Liverpool review

Citysafe should undertake an analysis, utilising experts by experience, to establish the barriers to male victims accessing domestic abuse services and consider how, as a partnership, specialist services for male victims of domestic abuse can be improved. Citysafe and KCSP should seek additional funding from the Home Office to support this programme.

Citysafe and KCSP should promote awareness of male victims across frontline services to facilitate identification of male victims and the wider community, to better support abused men to recognise victimisation, understand what services are available and know it is acceptable to seek help and receive practical support.

ASC should evidence the impact of changes which have been introduced as a consequence of previous learning, to ensure that where VPRFs are received in respect of domestic abuse by a carer to an adult with care and support needs, this triggers a review of the care and support plan pursuant to s27 of the Care Act 2014.

Merseycare should share the package it is developing in respect of trauma-informed practice with Citysafe and KCSP, to enable partners to tailor a shared approach to trauma-informed risk assessment and support for victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse.

Merseyside partners (police and domestic abuse services) should review the MeRIT form in line with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and clarify what constitutes an escalation to MARAC when the MeRIT score is bronze/silver, when the incident involved use of a weapon. Knowsley CSP should also carry out an audit to determine whether VPRFs involving weapons are being consistently referred through to its MARAC in accordance with its procedures.

Partners should consider how to strengthen the multi-agency team supporting the individual and to ensure that multi agency meetings are used consistently to share information and develop effective risk management strategies as risk and harm start to escalate. This should include consideration of dynamics and risk to all family members and intimate partners (a Think Family approach). When MARAC actions have not mitigated the identified risks, this should be fed back to both the multi-agency team and the Domestic Abuse Strategic Partnership as this may suggest a strategic need.

VPRFs and MARAC decisions in respect of offenders who are subject of a community order (irrespective of the nature of the offence that has led to the sentence) should automatically be sent to the offender’s probation officer, to inform their offender management and risk assessment processes.

Liverpool adult social care should consider how to ensure that key partners such as probation, domestic abuse specialists and IDVAs support decision making in respect of relevant s42 safeguarding referrals to Liverpool adult safeguarding.

Citysafe and KCSP should liaise with neighbouring Community Safety Partnerships to identify how to harmonise s42 and MARAC referral processes and enable a joined-up multi-agency approach to identifying and managing risk, including where intimate partners live across different areas.

Representatives from key partner agencies such as probation and the ICB should commit to attending the local MARAC.

Merseyside Police should provide an update report to Citysafe and KCSP on the progress of its innovative projects (the Multi-Agency Task and Co-ordination pathway and Domestic Homicide Prevention tool research project), including analysis of the practicalities or wider roll-out.

Merseyside Police should further analyse data in respect of its response to domestic abuse incidents by gender, including the gravity of such incidents and the perpetrator’s offending history, to determine whether its decisions in respect of arresting and referring perpetrators to the CPS are influenced by gender bias.

All partner agencies should refresh their training offer in respect of domestic abuse and promote accessible resources, to ensure practitioners are equipped to identify and respond to abuse by female perpetrators.

Citysafe and KCSP should seek additional funding from the Home Office to develop a specialist domestic abuse programme to reduce reoffending for female perpetrators of abuse, including those outside the criminal justice system and at an early-intervention stage.

Probation Services should ensure that frontline staff have clear guidance and training in respect of information governance and the importance of recording information in respect of the victims of incidents of violence, to enable accurate risk assessments to be undertaken and informed judgments to be made in respect of enforcing breaches of probation conditions. Consideration should be given to carrying out an audit to ensure that the strengthened supervision processes introduced since 2021 are consistently identifying cases where breaches should be enforced.

Probation services and partner agencies should review whether existing domestic abuse risk assessment tools such as SARA are calibrated to assess female perpetrators of violence.

Partner agencies should review referrals forms for support services such as substance misuse or IDVA/DAA services to ensure these require disabilities or known trauma responses that may act as a barrier to accessing services to be identified, so that reasonable adjustments can be made to facilitate access to support for victims and perpetrators.

When developing Liverpool’s Domestic Abuse Strategic Plan, partners will need to consider how to approach the accommodation needs of perpetrators of abuse, in circumstances where rehousing them will reduce the risk to their victims. This should include consideration of dedicated accommodation providing therapeutic interventions for those with a long history of domestic abuse.