LONDON, England – The Home Office has awarded £11.3 million to 25 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales, to go towards domestic abuse intervention programmes.
The programmes focus on interventions encouraging behaviour change to help stop perpetrators from committing domestic abuse, with the ultimate aim of preventing further crimes from being committed. Funding will also focus on key areas such as stalking prevention and supporting adolescent perpetrators.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, said: “To prevent the abhorrent crimes of domestic abuse from happening in the first place, we must deepen our understanding of who commits them, why they do so, and how it may escalate. This fund builds on the considerable work already taking place to tackle domestic abuse and aims to better understand key behaviours so we can put a stop to them for good.”
To secure funding, PCCs were able to bid for up to three projects in partnership with a local service provider of their choice.
The programmes use different methods to encourage behaviour change, including 1-to-1 and group therapy and community-based activity. Key objectives of the programmes include reduction in the frequency and gravity of abuse, reduction in the risk posed by the perpetrator and improved safety and protection for victims.
Specific interventions and projects across the country which the funding will go towards include:
- Providing targeted support to address substance misuse, mental health and unemployment;
- Therapy and Compulsive and Obsessive Behaviour programmes to address behaviours linked to stalking;
- Behavioural change courses for children and adolescents who are abusive, violent or using self-destructive behaviour, often as a result of having been exposed to domestic abuse within their home environment;
- Perpetrator support work in schools including healthy relationships education, delivered by professionals as part of the relationship and sex education requirement of schools.
The funding announced today builds on work already taking place to tackle domestic abuse.
Earlier this year the Home Office passed the landmark Domestic Abuse Act, which will bolster the response to domestic abuse on every level, strengthening protections for victims whilst also ensuring perpetrators feel the full force of the law. Last month the government also published its Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere – at home, online and on the streets.
The Home Office also took swift action right at the beginning of the pandemic with the #YouAreNotAlone campaign and worked with pharmacies across the country to launch the Ask for Ani codeword scheme. This is in addition to appointing a Domestic Abuse Commissioner and providing more than £28 million to domestic abuse organisations.
Research into perpetrator interventions is key to understanding the issue of domestic abuse, which is why the Home Office also intends to conduct an evaluation of activity later in the financial year. The evaluations will be used to inform funding plans for future years and to ensure a more targeted approach to any future funding.
The bidding window for this fund closed on 2 July and of the applications received, 31 bids were successful totalling £11,335,884.89. Approximately £5.6 million of this will go towards general perpetrator interventions, £3 million for child and adolescent perpetrator interventions and £2.7 million for stalking interventions.
