UK minister says domestic abuse risk assessment tool 'doesn't work'

By Catarina Demony and Sam Tabahriti

LONDON (Reuters) -A British government minister said on Monday that a domestic abuse risk assessment tool used for over 15 years by police forces, social services and health workers to evaluate the danger victims face "doesn't work".

When asked by the BBC whether there would be a different version of DASH (Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour-Based Violence Assessment), safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said there were "obvious problems with the DASH risk assessment".

"My instinct is that the tool doesn't work, but until I can replace it with something that does, we have to make the very best of the system that we have."

Reuters reported this month that many people were failed by DASH, and spoke with mothers whose daughters were classified as medium risk, despite clear warning signs, and who were later murdered by their partners.

Britain is not alone in using structured risk assessment tools to guide domestic abuse responses. Such tools are used in countries including Canada, Australia, Spain and the United States, where their effectiveness has also been questioned.

Some, including SafeLives, the domestic abuse charity that co-developed the British form, have said the problem is mostly not DASH itself but police failures when using it. Others say its reliance on yes-or-no answers and its lack of predictivity are to blame.

Victims usually need to be classified as high risk - not medium or standard - to be referred for extra, multi-agency support.

Echoing what the charity's CEO Ellen Miller previously told Reuters, Phillips said DASH users must be trained to recognise that risk was dynamic.

SafeLives offers DASH training, which some critics argue creates a conflict of interest in defending the tool. However, Miller has dismissed that concern, stating the organisation does not treat DASH as a major source of revenue.

The interior ministry has commissioned SafeLives to carry out a project examining how risks are currently identified, assessed and managed, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

Miller has referred to the initiative as an initial step to explore the potential for a broader review and called on the government to lead a review of the entire risk response, including evolving DASH.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony and Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Alison Williams)