29th September 2017

Ofsted report

A major new report has been published by Ofsted and three other agencies (the Care Quality Commission, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, and HM Inspectorate of Probation) into how agencies are working together to help and protect children who have witnessed domestic abuse at home. The report found that social workers, the police, health professionals and other agencies such as youth offending teams and probation services are often doing a good job to protect victims. But too little is being done to prevent domestic abuse in the first place and to repair the damage it causes afterwards. The report calls for a new public information campaign to raise awareness of domestic abuse and recommends a move away from the current “risk management” model to tackling domestic abuse, which focuses only on those in immediate crisis, to develop a long-term strategy to reduce the prevalence of domestic abuse and repair the damage that it does in the long-term. Read the full Women’s Aid response here.