Follow-on Evaluation of the Drive Project – a Flagship Intervention to Address High-risk, High-harm Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse

Following the successful rollout of the Drive Project – a Flagship Intervention to Address High-risk, High-harm Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse, we are now evaluating three years’ of DRIVE implementation to ensure that the DRIVE project is still working to a high level.

This evaluation is timely, given the recent publication of the ‘Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan’ by the Home Office. The plan reflects the need for more strategic progress to be made on available perpetrator provisions, with the objective being to ‘reduce the amount of people who are repeat offenders and make sure that those who commit this crime feel the full force of the law.’

The Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan states that there is a need for more research into what works to prevent domestic abuse, and in particular highlights ‘the causes, drivers, and risk factors associated with perpetrators’ behaviour’ as an area that the government are interested in developing the knowledge base on. This evaluation fulfils this aim.

Researching the impact of the Drive Project across three sites will be of significance therefore, as it provides additional learning for how the service operates to tackle domestic abuse at its root, alongside building on the understanding of the profile of perpetrators worked with by Drive and victim-survivors, and assessing if any cohorts are less likely to readily engage with the intervention. This aligns with the Home Office acknowledgement that there is a need to “expand and evaluate interventions such as Drive and other perpetrator interventions, in addition to conducting further research on domestic abusers”.

The evidence gathered from this evaluation will be used to refine core components of the Drive Project model. Researching the impact of Drive within the three sites may also indicate where there are ‘gaps’ in the service, such as if certain cohorts are more likely to be non-contact cases, or if the outcomes experienced differ across demographic groups. The evidence collated will be used to bolster the service offered by the Drive Project and ensure that it is delivering to its maximum benefit for both victim-survivors and perpetrators.