As one of the three founding organisations of the Drive Partnership, Respect welcomes today’s announcement of a £53m investment from the Home Office over the next four years that will enable the Drive Project to roll out across England and Wales.
The Drive Project is an evidence-backed intervention for high-risk, high-harm and serial perpetrators of domestic abuse, established by Respect, SafeLives and Social Finance. The key features of the model include intensive one-to-one case management, a coordinated police-led multi-agency response, and dedicated Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) support for survivors.
Jo Todd CBE, CEO, Respect said:
“To end domestic abuse, we must address the source of the problem – the perpetrator. This funding to expand the Drive Project across England and Wales will make a huge difference to our efforts to support survivors, by holding perpetrators to account, stopping them from causing further harm and giving them the chance to change. The multi-year approach to this funding gives much needed security for the local domestic abuse services that work with the perpetrators and those that provide the support for survivors.
“We have long called for funding for a range of specialist perpetrator responses including prevention, early intervention, work with young people who are causing harm, behaviour change programmes, and work to stop those causing high levels of harm as part of a coordinated community response. This announcement is a very welcome step towards this.
"As the government continues on its mission to halve VAWG in a decade, it is vital that it also commits to dedicated investment for specialist services for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, with ringfenced funding for by and for services for minoritised and marginalised communities.”
Kyla Kirkpatrick, Director of the Drive Partnership said:
"We welcome this investment from the Home Office into the expansion of the Drive Project across England and Wales because victim-survivors tell us that as well as more support for themselves, they want and need better responses to the people causing harm in their lives. They need them to be seen, held to account and stopped. The Drive Project does that and with 10 years of delivery, development and evaluation behind us know that it works.
“This work can only happen if the focus is absolutely on the safety and wellbeing of the victim-survivors. This investment will see the vast majority of funding flow directly to local domestic abuse perpetrator services and victim-survivor support services, and we will be working in partnership with local services to ensure that the Drive Project is tailored to meet the needs of local communities. We look forward to the forthcoming VAWG strategy to support victim-survivor services with much-needed investment and cross-departmental commitment.”
Visit the Drive Partnership website for more information
View the Home Office announcement
For media enquiries, please contact [email protected], 07936 943576.