned The International Centre for the Study of Violence and Abuse at Sunderland University to undertake the evaluation. In 2006 the Foundation convened an advisory group which included senior people in key partner agencies – including one of the region’s chief constables – alongside policy makers, academics and other experts in the field. The aims of this group were to help the evaluation team tackle problems, and to promote a wide ownership of the work and of the evaluation findings.

For more information on this initiative, contact Cullagh Warnock at the Foundation.