SafeLives welcomes £53m boost for Drive Project
SafeLives, one of the founding members of the Drive Partnership, alongside Respect and Social Finance, welcome the Home Office’s announcement of a £53 million investment over four years to expand the Drive Project across England and Wales.
This significant commitment reflects the growing recognition that, alongside well-funded support for victim-survivors, there must be effective, evidence-based responses to the people causing harm.
Victim-survivors consistently tell us that they want those who abuse them to be seen, held to account, and stopped. The Drive Project focuses on doing just that, challenging and changing the behaviour of high-risk, high-harm perpetrators of domestic abuse while ensuring the safety and wellbeing of adult and child victim-survivors.
With a decade of delivery, development and evaluation behind it, the Drive Project is a proven, multi-agency approach delivered in partnership with local specialist services. This investment will see the majority of funding flow directly to local perpetrator and victim-survivor support services, helping to ensure the Drive Project is responsive to the specific needs of communities across England and Wales.
SafeLives and the Drive Partnership remain committed to delivering meaningful, long-term change in collaboration with local and national partners. We look forward to the forthcoming Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy and urge continued cross-government investment to end domestic abuse for everyone, for good.
Shana Begum, SafeLives Pioneer & lived experience expertPerpetrator interventions are vital to breaking the cycle of domestic abuse – as a SafeLives Pioneer, I strongly believe that we have to stop asking “Why doesn’t she leave?”, and start asking “Why doesn’t he stop?”, and that is what the Drive Partnership puts into action. After working closely with the Drive Partnership for a number of years, I’m pleased to see this expansion across all areas in England and Wales so that the responsibility of domestic abuse is placed firmly on those causing harm.
Kyla Kirkpatrick, Director of the Drive PartnershipWe 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 we 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.
Rosie Jarvis, Deputy Director of the Drive PartnershipWe warmly welcome the Home Office’s investment in the expansion of the Drive Project, which we know through its evidence base has a significant impact on harm and risk reduction in perpetrators and increased safety for victim-survivors. This investment and expansion will be a significant step towards addressing the postcode lottery of responses to high-risk, high-harm, and serial perpetrators and breaking the costly cycle of domestic abuse.
Jess Asato MPToo often we ask why domestic abuse victims don’t leave, instead of asking why perpetrators don’t stop their abuse - so this landmark investment by the Government is incredibly welcome. I was proud to work on the early stages of the Drive Partnership which, through its innovative, evidence-driven approach, has proven that we can make victims safer and change perpetrator behaviour. This investment will be one important step towards achieving the Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls.