Domestic Abuse

Domestic abuse (DA) is a high harm and high-volume crime that often remains largely hidden. Anyone can be affected and it can manifest itself in different ways within different communities.

Domestic Violence Abuse (DVA) is defined by the government as:

• 'Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.’ This can encompass, but is not limited to, the following types of abuse: psychological, physical, sexual, financial, emotional, honour-based violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage.1

WIRRAL has adopted the statutory definition described in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (Office, 2022) (Legislation, 2021), the development of which was intended to improve the response to 
domestic abuse by:

• Protecting and supporting victims
• Transforming the justice process
• Improving performance
• Promoting awareness

The new statutory definition not only takes in to consideration the different and complex nature of domestic abuse, but highlights the importance of a multi-agency collaboration to deliver an effective 
response. 

1 Home Office: Information for Local Areas on the change to the Definition of Domestic Violence and Abuse. Available 
from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/definition-of-domestic-violence-and-abuse-guide-for-local-areas 

Wirral Services 

• Further information on services and resources can be found at Wirral’s dedicated domestic abuse website, #itsneverOK,
  Local Support Services | It's Never Ok Wirral

• Wirral 24 hour helpline 0151 643 9766

• National 24 hour helpline 0808 2000 247

Merseyside Police 

• Call 999 (emergencies) or call 101 (non-emergencies) or report a crime online

• The Police will ensure that priority is given to helping the victims of domestic abuse remain in their familiar home environments.  A key principle will be that wherever possible (and always in high risk situations) they will seek to remove the perpetrator from the household situation, allowing couples, families, children and individuals to move forward with the least amount of disruption to their life.

• Work is ongoing to identify the hidden victims of domestic abuse who are otherwise unknown to services; this includes domestic abuse advisors based in hospitals.  Victims presenting at hospitals suffer more severe abuse, are not likely to be engaged with any other services and are more likely to still be living with the perpetrator. The Police’s aim is to 'get it right first time' by providing support and clear referral pathways for victims, professionals, friends and families. 

• Call 0151 666 4914

Domestic Abuse Strategy Workshop slide set May 2025

Domestic Abuse Strategy Workshop May 2025: Feedback slides

Domestic Abuse Strategy Workshop slide set (December 2024)

Wirral’s current domestic abuse strategy was approved in November 2020. Over the last four and half years Wirral has developed a mature partnership and network around domestic abuse. The Alliance not only serves as the local partnership board relevant to Section 58(2) of The Act, but also comprises wider partners coopted over the period of the strategy to reflect Wirral’s strategic approach.

A Domestic Abuse Hub (The Hub) for Wirral was established in 2022-23; combining what was the Family Safety Unit with Early Help Teams to focus efforts on Wirral’s strategy and support the wider partnership work of The Alliance. This structure has enabled Wirral’s response to domestic abuse to improve and evolve over the period of the current strategy. Page 204

The Hub is made up of IDVAs (Independent Domestic Abuse Advocates), police and local authority staff working together in an Early Intervention Team (EIT) and a SPAR (Single Point of Access) team who triage and give immediate support after a referral is received. The Hub includes a small specialist business team to help coordinate the multi-agency response to high-risk victims of domestic abuse. The business team also support Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs).

In terms of continuous improvement activity over the last year, officers leading The Hub have developed a Children’s MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference), for higher risk child victims of domestic abuse. This team are trauma informed practitioners, able to provide therapeutic support to children and young people who have witnessed and experienced Domestic Abuse. The Hub structure also includes an elder person IDVA and a young person’s IDVA.

Operation Blackbird is a new initiative to promote earlier support for victims. This means a Wirral IDVA now works from a local police station, attending to victims as soon as possible after the report to police. This IDVA also supports the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, for those who have requested information.

A comprehensive training package supports The Hub and is shared across The Alliance. At a practice level this includes training on the Domestic Abuse Recovery Toolkit (DART) and trauma informed training at levels according to role and need. SafeLives UK, a national domestic abuse specialist charity, provide specialist training for those attending, chairing or managing MARACs. The Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership offer training, from general awareness raising to frontline delivery.

Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee - Tuesday, 4th March 2025

Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee - Tuesday, 10th June 2025

• To set some context for Wirral, national statistics tell us that 1 in 5 adults will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime. 1.5 million incidents will be reported across England and Wales last year, with 2.4 million victims. Police receive a call relating to domestic abuse very 30 seconds.

• In terms of domestic abuse identified by the police, the Merseyside region is on par with national and northwest neighbours. The financial year 2023-24 saw 33,885 combined crimes and incidents recorded by Merseyside Police. This equates to 23 per 1000 head of population. In comparison, the northwest saw 24 per 1000 and an England and Wales rate of 22 per 1000 head of population. The 5 most similar police areas to Merseyside saw an average rate of 30 per 1000 head of population.

• Wirral has a lower-than-average rate of domestic abuse crime per head of population across the Mersey region. However, this still equates to an average of just over four hundred domestic abuse related crimes per month.

• The Safer Wirral Partnership Board’s performance tracker shows that crimes categorised as domestic violence on Wirral have reduced year on year since 2022- 23.

• The rate of domestic abuse related reports from police incidents to children’s services has similarly reduced year on year over the last 3 years. The rate of these reports for Wirral is lower than the Merseyside wide rate. This is in line with the comparative level of crimes and incidents across the region. Page 205

• Domestic abuse is the primary reason in approximately 20% of all the contacts to children’s services in Wirral. 24% of all the referrals to higher end statutory level children’s social care services cite domestic abuse as the primary reason for referral.

• Overall domestic abuse contacts to children’s services integrated front door (IFD) increased by 13% in 2024/25 compared to the previous year. The increase in those requiring statutory services (also known as referrals) only increased by 3%. This infers a shift towards earlier identification and help being sought from people and sectors wider than policing.

• Wirral’s domestic abuse hub manages the coordination of activity around higher risk victims of domestic abuse through a process called MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference). Referrals to MARAC have reduced by 5% in 2024/25 compared to the previous year, repeat referrals have also reduced. This rate of gradual reduction in higher risk victims corresponds with fewer crimes identified as domestic violence and less police reports to children’s services.

• Wirral’s domestic abuse early intervention team sits within The Hub, working with children, adults and families at the lower end of risk. This team has seen an increase of 50% in the requests for their services in the last 12 months.

• As reported in March 2025, and as with areas across England and Wales, Wirral has seen some increase in referrals linked to harmful practices. The Hub continues to work with Savera UK, Karma Nirvana and other organisations. Further information about harmful practices can be found on the Savera UK website or though the #itsneverOK website.

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA – Identified vulnerable groups (June 2025)
This document sets out to review the domestic abuse prevalence and victim characteristics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales and police recorded crime (Year ending March 2024 edition) and applying  those rates to Wirral population.

We acknowledge the work of the Swindon JSNA team and colleagues in producing their 2024 Domestic Abuse JSNA – some elements of that work have been replicated here in this JSNA..

Prevalence tool data: Wirral: created: May 2025

What is the prevalence tool?
The SafeLives prevalence tool estimates the prevalence of domestic abuse within local areas. This includes an estimation for the number of victims, perpetrators of abuse, and children in households with partner abuse. It also breaks down the victim estimations into visible victims only, Adult Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) victims only, and marginalised groups of people such as racially minoritised people, LGBT+ people, and disabled people.
 
How does it work?
The tool calculates the figures by using several external and internal data sources for estimations of domestic abuse amongst different groups of people. This includes both ‘set figures’ which are consistent across all local areas, as well as ‘local specific data’. The ‘set figures’ include data from the ONS (Office for National Statistics) including the ‘Crime Survey for England and Wales’ (2020) and the ‘Family Resources Survey’, Stonewall data, and SafeLives estimations such as the number of children experiencing abuse in their household. ‘Local specific data’ includes population data for each area on gender, age and ethnicity taken from the latest Census (2021) survey, as well as data on those at the highest risk of serious harm or homicide taken from the latest Marac dataset. 
 
Please note:
The numbers provided are estimations and have been rounded down. All calculations are based on population data from the 2021 Census. These figures do not take into account different prevalence rates within local areas. The calculation uses national level prevalence of domestic abuse figures alongside local level population census data to provide an estimate of how many victims there are within an area. The tool uses the 2020 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), we decided not to use the more recent CSEW version due to various data collection issues which means they have not been defined as national statistics.

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA (June 2025)

Governance structure for domestic abuse in Merseyside

Police Crime Data related to Domestic Abuse (April 2024 to March 2025)

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA (June 2025): High Risk Incidence (MARAC)
Local data 
The Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) is a local meeting where information concerning the highest risk domestic abuse cases is shared between representatives of police, probation services, health services, child protection specialists, housing practitioners, Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) and other specialists from the statutory and voluntary sectors

Content being developed - will be added soon.

We continue as a partnership to gather and use a wide range of data to inform our work. Below are some examples of that partnership approach.

Family Nurse Partnership Programme
The Family Nurse Partnership Programme is an intensive programme for first time teenage parents.

An annual audit is completed of all clients on their caseload which includes questions around DA, for 2024/2025, the audit highlighted the following:

• Of the 119 clients that completed the section, 74 (62%) had experience of domestic abuse (DA), most being via previous partner (n=37) or family history (n=26)

• Most common form was physical abuse (44/74, 60% where abuse was noted) followed by controlling/coercive behaviour (35/74, 47%) and emotional abuse (22/74, 30%)

• Almost 2 in 3 (64% or 47/74) of mothers who had experienced any kind of abuse had experienced more than one type of abuse

• Other types of DA mentioned included verbal, sexual, financial, stalking, or abuse online/via messages.

Please note: 
Not all services/support organisations are able to report statistics on domestic abuse (DA), for example Midwifery and the Health Visiting Service both ask about DA at contacts, but do not routinely report the proportion of those they support that are impacted. 

Further Health content to be added in coming months.

Local data and insight to be added shortly (August 2025)

Perpetrator programmes

Wirral Domestic Abuse Hub deliver Caring Dads; a behaviour change programme for fathers, aimed at reducing abusive and harmful behaviours towards children and women.

Caring Dads develops trust, increases awareness of abusive behaviours and their consequences, whilst encouraging men to take responsibility for their actions. 
Referrals primarily are received from Children’s Social Care, but can also be received from other organisations, Family Courts, and via self-referral.

From April 2023 – March 2025, there were 129 behaviour change referrals (for perpetrators). 33 of these referrals were not accepted onto the programme for reasons such as no child contact taking place or there being no or minimal evidence of motivation for change. 18 males successfully completed the programme, 37 remain engaged with the programme as of April 2025.

Prior to Caring Dads, Wirral secured funding for the Drive Project. A Safelives project of intervention working with high-harm, high-risk and serial perpetrators of domestic abuse to prevent abusive behaviour and protect victims. The funding for this project ended in April 2023. 

Ref: Responding to perpetrators - SafeLives

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA (June 2025): Overview of Paul Lavelle Foundation
Domestic Abuse workshop slide set May 2025

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA (June 2025): Overview of Pause0

Content provided by Pause

Pause is a national charity that works to improve the lives of women who have had – or are at risk of having – more than one child removed from their care, and the services and systems that affect them. They offer an intensive, trauma-informed model of support to women, so the removal of a child never happens more than once.

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA – Overview of RASA Merseyside (Headlines) (July 2025)

Service content - July 2025

Case Study – RASA Merseyside (May 2025)

Case Study - Refuge (June 2025)
Supporting those who have experienced abuse is at the core of everything we do. Refuge mainly support women and children, but their community services also extend to men.

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA (June 2025): Overview of Lighthouse Centre (headlines)
The Lighthouse Centre Wirral is a safe, warm and friendly space for women and children who have or are experiencing domestic abuse. They provide a drop in service Monday to Thursday 10:30am until 3pm where they offer independent advocacy, risk assessment and safety planning.

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA (June 2025): Overview of Tomorrow’s Women (headlines)

Tomorrow’s Women (TW) is a charity led by women for women offering support, courses, activities and interventions for a range of issues including domestic abuse, mental health, stalking & harassment, substance misuse, confidence & self-esteem issues, and social isolation. TW currently have over 17,000 women registered between their Wirral and Chester centres, offering a timetable of activities and support options for a range of issues. 

Tomorrow's Women website

Set up by local women in 1993, WEB Merseyside (Women’s Enterprising Breakthrough) has grown from a small support network of local women into a vital community based organisation that supports young people and adults through a variety of issues which affect many people throughout their life.

WEB aims to provide a high-quality service to members of the local community. It provides time, space and flexible support to help women regain confidence and self-esteem, opportunities to explore personal choices to support their personal growth, and opportunities for personal growth and skills development to enable them to get more from life.

More information to be added.

Anyone can be at risk of domestic abuse. However, there are risk factors associated with an increased likelihood of domestic abuse perpetration and victimisation. 

Individual-level predictors (5):

• Gender: men and women can both experience DA, but women are most likely to be victims and survivors, and men are most likely to be perpetrators
• Age: being a young adult has been identified to be a risk factors for both perpetration and victimisation
• Ethnicity: being a member of an ethnic minority group has been found to be a risk factor for DA
• Low levels of education, socio economic status and unemployment are risk factors for both abuse perpetration and victimisation
• Substance misuse: several systematic reviews identified a strong relationship between substance misuse and DA. It is also important to include mental health problems associated
  with substance misuse (and DA).
• Mental health problems and stress: can result from the impact of DA on victims, however, they can also lead to an increased risk of being a perpetrator, or being a victim of domestic abuse
• Anti-social behaviour and attitudes: have emerged consistently as a substantial risk factor for later Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) involvement for men and women who perpetrate 
  IPV and are frequently found to be a mediator for earlier risk factors such as harsh parental treatment
• Behavioural problems in childhood: such as aggression, withdrawal and conduct disorders
• Traditional gender roles: views on gender inequality and male domination have been linked to domestic abuse in various studies
• Pregnancy: being pregnant may put women at greater risk of abuse, although data are limited and sometimes contradictory

Interpersonal-level predictors:

• Experience of child abuse: has been linked with DA perpetration and victimisation later in life
• Exposure to violence at home
• Relationship status (recent divorce or separation) and parenting (family conflicts)
• Poor quality peer relationships
• Disadvantage status: due to education, occupation and/or income

Community-level predictors

• Neighbourhood deprivation: areas with disadvantaged communities and low employment, have been shown to be linked to higher levels of intimate partner violence
• Social and cultural norms: acceptance of gender inequality and violence can increase the risk of domestic abuse
• School context: differentiated by gender and ethnicity

5 Capaldi DM, Knoble NB, Shortt JW, Kim HK. A Systematic Review of Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Violence. Partner 
Abuse. 2012 Apr;3(2):231-280. doi: 10.1891/1946-6560.3.2.231. PMID: 22754606; PMCID: PMC3384540, and HM 
Government. Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan - This is everyone’s responsibility. Let’s stop domestic abuse now.’ (2022)

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) last updated its information on the consequences of domestic abuse in September 2023. The content below is from this information.

The experience of domestic abuse can adversely affect the physical, psychological, emotional, and social health and wellbeing of the victim, children, and other affected adults [DH, 2017] [Keynejad, 2021].

Physical

• May include repeated traumatic injury (for example bruises, burns, bites, lacerations, abrasions, or fractures) or in extreme cases, homicide [NICE, 2014; Home Office, 2023].

  • The Home Office Domestic abuse statutory guidance cites Office for National Statistics (ONS) data that [Home Office, 2023]:

    • The majority of domestic homicide victims are women. Data for the period March 2018 to 2020 found 276 women were victims of domestic homicide and in 97% of cases, the suspect was male. Over the same period, 86 men were killed in domestic homicides. In 62% of the cases, the suspected perpetrator was male, and in 38% of the cases the suspect was female.

    • In the year ending March 2021, 57 women and 10 men were recorded as being victims of homicide by a current or ex-partner.

• Children may present with bed-wetting and unexplained abdominal pain [Home Office, 2023].

Reproductive and sexual health

• May include adverse reproductive outcomes, including multiple unintended pregnancies or terminations, delayed pregnancy care, miscarriage, premature labour, stillbirth, concealed pregnancy, recurrent sexually transmitted infections, and other urogenital conditions [NICE, 2014; Keynejad, 2021].

Emotional and psychological

• May include depression, fear, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, sleep disorders, drug and alcohol misuse, self-harm, suicidal ideation, or suicide attempts [NICE, 2014; RCGP/SafeLives/IRIS, 2014; SafeLives, 2019; Keynejad, 2021; Home Office, 2023].

• There may be feelings of anger, guilt, low self-esteem and confidence, inability to trust others (especially in intimate relationships), fear of intimacy, emotional detachment, isolation, feelings of dependency, and loss of hope [DH, 2017; SafeLives, 2019].

• Children may experience anxiety, depression, adjustment difficulties, behavioural problems, difficulties forming healthy relationships, risk-taking, aggression, and sleep problems including nightmares [SafeLives, 2019; Keynejad, 2021; Home Office, 2023].

Social and economic

• There is an increased risk of financial dependency on the perpetrator, and homelessness and poverty if a person leaves a perpetrator, due to the effects of economic abuse [Home Office, 2023].

• Children may have reduced educational attainment, truancy, and risk of expulsion from school [Home Office, 2023].

• A Home Office report has estimated the social and economic costs of domestic abuse to be over £66 billion for victims identified in England and Wales within the year 2016 to 2017 [Home Office, 2019].

  • This is likely to include healthcare costs, time lost at work, reduced productivity at work, and costs of other support services including social and housing support, voluntary agencies, and police and criminal legal system involvement.

• The cost per family where there is domestic abuse is estimated to be £18,730 according to a SafeLives report [SafeLives, 2015].

What are the physical health impacts of domestic abuse?

• 1 in 5 high-risk victims reported attending A&E as a result of their injuries in the year before getting effective help.¹³

• As well as short term injuries, victims of abuse suffer long-term physical health consequences. Health conditions associated with abuse including asthma, bladder and kidney infections, cardiovascular disease, fibromyalgia, chronic pain syndromes, central nervous system disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, migraines/headaches. ^14 15 16

• Domestic abuse often leaves victims with reproductive consequences too, including gynaecological disorders, sexually transmitted infections, pre-term difficulties and pregnancy difficulties.¹⁷

• At least a fifth (18%) of children in domestic abuse households are injured as a result of the abuse.¹⁸

What are the mental health impacts of domestic abuse?

• Over 50% of high-risk victims report having mental health issues ¹⁹

• 7% of victims report that they have considered or attempted suicide as a result of the abuse, and 17% report self-harming ²⁰

• Domestic abuse has significant psychological consequences for victims, including anxiety, depression, suicidal behaviour, low self-esteem, inability to trust others, flashbacks, sleep disturbances and emotional detachment.²¹

• Domestic abuse victims are at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – as many as two-thirds of victims of abuse (64%) developed PTSD in one study.²²

• Between 30-60% of psychiatric in-patients had experienced severe domestic abuse.²³

How widespread is domestic abuse? - SafeLives (See references 13-23 in the attached document for bullet points above)

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA – Identified vulnerable groups (June 2025)

Summary document - Learning disabilities, people from ethnic minority groups, LGBTQ+ and Male service users

We acknowledge the work of the Swindon JSNA team and colleagues in producing their 2024 Domestic Abuse JSNA – some elements of that work have been replicated here in this JSNA..

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA (June 2025): Literature search results
Domestic Abuse, Children and Family
Date results received: 12th April 2025: produced by UKSHA

Wirral Domestic Abuse JSNA (June 2025): National/ Policies, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance and other information and government guidance.

Open document

We acknowledge the work of the Swindon JSNA team and colleagues in producing their 2024 Domestic Abuse JSNA – some elements of that work have been replicated here in this JSNA.

Case Study – RASA Merseyside (May 2025)

Case Study - Refuge (June 2025)

Case Study and Overview - Paul Lavelle Foundation (May 2025)

Wirral’s current domestic abuse strategy was approved in November 2020. Over the last four and half years Wirral has developed a mature partnership and network around domestic abuse. The Alliance not only serves as the local partnership board relevant to Section 58(2) of The Act, but also comprises wider partners coopted over the period of the strategy to reflect Wirral’s strategic approach.

A Domestic Abuse Hub (The Hub) for Wirral was established in 2022-23; combining what was the Family Safety Unit with Early Help Teams to focus efforts on Wirral’s strategy and support the wider partnership work of The Alliance. This structure has enabled Wirral’s response to domestic abuse to improve and evolve over the period of the current strategy. Page 204

The Hub is made up of IDVAs (Independent Domestic Abuse Advocates), police and local authority staff working together in an Early Intervention Team (EIT) and a SPAR (Single Point of Access) team who triage and give immediate support after a referral is received. The Hub includes a small specialist business team to help coordinate the multi-agency response to high-risk victims of domestic abuse. The business team also support Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs).

In terms of continuous improvement activity over the last year, officers leading The Hub have developed a Children’s MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference), for higher risk child victims of domestic abuse. This team are trauma informed practitioners, able to provide therapeutic support to children and young people who have witnessed and experienced Domestic Abuse. The Hub structure also includes an elder person IDVA and a young person’s IDVA.

Operation Blackbird is a new initiative to promote earlier support for victims. This means a Wirral IDVA now works from a local police station, attending to victims as soon as possible after the report to police. This IDVA also supports the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, for those who have requested information.

A comprehensive training package supports The Hub and is shared across The Alliance. At a practice level this includes training on the Domestic Abuse Recovery Toolkit (DART) and trauma informed training at levels according to role and need. SafeLives UK, a national domestic abuse specialist charity, provide specialist training for those attending, chairing or managing MARACs. The Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership offer training, from general awareness raising to frontline delivery.

Further information on services and resources can be found at Wirral’s dedicated domestic abuse website, #itsneverOK,

Local Support Services | It's Never Ok Wirral

Operation Blackbird is a domestic abuse safeguarding initiative operating in Liverpool and Wirral, developed by Merseyside Police in partnership with local agencies.

• The operation places an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) alongside police officers to provide immediate, on-the-ground support to victims of domestic abuse.

• This joint approach ensures that victims receive both protective policing measures and specialist emotional and practical support at the earliest opportunity—often during or shortly after a police response to an incident.

add report summary JH

In September 2017, OFSTED published their report on the multi-agency response to domestic abuse: prevent, protect and repair. This report was an overview of findings from JTAIs in 6 local areas that examined the multi-agency response to children living with domestic abuse. These are the main findings set out in that report:

• Professionals have made progress in dealing with the immediate challenges presented by the volume of cases of domestic abuse.

• Domestic abuse is a widespread public health issue that needs a long-term strategy to reduce its prevalence.

• Too little is being done to prevent domestic abuse and repair the damage that it does.

• Work with families was often in reaction to individual crises rather than preventative.

• Keeping children safe over time takes long-term solutions.

• Agencies do not always focus enough on the perpetrator of the abuse.

• There is still not a clear and consistent understanding about what information professionals can share within agencies and across agencies.

Since OFSTED published this report, the government has introduced the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and updated guidance for local safeguarding partners and their multi-agency safeguarding arrangements (MASA). We have also experienced a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis, which have resulted in societal changes that have increased the pressures on families. More recently, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published a paper on multi-agency safeguarding and domestic abuse. It sets out their findings from a thematic analysis of rapid reviews and local child safeguarding practice reviews where domestic abuse featured. Given these developments, the inspectorates have agreed that now is the right time to revisit the multi-agency response to domestic abuse.

Scope of the inspection

The scope of this inspection reflects the definition of domestic abuse in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which makes clear that children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right if they have seen, heard or experienced the effect of the abuse.

The agencies within the scope of this inspection are the police, children’s social care, probation services and relevant health services. When evaluating the multi-agency safeguarding arrangements put in place by the partners in the local area, OFSTED will take into account the guidance set out in Working together to safeguard children. Inspectors will also evaluate how local agencies work with education and early years providers to identify and respond to children who are victims of domestic abuse.

Inspectors will also evaluate how local agencies work with the voluntary and community sector to respond to children who are victims of domestic abuse.

Inspectors will evaluate the multi-agency arrangements for

• responding to children who are victims of domestic abuse, at the point of identification

• assessment, planning and decision-making in response to notifications and referrals of children who are victims of domestic abuse

• protecting, supporting and caring for children who are at risk of, or who have been victims of, domestic abuse

• preventing children from becoming victims of domestic abuse

Inspectors will also evaluate how effectively the local partnership, through its MASA, monitors, promotes, coordinates and evaluates the work of the statutory partners. Inspectors will base their findings on recent practice. This will usually be practice in the 6 months before the inspection. The inspection will evaluate how well current practice takes account of relevant history in children’s cases.

All JTAIs need to balance the breadth and depth of what we evaluate: we need the scope of the inspection to be focused so that the inspectorates can gather sufficient depth of evidence to add value and learning for the sector. Following discussions with stakeholders, we have decided that these JTAIs will:

•  reflect the definition in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021

• focus on unborn children and children aged 0 to 7 years who are victims of domestic abuse

This is in consideration of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s findings about the vulnerabilities of very young children.

Child-to-parent abuse and teenage relationship abuse (between teenagers under the age of 16) are not covered by the definition in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, so will not be within the scope of these JTAIs.

Given the younger age range that OFSTED will focus on, they will evaluate the role of probation services in relation to the multi-agency response to children who are victims of domestic abuse, but they will not evaluate the role of youth justice.

When looking at the experiences of younger children, OFSTED will consider the support for other children and adult victims in the same household.

OFSTED’s evaluation of strategic arrangements in the local area will take a broader look and consider children of all ages, including how local partners have implemented the changes set out in legislation.

Developing the next domestic abuse strategy for Wirral

The local authority works as part the Domestic Abuse Alliance (The Alliance). The Alliance is Wirral’s partnership board as required in Section 58, Part 4 of The Domestic Abuse Act .

The Alliance is currently developing the next domestic abuse strategy for Wirral. The intention is to launch the new strategy within the Autumn to coincide with October’s Domestic Abuse Awareness Month and in time for the 16 Days of Action against gender based/domestic violence which commences on the 25th of November 2025.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED? DO WE WANT TO ADD CONTACT HOW PEOPLE CAN CONTRIBUTE TO PROCESS?

The government has committed to halving violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade through a new strategy that is set to be published in September 2025., thought there are a number of questions about the success of previous strategies and how this should be considered in the new 2025 edition. 

Domestic abuse awareness month - October 2025

We will be marking the 1st day of domestic abuse awareness month in October with an event in Birkenhead.

The month will focus on hearing the voices of victims and survivors, with the theme ‘hear my voice’.

16 days of action for 2025

Following on from our 16 days of action 2024 | It's Never Ok Wirral

This years events timetable will be finalised at the end of September 2025.

We expect the '16 days of action' campaign will commence on the 25th November at Tomorrows Women and end it on the 10th December at Birkenhead Park. 

Campaigning will include railway stations across Wirral and Merseyside as well as campaigning across schools and with partner agencies. 

Watch this space for updates.

DOMESTIC ABUSE: NO EXCUSE - Wirral 2020-25
For everyone affected by domestic abuse, this document outlines a commitment from your local services and organisations to help end the abuse, support you to recover and go on to live the life you want. View Strategy.

Wirral Domestic Abuse Needs Assessment (December 2015) 
This represents a refresh and update of Wirral's previous domestic abuse needs assessment. There have been several new developments nationally, with the government adopting a broader definition about what constitutes domestic abuse.  As a consequence the local partnership has prioritised the undertaking of this needs assessment to inform future strategy and commissioning arrangements in Wirral. Drawing upon the evidence base and the best available data, this needs assessment looks to provide the local partnership with as complete a picture of domestic abuse as is possible at this time.

What Works to Prevent Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV)? Systematic Evidence Assessment

PREVENTING SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN THE NIGHT TIME ECONOMY: 
ENCOURAGING ACTIVE BYSTANDERS AGAINST VIOLENCE 
Evaluation Report [May 2022]

Public Health Annual Report for 2015/16 – Domestic Abuse: Let's make a difference (July 2016)
This report outlines the key drivers and issues associated with domestic abuse and how we can all be involved in changing the situation. This is a link to the Domestic Abuse short video which provides an insight to the impacts it causes. 

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS): locally delivered psychiatric services for children and adolescents.

Community Safety Partnership (CSP): This is made up of statutory partners in Swindon and Wiltshire, including police, fire and rescue service, councils, NHS and probation services. These agencies are committed to tackling the reduction of domestic abuse (DA) as an identified priority.

Criminal Justice Board (CJB): This is responsible for the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System in Wiltshire and Swindon. It brings together the agencies involved in delivering criminal justice within the county, namely Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Probation Area, Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service, Her Majesty's Prison Service, Wiltshire Youth Offending Service, Swindon Youth Offending Team and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Domestic Abuse (DA): The term ‘domestic abuse’ (DA) is used throughout this profile to capture the range of abusive behaviours which can exist within an adult intimate relationship or occur within other relationships between adults (aged 16 years or more). 
Thus, DA includes sexual, emotional, psychological and financial abuse as well as physical violence (the latter sometimes being described as ‘domestic violence’.) 

Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS): The current pilot schemes involve the disclosure of information about previous violent offending by a partner to help victims or potential victims of DA. This can be in response to a request from a member of the public as 
well as due to proactive decisions by the police.

Domestic Violence Protection Notices (DVPNs) and Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs): DVPNs and DVPOs were introduced under the Crime and Security Act 2010 and enabled perpetrators to be banned from their homes for a period of up to 28 days. A DVPN is authorised by a Police Superintendent where violence has occurred or where there is a threat of violence. A DVPN can last up to 48 hours and during that time the police must 
apply to a magistrate to grant a DVPO. A DVPO, when granted, can last up to 28 days and will include conditions which the perpetrator must comply with, such as requiring her/him to leave the home.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical, non-medical, non-health related reasons. Such procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth. FGM is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and the age of 15 years.

Forced Marriage (FM): A marriage in which one or both spouses do not consent to the marriage and duress is involved. Duress can include physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional pressure.

Health and Well-Being Board (HWB): The Health and Social Care Act 2012 established Health and Well-being Boards as a forum where key leaders from the health and care system work together to improve the health and wellbeing of their local population and reduce health inequalities. Board members collaborate to understand their local 
community’s needs, agree priorities and encourage commissioners to work in a more joined-up way.

Honour-Based Violence (HBV): The terms ‘honour crime’ or ‘honour-based violence’ embrace a variety of crimes of violence (mainly against women), including assault, imprisonment and murder, where the person is being punished by their family or their community. They are being punished for undermining what the family or community 
believes to be the correct code of behaviour. In transgressing this correct code of behaviour, the person shows that they have not been properly controlled by their family and this is to the ‘shame’ or ‘dishonour’ of the family.

Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs): IDVAs are qualified specialist advisors, who provide a free and confidential service to victims considered to be at high risk of harm from their intimate partners, ex-partners or family members. The main priority of the IDVA service is to increase the safety of victims and their children. IDVAs represent the individual’s views and wishes at the MARAC, enabling a supportive action plan to be formulated to help protect and maximise the safety of the individual and their children Support from IDVAs is intended to be short to medium term, aimed at reducing the risk of further DA and the effects it may cause.

Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA): This is a process for understanding the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the local population. This involves gathering different types of information, interpreting it and pointing to the priorities for improving 
health and wellbeing in Swindon. The Swindon Health and Wellbeing Board aims to develop and open up the JSNA process so that it becomes a useful resource for everyone involved in health and wellbeing.

Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB): Local partnership boards such as LSCBs were set up by the Government as part of the system of checks and balances to make sure that partners are held to account about how children and young people are kept safe and that 
they receive consistent and excellent provision.

Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC): This is a local case conference for victims identified at highest risk of DA. It provides a forum for sharing information and taking action that will reduce harm. MARACs are outcome-focused. Attendance is by key agencies from the statutory and voluntary sector working in the field of DA.

Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH): the MASH is the ‘front door’ for children being referred to the local authority’s children services. National Referral Mechanism (NRM): This collates data of referrals of potential victims of ‘people trafficking’ for the whole UK. This includes a variety of coercive practices occurring within the UK and so the NRM can be said to collate data about various manifestations of ‘Modern Slavery’.

Swindon Domestic Abuse Support Service (SDASS): SDASS is commissioned from Swindon Women’s Aid.

Swindon Sanctuary Sexual Assault Referral Centre (Swindon SARC): This is a dedicated unit which supports victims of sexual assault throughout Swindon and Wiltshire, whether they are women, men or children. Trained professionals can provide immediate medical care, a
forensic examination, counselling and onward referral