Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews
What are Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs)?
DARDRs are official investigations into deaths linked to domestic abuse.
These reviews were called Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs). The government decided to rename them to better reflect the different types of deaths they examine. This includes suicides related to domestic abuse, and other domestic abuse related deaths.
In June 2023, the government held a public consultation to ask whether the name should be changed. Many people felt that the word “homicide” didn’t fully capture the range of cases. In May 2024, the name change became law through the Part 1 Section 19 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024.
DARDRs aim to understand what happened and find ways to prevent future deaths. They do not place blame. They look at how different agencies responded to the situation. These agencies are police, healthcare providers, and social services for example. The goal is to improve the system. It is also to make sure that people facing domestic abuse get better support and protection.
DARDRs are carried out by Community Safety Partnerships.
They take place when the death, including a suicide, of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by:
- a relative
- a household member
- someone the person had been in an intimate relationship with
A DARDRs purpose is to:
- review the circumstances leading to the death
- consider where responses can be improved in the future
- identify any best practice to share
A Domestic Abuse Related Death Review aims to:
- Find out what local professionals and organisations did to help keep victims safe.
- Learn how they worked on their own and with others to safeguard victims
- identify
- what those lessons are, both within and between agencies
- the timescales they will act to
- what changes are expected to reduce the risk of similar events.
- apply the lessons to service responses
- apply changes to policies and procedures, as appropriate
- help services work to prevent domestic abuse
- improve service responses for all victims and their children
- responses improved through intra- and inter-agency working
A DARDR is not an inquiry into how someone died or who is to blame. It is not part of any disciplinary process.
They are an addition to, not in replacement of, an inquest or any other form of inquiry into the death.
If a DARDR has occurred on the Isle of Wight, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary or another agency will notify the Isle of Wight Community Safety Partnership.
A decision is made by the CSP about whether to complete a DARDR using the Home Office statutory guidance.
A multi agency review panel, led by an independent chair, is established for each review.
It is made up of members of local statutory and voluntary agencies.
A DARDR will usually draw upon information obtained from:
- interviewing family members
- interviewing significant people who may have known the victim
- obtaining information from participating agencies, either
- by way of an Individual Management Review (IMR)
- or by other means such as a chronology of events
Each Community Safety Partnership will publish reports of local DARDRs. The statutory guidance states that, reports are anonymised. This is to protect the identity of individuals subject to the review.
You can access statutory guidance for the conduct of reviews on the Home Office website
Published DARDRs
Advice and support about DARDRs
AAFDA helps families and friends after someone dies because of domestic abuse.
- They give support and advice to people who are grieving.
- They also help professionals by giving them information and guidance.
- AAFDA has made videos and leaflets to help people understand more.
- These are available in many languages, like Urdu, Punjabi, Portuguese, Polish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Dutch, Hungarian, and Spanish.