About this page. This page summarises a Domestic Homicide Review published in the Home Office DHR Library. The full report is available at the source link below. Victim and perpetrator names are not included in extracted summaries on this page.
Source · Domestic Homicide Review
Kensington and Chelsea review
CSP: Kensington and Chelsea
Published: September 2023
Year of death: 2015
Extracted: 9 recs
Statutory domestic homicide review under section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Source: Home Office DHR Library.
View full report (PDF) ↗
Source: Home Office DHR Library
Summary
The review identified a lack of agency awareness of domestic abuse, particularly economic abuse and its link to debt, and the need for trauma-informed responses to victims with alcohol misuse. It also noted historic shortcomings in child safeguarding and police response delays.
Extracted recommendations
| # | Recommendation | Addressed to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership should continue to undertake awareness raising targeting local communities, family, friends and neighbours: • Distinguishing the different forms of domestic abuse and coercive control • Guiding them on how to take action when they suspect abuse | Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership |
| 2 | Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership should seek assurance from health agencies that they have procedures and pathways to enable safe enquiry in domestic abuse when indicators of abuse exist. | Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership |
| 3 | Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership should promote models of working with domestic abuse or alcohol that are trauma and gender informed, strengths based and seek assurance from its member agencies that their services are: • Making routine enquiry into domestic abuse where alcohol is a feature of a woman’s presentation • Effectively enabling women experiencing domestic abuse and alcohol misuse, to be able to access specialist services that are capable of addressing both issues | Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership |
| 4 | The Chair of Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership should write to Littlewoods and recommend that they work with Surviving Economic Abuse to improve their awareness of domestic abuse and effectiveness of their debt collection strategies when domestic abuse is involved. | Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership | Littlewoods | Surviving Economic Abuse |
| 5 | Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership should ensure that its agencies are able to meet anticipated, incoming obligations arising from the Domestic Abuse Bill to respond to economic abuse effectively. Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership should raise public awareness about the nature of economic abuse and the availability of specialist support to deal with income maximisation and debt. | Safer Kensington and Chelsea Partnership |
| R10 | To consider strengthening the approach to domestic abuse by joining the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) | Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Housing Services |
| R7 | To ensure that contracted services undertaking income maximisation routinely enquire about economic abuse | Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Adult Social Care |
| R8 | To provide assurance to the Community Safety Partnership that improvement has been made in domestic abuse and child safeguarding practice concerning: • Compliance with DASH • Accurate crime recording of domestic abuse • Improved referral to substance misuse treatment services • Compliance with risk assessment post custody • Compliance with renewed procedures on child safeguarding and protection | Metropolitan Police |
| R9 | To provide assurance to the Community Safety Partnership that improved practice in domestic abuse and child safeguarding practice has been made in the intervening years and that perpetrators are held accountable for their abuse. | Children’s Social Care |
| Recommendations extracted from the published report. Source: Home Office DHR Library. View full report ↗ | ||