Risk pathways and our position on Dash

26.08.25

Following BBC Radio 4’s File on 4 and other media coverage, we recognise concerns about how risk is identified and acted on.

Ellen Miller, CEO, SafeLives said:

First and foremost, my thoughts are with every family who has lost someone. Violence against women and girls is at epidemic levels — and we have to stop it. The responsibility for harm lies with perpetrators. Victims are the best people to determine the risk they’re in, and DASH is a tool to guide that conversation — never a substitute for professional judgement. Risk changes fast, and warning signs must be acted on. DASH should keep evolving, supported by training and culturally competent practice. We’re calling for a Government-led, survivor-co-created overhaul of the whole response, including updating DASH. Please don’t scrap a widely used tool without a safe, tested alternative — we need to keep people safer, sooner.

No one should die as a result of domestic abuse. One death is too many. It’s vital that proper risk assessment happens and people feel confident to reach out for support. Our priority is always the safety of victims and survivors.

Dash (the domestic abuse, stalking and ‘honour’- based abuse risk checklist) was ground-breaking when introduced 15 years ago¹. It created a common language around risk at a time when none existed. It is a free tool and, when used properly alongside professional judgement and coordinated multi-agency action, it has helped save lives. But Dash has never had a Government-led review. We have called for this for years. Dash must evolve, not be scrapped.

A checklist alone cannot keep someone safe. Risk assessment only works within a whole-system response: trained professionals with time and supervision; consistent practice across agencies; effective data-sharing; robust perpetrator management; and support for both adult and child survivors. Reform must also be inclusive and culturally competent, with ‘by and for’ organisations and survivors meaningfully involved from the start.

Our call to Government:

Lead a Government-led, survivor co-created review and update of the entire risk response — not just a single checklist — with independent oversight.
Resource the system: workforce training and supervision, protected time for practitioners, Marac (multi-agency risk assessment conference) capacity, data standards and safe information-sharing.
Roll out nationally an updated, inclusive approach that works across identities and contexts, and recognises children as survivors in their own right.

We hope to see this commitment reflected in the forthcoming VAWG strategy. Victim-survivors deserve nothing less than a risk approach that is fit for purpose and a system capable of protecting them.

For transparency about our role:

SafeLives is a charity; we do not set national policy. What we can do—and have done for years—is highlight the urgent need for change and share the voices of survivors and frontline services.

We have been commissioned to run a short, initial insight exercise on multi-agency risk pathways across all risk levels for adults and children. This means facilitating workshops/listening sessions with survivors, ‘by and for’ organisations, frontline practitioners and statutory agencies — and sharing those findings with the Home Office. The Home Office reviews the insights. This is not a contract to run, own or decide any national tool, and it is not a review or rewrite of Dash.

We stand ready to play our part — with survivors, services and Government — to strengthen the system and keep people safer, sooner.

No one should die as a result of domestic abuse. One death is too many, and every fatality represents systemic failures. We know Dash needs work and must evolve, but it is only one part of the wider response. That is why we are calling for a government-led review of the entire risk response, including Dash, co-created with survivors and services, so both adult and child survivors get the right help at the right time.

Ellen Miller, CEO, SafeLives

Right now, Dash is a critical safety net for victims. There has to be a proper mechanism to identify risk, and the best assessment is a victim’s own assessment of the danger they are in — that is what Dash is designed to explore. But a checklist cannot keep people safe on its own; it has to sit within a strong, consistent, multi-agency response that centres professional judgement, training and perpetrator management. Dash needs updating — and so does the system. We want to keep victims safe.

Zoë Billingham CBE, Deputy Chair of Trustees at SafeLives and former HMI Constabulary DA/VAWG Lead

Further information:

If you’re experiencing domestic abuse, or you’re worried about someone, help is available.

Call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247
Yon can find other routes to support here: safelives.org.uk/gethelp

Get help

What Dash is and how it is used

Developed with partners around 15 years ago, Dash created a common language around risk at a time when none existed.

Dash is one component of a wider risk-care pathway that includes identification, immediate safety planning, Marac (multi-agency risk assessment conferences) and multi-agency action, perpetrator disruption, and ongoing support for both adult and child survivors.

Dash supports professional judgement; it does not replace it. Marac referrals do not rely on a single number. In addition to any numeric threshold, professional judgement and repeat/escalation routes allow cases to be heard when risk is evident.

Some tools are designed for specific contexts. For example, the Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment (DARA) is a police-specific tool; it is not a multi-agency framework and does not cover every form of abuse (for example, honour-based abuse). This underlines the need for consistent, system-wide guidance and for any update to look at the whole risk response, not a single checklist.

Why change is needed

We have been clear to government and agencies about Dash having limitations and the need for evolution to reflect newer forms of abuse such as tech-facilitated and economic abuse, to recognise children as survivors in their own right and to address the needs of survivors from diverse communities.

Tools operate within systems. When capacity is limited, practice inconsistent and information cannot flow, any tool will struggle. Safety depends on trained people, professional judgement, coordinated multi-agency action, effective data-sharing, and robust perpetrator management.

We do not support removing a widely used tool without a safer, better alternative and a managed transition. Any change must be government-led, survivor-co-created, and carefully sequenced. It’s vital that survivors still feel able to reach out for support and that services risk assess effectively.

Equity, cultural competence and specialist expertise

We know survivors with intersecting identities can face discrimination, a lack of culturally competent support, fear of being disbelieved or criminalised, and barriers linked, for example, to immigration status, disability or LGBTQ+ identity.

Professional judgement when using Dash must be culturally competent and systems informed by lived experience. Specialist services, including ‘By and for’ services, play a vital role in identifying risk and building safe routes to support.

If the Government decide to review or overhaul Dash and risk pathways, survivors and frontline services, including ‘by and for’ services, must be meaningfully consulted and involved in its development.

Funding, income and governance

The Dash checklist is free to use, and SafeLives provides free guidance, as well as training (alongside dozens of other charities and services).

SafeLives does not control government procurement and does not set conditions for other organisations’ bids.

The Home Office is investing £53 million over four years to expand the Drive Project across all areas England and Wales. The Drive Project is delivered by local specialist services, and the majority of funding for the expansion will flow directly to local perpetrator services and victim-survivor services across England and Wales.

The Drive Project

The Drive Project is a perpetrator intervention developed by the Drive Partnership (Respect, SafeLives, and Social Finance) in 2015 to address a gap in responses to high-risk, high-harm and serial perpetrators of domestic abuse – those who are at risk of causing serious harm or murder within their intimate or family relationships.

The Drive Project is not a counselling service – it is an evidence-based perpetrator intervention with 10 years of successful working to reduce risk and increase the safety of victim-survivors. In practice, this means that when a perpetrator is referred to the Drive Project, a Case Manager will provide intensive one-to-one management to challenge, change and stop their abusive behaviour, which can include police-led disruption approaches to prevent, stop or minimise opportunities for abuse. This always takes place alongside separate but parallel work with victim-survivors, victim-survivor services and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (Idvas) to centre victim-survivor safety and needs.

To deliver the Drive Project, the Drive Partnership works with local specialist domestic abuse organisations and statutory partners to tailor and fit the programme within local needs and systems. Within this, the Drive Project works within each area’s risk assessment tools, such as Dash, DARA, or RFG, which can vary depending on the area. Dash is one of several ways of identifying referrals to Marac, and Marac is one way of referring perpetrators to the Drive Project. Referrals are also made by statutory services, including the police, and non-statutory services. All risk assessment tools sit within a system of professional judgement, supported by effective training and organisational culture, and coordinated multi-agency action.

Our recommendations

We are calling for a government-led, survivor-co-created update of the whole risk response — encompassing tools, workforce capability, pathways, perpetrator management, and data standards — supported by independent oversight.

System resourcing: protected time for practitioners, training and supervision, and capacity for Marac and specialist support.

An updated pathway that is inclusive and culturally competent, co-designed with survivors (including children and young people) and ‘by and for’ organisations.

Improved, safe information-sharing so risk information follows the survivor and the perpetrator across agencies.