Domestic Abuse Matters
Domestic Abuse (DA) Matters is a bespoke cultural change programme for police officers and staff in England and Wales, designed to transform the response to domestic abuse.
Police responders training evaluation report (2018-25)
Report on the impact of our ‘Domestic Abuse Matters’ training programme – delivered to police across 44 force areas between 2018 and 2025.
Domestic Abuse (DA) Matters was written with the College of Policing by SafeLives to provide police forces with a sustainable programme of change that offers the opportunity for the country to provide consistency of service to families experiencing domestic abuse. The interactive training tool seeks to address negative attitudes towards domestic abuse and to promote a cultural shift across Police Forces.
This report outlines further findings from the Domestic Abuse Matters training carried out by SafeLives across 40 British Police Force areas, Service Police and overseas police forces between 2018 – 2025. Feedback forms were completed by 53,879 first responders who attended the training, and responses were analysed.
The evaluation data considered demonstrates the strong positive impact of the training on first responders, and quantitative data shows large increases in knowledge across all course outcomes, particularly around the following areas: perpetrator tactics and the stages of CCB and the abuse experience.
ParticipantThe smallest of changes or understanding from me could mean a big difference to someone’s life.
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93%of First Responders had a good understanding of the stages of coercive control and abuse following training
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91%of First Responders felt they had a good understanding of the types of questions that would encourage a victim to disclose their experience following training
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95%of First Responders had a good understanding of the tactics perpetrators use to keep their victim(s) in a relationship and prevent them from leaving following training
Key findings
Evaluation of training outcomes for police first responders shows that
ParticipantIt allowed me to see the impact of my questioning style and how that can directly affect the disclosure made by the victim when trying to build that rapport.
Domestic Abuse Matters Programme
Domestic Abuse (DA) Matters is a bespoke cultural change programme for police officers and staff, designed to transform the response to domestic abuse.
Training for police
Training for police forces across the UK to help officers and staff develop a range of response and investigative skills around domestic abuse, coercive control, and perpetrator tactics.