Since 2017 a successful county wide
perpetrator programme has operated throughout South Yorkshire,
delivered by the South Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company
(CRC).
Recently the Government announced that they were ending the
contract arrangements with CRC, which means that from June 2021
they will no longer be able to provide the perpetrator programme in
South Yorkshire.
We have been anticipating the outcome of Government plans
for some time and therefore all four local authorities and the
Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner have met and held
discussions over the last few months and agreed to recommission our
contract with an alternative provider.
The South Yorkshire Partnership seeks to procure a perpetrator
programme which achieves evidence based outcomes for individuals
seeking to change their behaviour, which supports a multi-agency
approach for an integrated response to the whole family affected by
domestic abuse and where all services work together to the same
agreed objectives. A key aim of the newly commissioned programme
will be to challenge abusive behaviour at all risk levels. Also key
will be to offer a flexible programme of individual and group
interventions in order to support perpetrators to change their
behaviour.
During the past two years of the Inspire to Change voluntary
perpetrator contract, 1106 referrals have been made with 190 people
successfully completing the programme. These completion figures are
in line with similar programmes across the country and recognise
the difficulties in engaging with perpetrators on a voluntary basis
and working with them to complete the programme.
Interestingly, during the COVID emergency, referrals and
engagements have significantly increased by around 60%, with
sessions taking place using electronic media as CRC adapted their
business processes to continue working with clients. The success of
this approach has been incorporated into our new specification,
where we are asking providers to consider this as part of service
delivery for clients, unable to attend group sessions and a
recognised barrier to successful completion.
It is recognised that many victims of domestic abuse do not report
to the police and the true incidence of domestic abuse is estimated
to be far higher than the reported figure.
Whilst in most domestic abuse reports, the perpetrators are male;
we recognise that women may also be abusive. This programme will be
accessible to abusers of both genders and people in same sex
relationships and other under-represented groups. This recognises
that interventions need to be tailored to specific needs and again
our specification for the new contract takes account of this.
It was agreed that Doncaster would continue to take the lead on the
development, as we hold the expertise in procurement,
commissioning, professional knowledge and operational management of
the existing programme.
A joint development group has been established consisting of a
representative from Legal, Procurement, Commissioners, the Office
of the Police and Crime Commissioner and specialist Domestic Abuse
Managers from collaborating authorities.
Subject to approval, below is an outline of the timescales we are
working towards:
• Anticipated that the contract will commence at the end of
February 2021 following an open tender process, at which time the
full service must be ready to commence delivery.
• The contract will be for 2 years initially (Feb 2021 –
Feb 2023) with the option to extend for a further 2x 12 month
periods, subject to continued funding and performance.
Over the last three years we have learnt a great deal from
operating a service across South Yorkshire and the collaboration
between all partners has been an excellent example of how all local
authorities and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner
have jointly commissioned a successful programme. Whilst it is
unfortunate that national changes to the Probation Service have
resulted in us going down the route of re-commissioning, everyone
is agreed that this has given us an opportunity to strengthen our
requirements and include the most up to date learning from other
programmes throughout the UK. This means that the new
programme will be innovative and ‘cutting edge’ to
maintain our profile as a successful provider with a key outcome of
breaking the cycle of abuse that unfortunately exists in so many
households across South Yorkshire.
Decision type: Non-key
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Notice of proposed decision first published: 16/11/2020
Decision due: 14 Aug 2020 by Director of Adults, Health and Well-Being
Contact: Phil Holmes, Executive Director of Adults, Wellbeing and Culture Email: phil.holmes@doncaster.gov.uk.