Our Impact 2021/22

Sector support

Training

We’re committed to providing frontline workers with the skills and knowledge they need to support service users safely and effectively. To achieve this, we deliver training that aligns with our core strands of work: perpetrators of domestic abuse, male victims and young people using violence.

This year...

And...

• We delivered a training programme for practitioners working with perpetrators, with funding from the Home Office and in partnership with SafeLives and the Drive Partnership. As part of this Respect trained 52 professionals across 4 courses and co-developed a Service Manager training course and a Train the Trainer course.
• We teamed up with Welsh Women’s Aid to train professionals who encounter perpetrators as part of their role. 173 learners from a diverse range of professional backgrounds completed the course.
• The Ascent partnership project reached and trained 104 professionals from across all London boroughs.
• We responded to a training gap for Integrated Support Workers by developing and delivering a new course, which helps practitioners to support survivors with confidence.
• We delivered two practice development workshops for 50 Integrated Support Service and Perpetrator practitioners.
• We established a monthly forum to support the specific needs of CEOs in the sector.

This has had a big capacity building impact on the organisation … If I could give you 11 out of 10 I would

Accreditation

Our robust accreditation process, using a set of principles and standards known as the Respect Standard, is the seal of approval for organisations delivering safe and effective work with perpetrators. We only refer to and recommend services that have undergone this rigorous quality assurance process.

I feel [accreditation] has strengthened our project going forward. As Project Manager I feel a certain level of confidence that our project is now as safe as possible for victims and associated children – Darren, Project Manager at Safer Merthyr Tydfil

This year...

Becoming the first organisation to achieve this for work with male victims in the UK again reinforces the work we do as an organisation … I would highly recommend other services to reach and achieve these standards – Gareth, Calan DVS

What's next for sector support?

• Since April we’ve developed a training course to give perpetrator workers the confidence and skills to facilitate the sexual respect module of a perpetrator programme safely and effectively.
• We’ve been developing and delivering a bespoke course helping colleagues at Crisis to engage with homeless perpetrators.
• We held an event in September with researchers from Durham University’s Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse (CRiVA) and Monash University, supporting professionals to learn more about interventions for neurodiverse perpetrators.
• As part of the Restart project, we’ll be giving professionals across London the skills they need to respond effectively to perpetrators.
• We’re pursuing OCN and/or CPD accreditation for our courses: a marker of quality and integrity that confirms learning has met Continuing Professional Development standards and benchmarks.
• We’ll be supporting accredited members to develop their practice, network, and share learnings at our eight Practice Development Days.
• We’ll continue to build capacity in the domestic abuse workforce by offering free, high-quality training to professionals across London as part of the Ascent partnership.
• In 2022 we’ll be launching the fourth edition of the Respect Standard, which has been reviewed thoroughly to help services deliver safe and effective work with perpetrators.
• We’ve now launched weekly dedicated appointments for members and accredited members to access expert support.

Our influence

We’ve been continuing our work to influence public policy on domestic abuse perpetrators, male victims and young people using harm, working alongside organisations from across the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector.

This year...

• We successfully influenced the Home Office’s Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, which included £75 million of funding to “tackle perpetrators”.
• The team grew to include our new Head of Influence, Caroline Bernard, who’s already working with members and partners to push for policy change.
• We started working more closely with our accredited members to ensure their voices are represented in our influencing work.
• We worked closely with the Home Office on their Enough campaign, which aims to tackle violence against women and girls.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Perpetrators

Respect continues to provide the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse, chaired by Alex Davies-Jones MP, which met virtually this year and included discussions around the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan.

What's next for influence?

• We're working on behalf of our members to seek a parliamentary debate on the decision by the Ministry of Justice and Cafcass England to end contracts with approved providers of Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programmes.
• We're developing an exciting plan of activity for the APPG on Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse, including a potential new inquiry.
• We’re working on guidance for members around the safe collection and use of perpetrator voice, ensuring service user voice can be used to show the value of perpetrator interventions, whilst still prioritising survivor safety and wellbeing.
• We’re working to bring more survivor voices into our work, to ensure our influencing activity is creating positive, tangible change for survivors.
• We’re developing a coalition-based social change campaign to tackle the structural and root causes of domestic abuse.
• We’re working with the Home Office to shape and deliver aspects of the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan.
• We’re working with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s Office to influence key policy areas, like the Victims’ Bill.

Our helplines

Respect runs two helplines: the Men's Advice Line for male victims of domestic abuse and the Respect Phoneline for perpetrators of abuse. Both helplines also support affected family and friends, as well as frontline workers.

During the first year of the pandemic, contacts to the helplines soared, and demand has never returned to "normal" levels. In fact, contacts to the Men’s Advice Line have increased, and the Respect Phoneline is seeing consistently high demand.

What's next for the helplines?

• Since this reporting period ended, we’ve updated the Men’s Advice Line website to improve engagement and accessibility.
• We've launched a new self-service portal to help male victims access support whenever they need it.
• In the same month we used funding from the Home Office to run a social media campaign raising awareness of the Men’s Advice Line.
• As the cost-of-living crisis deepens, we expect to see an increase in contacts to the helplines. We'll continue to be here for the people who need us.

Change that Lasts

Developed by Respect in partnership with Welsh Women’s Aid, CLEAR is a complementary strand of the Change that Lasts approach. It’s delivered across Wales as a short awareness-raising course for men concerned about their behaviour towards women.

This year...

We've had positive feedback from clients and survivors...

And professionals have praised CLEAR...

CLEAR has provided an early route into specialist support for survivors, who previously were unknown to services, and has enabled services to intervene at a much earlier opportunity. Without CLEAR this would not have been possible.

What's next for CLEAR?

• We’ll be developing our Sector Support offer to ensure professionals across Wales have the knowledge and support they need to successfully engage perpetrators.
• We’ll be raising awareness of opportunities to access perpetrator services, ensuring perpetrators in Wales know about CLEAR and how they can self-refer.
• We’ll be exploring options for continued roll out in Wales, so even more people can access support.

Make a Change

Make a Change is a community-wide, early response to people using harmful behaviour in relationships. It provides expert support for people who are concerned about their behaviour, and their partners and/or ex-partners, as well as training for professionals and support for the wider community.

This year...

And we raised awareness...

We worked with Lincolnshire police to create a promotional video for Make a Change, prompting an increase in self-referrals.

We saw great results for the programme...

Caroline told us about her experience of Make a Change's partner support...

The support gave me the strength to carry on. It helped me break away, stop contact with him and move on with my life

What’s next for Make a Change?

• We’re spreading the word in Liverpool about our new site, Make a Change Merseyside, launched in partnership with Merseyside Domestic Violence Service.
• We’re working with developing perpetrator service Right Turn, an extension of Wearside Women in Need (WWIN), to help build their response to perpetrators in Sunderland.
• We’re publishing a policy position on the need for an early response model in every locality.

The Drive Partnership

The Drive Partnership is formed of three organisations: Respect, SafeLives and Social Finance. It was initially set up to deliver a three-year pilot intervention working with high harm, serial perpetrators, and has since received funding to expand this work and extend its remit to include public affairs and national systems change work.

This year...

We're making big-picture changes so more perpetrators can be held to account...

• We launched Restart, an innovative early intervention to stop perpetrators causing harm in families working with children’s social care.
• We commissioned a consortium led by H.O.P.E Training and Consultancy to consult on and lead a project focusing on increasing diversity in the perpetrator sector.
• We commissioned Research in Practice to study Children’s Social Care responses to perpetrators, and produced resources to support practice development.
• We conducted research and scoping on responses to perpetrators from LGBT+ communities and identified key themes to determine next steps.

And our public affairs team is pushing for policy change...

• We worked with our Action on Perpetrators network to ensure the Government’s Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan focused on addressing perpetrators.
• We worked with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner to form the Strategic Reference Group – a high level group developing a cross-disciplinary approach to working with perpetrators.

What's next for the Drive Partnership?

• We are in discussion with a number of new sites to expand Drive, and we’re also scoping out new models to develop and pilot, including an in-prison model.
• We’re launching the pilot phase of our workforce development piece with H.O.P.E Training and Consultancy, delivering a leadership programme for Black and minoritised staff, as well as a programme for sector leaders.
• We’re taking a cross-sector partnership approach to addressing gaps in support for LGBT+ perpetrators.
• We’re working to influence the Government’s next steps around children’s social care.
• We’re influencing the Government’s implementation of their Domestic Abuse Plan, ensuring key elements are informed by Drive’s expertise.

Our work with Safe & Together

In 2021/22 we rapidly expanded our implementation of the Safe & Together model, a training programme designed to help child protection professionals improve their response to domestic abuse.

This year...

I have learnt how to work better with the perpetrator and therefore, how to engage them better in the work. - A professional evaluating a Safe and Together training session

We created an intervention marketplace...

We've overseen the development of a domestic abuse perpetration intervention ‘marketplace’, which enables professionals to refer into a variety of behaviour change programmes. The marketplace is shared by six London Boroughs as part of the London Safe & Together partnership.

What's next for our work with Safe & Together?

• Funding for both projects has been extended to March 2023 so we can support even more professionals to improve their responses to domestic abuse.
• We’re developing a resource hub for professionals, so they can access expertise whenever they need it.
• Everyone in the team is now a certified Safe & Together trainer, so we can better understand the model and support professionals.
• We’ll be launching 1800 training places for professionals, building expertise on domestic abuse in the children’s social care sector.

Our work with children and young people

The Respect Young People's Service supports professionals to respond effectively to young people’s use of violence and abuse in family and intimate relationships. Our primary focus is on Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse (CAPVA), which is the focus of Respect’s Young People’s Programme (RYPP). Alongside this work, we deliver training around Abuse in Teenage Relationships, and support professionals across the sector and beyond.

It helped me have a better relationship with my mum – Young person participating in the RYPP

This year...

I'm big on not criminalising children or demonising them. There is always a better way. And you have shown us that – Police Officer at a CAPVA briefing

We conducted a CAPVA literature review

We worked with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner on a report reviewing the literature on CAPVA, making recommendations across a spectrum of policy areas and calling on Government to create a national policy to address the issue.

What’s next for our work with young people?

• We’re creating a bespoke microsite for professionals working with young people who use violence and abuse. This will streamline the delivery of the RYPP and provide an online community hub for practitioners.
• We're working with RYPP providers to develop PSHE/RSE resources to address CAPVA and Abuse in Teenage Relationships.

Research

By working with researchers and academics, we improve and refine approaches to addressing domestic abuse perpetration and help to expand the existing evidence base showing the value and impact of interventions and approaches.

Reprovide

Respect is a partner in the Reprovide research project, funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and led by the University of Bristol. The project is testing the effectiveness of a group work intervention for perpetrators via a randomised control trial, and has had its funding extended by 10 months in light of Covid-19.

ADVANCE

ADVANCE is a project led by King’s College London, together with colleagues from the Universities of Worcester, Manchester, Bristol and York, as well as Respect, the South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and Rochester Institute of Technology.

The project aims to ‘advance’ theory and treatment approaches for men in substance misuse treatment who perpetrate intimate partner violence. This year, the project moved into its evaluation stage.

What's next for research?

• Since this reporting period ended, ADVANCE has published its evaluation, which showed the intervention reduced abusive behaviours and helped participants increase their number of drug-free days.
• A sub-study of Reprovide has received funding to consider the role of survivor-support services which are integrated into domestic abuse prevention programmes.

Thank you!

We couldn’t continue to do what we do without the kind support of our trustees, supporters, and donors. A special thank you to:

Esmee Fairbairn Trust

Home Office

Lincolnshire OPCC

Lincolnshire County Council

London Councils

London Borough of Camden

London Borough of Croydon

London Borough of Hackney

London Borough of Havering

London Borough of Newham

London Borough of Redbridge

London Borough of Sutton

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

London Borough of Waltham Forest

London Borough of Westminster

MOPAC

National Lottery Community Fund

Northern Ireland Dept. of Justice

Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire

Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner Durham

Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner Cambridgeshire

Scottish Government

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

South Wales OPCC

University of Bristol

and of course, to our individual donors and fundraisers.

Charity Information

Email: info@respect.uk.net

Address: Hubhub, 20 Farringdon St, London EC4A 4AB

Respect Phoneline: 0808 802 4040 | Men’s Advice Line: 0808 801 0327

Respect is a registered charity in England and Wales (1141636) and Scotland (SC051284), and a company, number 7582438.