Community Safety

Publication Date

This chapter was published in February 2025.

Community Safety Dashboard
Introduction
Protecting our most vulnerable
Protecting our communities from harm
Recommendations
References

Community Safety Dashboard

The data underpinning this JSNA Chapter can be explored further in the Community Safety JSNA Dashboard.

Introduction

Surrey is one of the safest places in England and Wales, currently ranked 4^th safest place to live in the UK. This uses numbers of police recorded crime and considers severity and violence. [1] Despite this crime and the fear of crime still exists. Some want to do harm within our communities and to our most vulnerable residents.

Community safety is an area of work concerned with protecting people, individually and collectively, and their quality of life, from hazards or threats that result from the criminal or anti-social behaviour of others [2]. As such the range of behaviours and interventions that can be defined as falling within Community Safety are hugely varied and are too complex for one single agency to tackle. A collaborative approach across Police, Fire and Rescue services and local authorities is required.

Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) were introduced in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (Section 6, Crime and Disorder Act 1998) and placed a statutory duty on responsible authorities to formulate and implement strategies to tackle crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour in their communities based on the principle that effective partnership working is vital to ensuring safer communities. The responsible authorities of CSPs are:

Police
Fire and Rescue Authorities
Local Authorities
Health Partners
Probation Service

There are 11 CSP’s across Surrey, one for each borough and district council. Each are required to provide a partnership plan evidencing how the partnership intends to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in their area and that sets clear and robust priorities.

As a two-tier authority, Surrey is required under section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to have a County Community Safety Agreement (CSA). This document aims to assist CSPs in sharing capabilities and resources to better respond to individuals with complex needs. It focuses on improving the identification and support of vulnerable people, prioritising key areas across the county and enhancing support for victims of crime and anti-social behaviour. Additionally, it promotes a whole place approach to commissioning and delivering preventative services. It is anticipated that this JSNA chapter will support the formulation of a future CSA.

Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has a statutory duty to set police and crime objectives across the county through a Police and Crime Plan and through this has a responsibility to bring together community safety and criminal justice partners and make sure local priorities are joined up. The PCC consults widely with both community safety partners as well as the public to develop the Police and Crime Plan priorities. The 2011 Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act established that PCCs and CSPs must act in cooperation with each other, both giving due regard to each other’s priorities. The Crime and Disorder Act 2007 gives PCCs in England the power to require representatives of responsible authorities within a police force area to attend a meeting to assist in the formulisation and implementation of strategies. Further reviews into the responsibilities of PCCs are currently being undertaken but it is understood new legislation will strengthen these responsibilities.

The Community Safety Vision for Surrey 21- 25 as articulated in the CSA is to ensure that we:

Protect our most vulnerable
Protect our communities from harm
Empower our communities to feel safe

The priorities set within the Surrey CSA as well as government priorities have informed the development of this JSNA chapter and it focusses on the following issues and areas of need:

Protecting our most vulnerable:

Serious Violence
Domestic Abuse
Preventing Extremism
Serious and Organised Crime which includes Child Exploitation, Fraud and Modern Slavery
Violence Against Women and Girls
Hate Crime and Community Cohesion

Protecting our Communities from Harm:

Anti-Social Behaviour
Fire Safety
Road Safety

Drugs which is a feature of the CSA under Protecting Communities from Harm is covered in the Substance Misuse JSNA chapter.

The community safety vision of empowering our communities to feel safe, relates to the building of community safety resilience and awareness raising and work to improve these forms a part of each of the two preceding sections.

As in any comprehensive document of this kind there will be information and data gaps which prevent us from fully understanding all the issues. This chapter intends to identify those gaps as part of unmet need so that decisions can be taken about how improvements can be made.

The recommendations in this chapter should be considered by CSP’s to inform local work and will be progressed within countrywide strategic oversight groups which have a remit for the specific issues contained within the chapter.

Protecting our most vulnerable

Serious violence

The National Context

In 2018 the Government published its Serious Violence Strategy setting out its analysis of drivers and trends of serious violence and its plans for reducing and preventing violence in our communities. Over the subsequent years the Government have established; violence reduction units in the areas with the highest levels of homicide, knife crime and A&E admissions, established the Youth Endowment Fund to support projects and action, developed a research platform to inform commissioners of what works and finally in 2022 the Home Office brought forward legislation to introduce the Serious Violence Duty (SVD).

The purpose of the SVD is to ensure that relevant services work together to share data, intelligence, and knowledge to understand and address the root causes of serious violence. It also allows the specified authorities to develop and target their interventions to prevent and stop violence altogether.

The SVD aims to ensure that agencies focus their activity on reducing serious violence whilst also providing sufficient flexibility so that the relevant organisations can engage and work together in the most effective local partnership for any given area. It strongly encouraged local areas to adopt a public health approach to reducing violence. It is SVD that has provided Surrey with the mechanisms and means to build a partnership response to serious violence in Surrey.

The Duty requires the following specified authorities within a local government area to collaborate and plan to prevent and reduce serious violence:

Police
Probation Services or Youth Offending Teams
Fire and Rescue
Integrated Care Boards
District and Borough Councils
County Councils
Schools and the Education Authority must collaborate
Prison Services must collaborate as requested

The full Serious Violence Duty guidance can be found here.

Our approach

In Surrey we follow a public health approach and the recommendations from the 2019 across government publication – ‘A whole systems multi agency approach to serious violence prevention’. This approach considers that serious violence is not inevitable and is preventable but cannot be tackled in isolation. It must be addressed through prevention strategies that consider the multiple risk factors that cause and perpetuate violence such as deprivation, early life trauma and emotional and physical health, and promote the protective factors that mitigate against the growth and victimisation of violence.

This approach means violence reduction interventions are not constrained by our organisational or professional boundaries and remain focused on generating long term reductions as well as short term solutions. At the core of the approach, data and intelligence is used to identify the burden on the population, including any inequalities, meaning actions responding to the problem are rooted in evidence of effectiveness.

In understanding the causes and contributing factors of violence, we can deliver across four different levels of prevention aimed at addressing the risk factors, reducing prevalence and threat of violence:

Contextual prevention, meaning we support the creation of the conditions that prevent violence. These include economic growth, social-cultural change, environmental and legislative change.
Primary prevention, meaning preventing violence before it happens by understanding the root causes and working to strengthen the protective factors at the earliest stage.
Secondary prevention, being an immediate response to early instances of violence and ensuring the provision of timely, tailored and effective interventions.
Tertiary prevention, focusing on those engaged in violence by providing effective support to work towards rehabilitation.

We have adopted the five key principles of the public health approach.

Local Response

Surrey Serious Violence Needs Assessment

The headlines from the partnership’s Surrey Serious Violence Needs Assessment and Surrey Police’s Strategic Assessment tells us that violence in all police recorded crime categories has increased with Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) offences increasing the most. It is believed this is in part due to an increase in confidence to report.

The night-time economy and alcohol are key drivers of serious violence. Offending continues to peak during evenings, particularly at the weekends, and in the summer and early autumn. Serious violence involving those under the age of 18 increases after the end of the school day. Public place violence predominately occurs in city and town centre locations. Hotspots typically coincide with areas of greater deprivation, and around hospitals, courts, police stations or prisons.

Surrey has clear hot spot areas across the county for both violence with and without injury and knife crime. These hot spots are clearly linked to our town centres and more urban areas. (A list of Surrey Hotspot areas are listed below).

White males between 25 and 34 years old are most vulnerable to serious violence, however there are areas, such as domestic serious violence, that disproportionately affect females.

The role of victim and offender can be interchangeable, and they are most commonly strangers, followed by rivals or feuding. Deprivation, other poverty related issues and substance misuse are common amongst those involved.

Drug use, supply and exploitation are likely to be amongst the key drivers of Surrey’s serious violence. The true scale of drug related violence remains unknown and is almost certainly underreported due to fear of reprisals. Those in the lower tiers of drugs supply networks pose, and are at, the most risk of violence. It is a realistic possibility that local drug dealing lines will see an increase in violence due to a greater presence of those with previous affiliations running them.

Those involved in the most serious offences often have complex needs, with childhood trauma, mental ill health or neurodiversity disproportionately present in the offender and victims’ cohorts. Offending can continue into adulthood; poverty related issues, school exclusions and persistent absences are indicators for lifelong involvement in serious violence.

There has been an increase in admissions to A&E with an assault with a bladed article with numbers tending to peak in October and November with males being the predominant gender although there is a need to capture this data better.

Social media alters perceptions of violence and increases fear, resulting in a change of behaviour by those who perceive themselves at risk, and provides an environment to escalate rivalries and grudges.

Data for Children and Young People shows us that violence is also rising, especially amongst the young female cohort.

The needs assessment also identified gaps and limitations in our data and the partnership committed to focusing on improved accuracy of data collection, understanding the community impact and developing a better understanding of our offending and victim cohorts.

Surrey Serious Violence Reduction Strategy

In response to the Serious Violence Needs Assessment the partnership developed a strategy, focusing on reducing and preventing violence.

The vision of the strategy is: The Surrey Serious Violence Reduction Partnership will work together to prevent harm, reduce the occurrence of violence, develop a counter-narrative around violence and increase confidence in neighbourhoods. With insight and data, we can co-design interventions and support, which will not only reduce the violence but work to prevent the causal factors that allow violence to grow.

The partnerships priorities have been developed to meet this vision.

Table 1: priorities and aims of the Surrey Serious Violence Reduction Partnership

Priority:	Main Aim:
Leadership	To create system change through investing in a dynamic governance structure that enables the cultural change necessary to bring about long-term reduction in the drivers of violence.
Evidence	To maximise our impact with smarter use of data and intelligence to create targeted solutions.
Connections	To develop a placed based, community led response to serious violence.
Focus	To prevent and deter serious violence by developing responses that address the causes, reducing the risk factors and increasing the protective factors.

Governance

In 2024 the Surrey Serious Violence Reduction Partnership (SSVRP) was established. The SSVRP has provided a forum for system leadership that coordinates a collaborative approach and fosters greater consistency across the work programmes that tackle serious violence. This approach has assisted all the relevant Executives and Boards in understanding the driving factors of violence and their role in preventing violence from escalating.

Members of the SSVRP will –

Agree and oversee the Serious Violence Reduction Strategy and delivery plans for Surrey.
Provide strategic support and updates from their respective areas of expertise.
Provide leadership and remove strategic challenges and barriers.
Work as a partnership and make joint decisions to deliver the Serious Violence Duty.
Support OPCC in meeting the requirement of the Serious Violence Home Office grant and oversee the funding allocation for Surrey.

The establishment of the SSVRP does not take away the ownership of the respective workstreams but provides the opportunity to work across the strands, sharing and linking into their respective networks and resources. The SSVRP will report into the Health and Wellbeing Board and support the priority 3 and that People are safe and feel safe. The SSVRP will also report into the Community safety Partnerships, recognising their role in supporting the delivery of the Surrey Serious Violence Reduction Strategy.

Domestic abuse

Domestic abuse (DA) is defined by the UK government as ‘Behaviour of a person (“A”) towards another person (“B”) is “domestic abuse” if A & B are each aged 16 or over and are personally connected to each other, and the behaviour is abusive.

Behaviour is “abusive” if it consists of any of the following: physical or sexual abuse; violent or threatening behaviour; controlling or coercive behaviour; economic abuse; psychological, emotional, or other abuse’.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sets out how people can be ‘personally connected’ including if they are or have been in an intimate relationship, married, civil partners, agree or have agreed to marry each other, have had, or have a parental relationship to a child or are relatives. There is no requirement for the victim and the perpetrator to cohabit although many will have.

National Context

The police recorded 889,918 domestic abuse-related crimes across all police forces in England and Wales (excluding Devon and Cornwall) in the year ending March 2023.
In the year ending March 2023, domestic abuse-related crimes represented 16.2% of all offences recorded by the police. Violence against the person had the highest proportion of offences identified as domestic abuse-related (34.0%).
The National Domestic Abuse Helpline was contacted 171,490 times in the year ending March 2023; a decrease of 10.7% compared with the year ending March 2022.
Data from Respect Men’s Advice Line for the year ending March 2023 show they were contacted 39,417 times, while the Respect Phoneline for perpetrators of domestic abuse were contacted 8,955 times.
There were 370 domestic homicides recorded by the police in the period between year ending March 2020 and year ending March 2022. This represents approximately one in five of all homicides where the victim was aged 16 years and over. 67.3% of the victims of domestic homicide were female, compared to non-domestic homicides where many victims were male (87.8%).
The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that 2.1 million people aged 16 years and over (1.4 million women and 751,000 men) experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2023. Less than 1 in 5 (18.9%) of those experiencing partner abuse told the police.
20% of children have lived with an adult perpetrating domestic abuse and 62% of children living with domestic abuse are directly harmed by the perpetrator of the abuse, in addition to the harm caused by witnessing the abuse of others.
The social and economic costs of DA are estimated at £66 billion in England and Wales in the year 2016-17. £14 billion of this is the cost to the economy arising from lost output due to time off work.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that 57% of women who had experienced abuse before the age of 16 years, also experienced domestic abuse later in life. In comparison, 17% of women who did not experience abuse before the age of 16 years experienced domestic abuse later in life.
The 2019 to 2020 Statutory Homelessness Annual Report showed that around 1 in 11 households in England (8.7%) who were homeless or threatened with homelessness recorded domestic abuse as the main reason. And the charity St Mungo’s reported that 35% of women they worked with who had slept rough left home to escape violence.

In February 2024 following a public consultation, the Government announced that they were renaming Domestic Homicide Reviews to Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews, to better reflect all deaths which fall within their scope. The new changes were made after concerns were raised by charities and bereaved families that the previous definition did not fully reflect the range of domestic abuse related deaths (specifically suicide related deaths). The changes will be brought into law via an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill.

Local context

Tackling Domestic Abuse requires a multiagency response which in Surrey is co-ordinated through the Domestic Abuse Executive Group. This includes partners from Health, Surrey Police, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), Housing, Specialist Domestic Abuse Services, Adult Social Care, and Children’s Social Care. The Executive oversees five working groups which are responsible for the continuous improvement of domestic abuse services and the response to domestic abuse of all partners.

Domestic Abuse services in Surrey are commissioned by Surrey County Council, Surrey Police, and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC). In some cases, this is joint commissioning.

Due to the nature of the offence, how a victim might seek help and the different methods of recording by agencies across Surrey, lead to challenges with understanding an accurate record of need. Below provides some of the data picture for the county.

Surrey Police Data

The total number of DA related incidents recorded by Surrey Police in 2023-4 fell by 3% compared to the previous year, although there was a lot of variation across the year, from a peak of 703 in December to a low of 530 in January. This reduction is in line with data from other forces. DA incidents are those where no criminal offence has been disclosed.

The total number of DA related crimes was very similar to 2022-3 and 2% lower than 2021-2. The monthly figures ranged from 639 in January to 726 in February.

Figure 1: Domestic abuse related incidents in Surrey

Line graph showing the number of Surreys Domestic Abuse Related Incidents by year.
2023-24 shows that it started in April at 597 incidents, increased throughout May and ended June at 686. The number of incidents then decreased through July (614) and Aug (585) before increasing again in September to 699. October and November saw a decrease, 653 and 671 respectively before reaching its highest of 703 in December. There was a dramatic fall in January to 530, before rising agian to 612 in February and 601 in March.
Lines are also present for the end of the year 2021-22, and the whole year of 22-23 both sharing a similar frequency of incidents. These years do not have the numbers of incidents shown however.

Figure 2: Domestic abuse related crimes in Surrey

This picture is a line diagram showing the number of domestic abuse related crimes in Surrey for the years 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24. 2023-24 line has numbers showing the totals.
2023-24 started April at 713 before dropping to 656 in May and rising agian to 698 in June and 714 for July. In August it dropped to 647 before increasing to 716 in September, before dropping to 652 in October, 692 in November, and 722 in December. January dropped to 639, before increasing to 726 in February and dropping back down to 674 in March.
2022-23 appears to show a more dramatic rise in November and a reduction in December but generally follows the same peaks amd troughs.
2021-22 shows a large spike heading up to 900 in May and June before reducing back to the 650- 700 numbers of the other years.

Figure 3: Domestic Abuse Outreach Data

8124 referrals relating to 5205 individuals were received by outreach services in 2023-4 under the previous contract, with 46% of referrals coming from police.

3081 people were accepted for case work, 95% of whom were female, and the largest age groups were 25-34 and 35-44, which made up 56%.

138 children and young people were supported via group work and 1:1 work.

In 71% of cases the perpetrator was ex or current intimate partner, with spouse making up a further 13%.

Emotional abuse was the most reported type of abuse, being present in 72% of cases. Jealous / controlling behaviour was reported in 40% of cases, and physical abuse in a third.

Surrey Domestic Abuse Helpline Data

The Surrey Domestic Abuse helpline is provided by Your Sanctuary and provides emotional and practical support Monday to Friday 09:00 to 16:00.

Figure 4: Contacts to Surrey domestic abuse helpline

This image shows the number of contacts to Surrey Domestic Abuse Helpline by month. It has lines for seperate years. 2023- 24 has the number of contacts detailed.
In April there was 355 contacts, this rose to 386 in May, and to 510 in June. July dropped to 455, before rising to its highest at 550 in August. It dropped to 438 in September, rose to 487 in October, was at 456 in November and dropped to 313, its lowest in December. It rose again to 385 in January, 440 in February and ended the year in March at 429.

There was a total of 5,204 contacts to the Surrey DA helpline between April 2023 and March 2024, an increase of 17% compared to the previous year.

December saw the lowest number of contacts, which appears to be a seasonal trend.

Contacts peaked in August 2023 at 550, the highest number of monthly contacts in over 5 years.

Health Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (HIDVA)

HIDVAs received 542 referrals in 2023-4, of which 40% were from the Emergency Department / A&E and nearly a quarter from maternity.

241 of the people referred engaged with HIDVA, of these 88% were patients, 10% staff and 2% patient friend or family.

For nearly a half of those who engaged, the level of risk was high.

More than a quarter of those who engaged reported being subject to abuse for five or more years.

Figure 5: length of domestic abuse for those engaged with HIDVA in 2023-24

This image shows the length of abuse.
6 months or less is shown as 20
One year or less is shown as 23
Two years or less is shown as 26
Three years or less is shown as 9
Four year or less is shown as 14
Five years or more is shown as 65

Safe accommodation

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 placed a new duty on Tier One Local Authorities to assess the need for victims of domestic abuse and their children in safe accommodation services and to commission appropriate support in their areas. The Government announced £98 million of additional funding through the Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to enable us to deliver the new duty. Surrey received £1.93million of this money for 21-22 and 22-23, and the same amount is committed in 23-24 for the delivery of safe accommodation services in Surrey.

Across Surrey Refuge is provided by 3 providers, Your Sanctuary, I Choose Freedom and Salvation Army. There is a total of 80 refuge spaces, up 23% from November 2021.

However, this still falls short of the Council of Europe recommendation of one refuge unit per 10,000? head of population, which would require 121 units based on the mid-2022 population estimate for Surrey.

Table 2: number of refuge spaces for each type of refuge

Type of refuge	Spaces
Shared	71
Dispersed	8
Move-on	1
Total	80

Shared spaces are provided in refuges while dispersed and move-on spaces are provided by Refuge for All.

In 2023- 24 Demand outstripped capacity, with 45% of people referred being unable to be supported due to capacity constraints.
In 2023-24 The number of unable to be supported due to services being unable to meet their needs has fallen by 50% since 2022-3.

Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC)

Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs) are where statutory and voluntary agency representatives, including Childrens Services, Health, Police, Probation, housing, and IDVA’s (Independent Domestic Violence Advisors), share information about high-risk victims of domestic abuse to produce a coordinated action plan to increase victim safety. It is assumed that no professional or agency is solely responsible for the survivor’s safety.

Surrey currently has six MARAC meetings. Between them they cover the geographical area of Surrey, each meeting fortnightly. These areas are:

Surrey Heath and Woking
Guildford and Waverley
Tandridge, Mole Valley and Epsom
Reigate and Banstead, and Ewell
Runnymede and Elmbridge
Spelthorne

Table 3: MARAC cases in Surrey, 2023/24

MARAC	West Surrey (G&W)	North Surrey	East Surrey	West Surrey (W&SH)	Surrey 2023-4	Surrey 2022-3
Number of Cases discussed	290	461	641	222	1614	1593
Number of cases per 10,000 adult females	26	34	38	28	33	34
% repeat cases	24%	26%	27%	18%	25%	28%
% male victims	4.8%	5.6%	6.1%	3.6%	5.4%	7.5%
% BAME	18%	13%	14%	23%	16%	19%
% of cases where the victim had care & support needs	2.1%	3.5%	4.7%	1.8%	3.5%	NK
% of cases where the victim had mental health issues	44.1%	34.9%	37.4%	48.2%	39.4%	NK
% LGBT	2.4%	1.1%	0.8%	1.4%	1.2%	1.5%
Number of children in household	412	613	888	303	2216	2281
Average children per case	1.42	1.33	1.39	1.36	1.37	1.43

Domestic Abuse Related Death Review (DARDR) & Data

A “Domestic Abuse Related Death Review” (previously known as a Domestic Homicide Review or DHR) means a review of the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by:

a person to whom she/he was related or with whom she/he was or had been in an intimate personal relationship, or
a member of the same household as herself/himself, held with a view to identifying the lessons to be learnt from the death.

Where a victim took their own life (suicide) and the circumstances give rise to concern, for example it emerges that there was coercive controlling behaviour in the relationship, a review should be undertaken, even if a suspect is not charged with an offence or they are tried and acquitted. Reviews are not about who is culpable.

Table 4: Current number of DARDRs and joint DARDR/SARs per borough (November 2024):

Borough	Current Number of DARDRs and Joint DARDR/SARs
Runnymede	3
Reigate and Banstead	3
Epsom and Ewell	2
Surrey Heath	2
Spelthorne	2
Woking	2
Guildford	1
Elmbridge	1
Mole Valley	1
Tandridge	1

Youth Using Violence and Abuse (YUVA) – funded by Surrey County Council

Interventions for 11–18-year-olds (up to 25 where there are additional needs) who use abusive behaviours in their relationships with a family member or an intimate relationship.

170 individuals from 116 families were seen by YUVA in 2023-4.

Young people attend a total of 266 hours of direct work with YUVA, while parents / carers attended a total of 655 hours in 2023-4.

Demand has outstripped capacity and 166 individuals from 71 families were awaiting service at the end of 2023-4.

YUVA provided a total of 107 consultations to other professionals 26% of which were to Targeted Youth Support Practitioners and 20% to Children’s Social Care.

Domestic Abuse Services in Surrey

D.A. SEEN, the Domestic Abuse Surrey Expert by Experience Network

The Survivors Steering Group is a group of 11 survivors from across the Surrey DA Partnership who have all directly experienced domestic abuse. Together the women have 13 children. Their children have directly or indirectly experienced domestic abuse, and we have cases of child on parent abuse from domestic abuse related trauma. Women for whom trauma is a lasting, daily effect from their experience. Women who have faced additional barriers due to racism, homophobia, culture, faith, mental health, disability, financial hardship. Women who are passionate and committed to using their experience to inform services, educate statutory agencies and staff, and help other women.

Established in 2020 the SSG has gone from strength to strength and are now at the point of preparing to relaunch themselves with a new name, celebrating their achievements individually and collectively as well as continuing to strive for system change within policing, children’s social care, family courts and beyond.

Domestic Abuse Outreach

Domestic abuse outreach services have been commissioned by Surrey County Council, Surrey Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for several years under a variety of different grants and service level agreements.

In 2024 a commissioning process was undertaken that brought together funding from Surrey County Council, Surrey Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. The Outreach service focuses on specialist DA services which include any intervention or service that supports survivors of domestic abuse (children and adults) at the earliest point and at point of crisis – this includes Community Independent Domestic Violence Advisors / advocacy; 1:1 work with children and adults; out of core hours support through various channels.

The Surrey Domestic Abuse Partnership (SDAP) is a group of independent charities who work together across the whole of Surrey to ensure that survivors of domestic abuse, aged 16 and over, are safe and can build a future where domestic abuse is not tolerated.

SDAP outreach services offer an independent, confidential, listening service to anyone affected by domestic abuse. They are free impartial services giving practical help and emotional support, as well as providing information on a wide range of issues including housing, benefits, safety planning and the needs of children affected by domestic abuse. SDAP’s outreach services provide support to any victim of domestic abuse regardless of age, gender, sexuality or race. The partnership has provided:

An IDVA to provide specialist support for victims of abuse who identify as LBGT+
An IDVA to provide specialist support for Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee victims of domestic abuse
An IDVA to provide specialist support for victims of abuse who are children or young people
An IDVA to provide specialist support for victims of abuse who have a disability
Funding to support the SDAP helpline managed by Your Sanctuary
Funding for survivors with complex needs
Additional funding for the core IDVA provision and Service Managers
An Intimate-Stalking Advocate
An IDVA dedicated to support the rural community
Police Advocates embedded in each of the divisional police stations

East Surrey Domestic Abuse Service (ESDAS) is the lead partner in SDAP service for Surrey and primarily work in Mole Valley, Reigate & Banstead and Tandridge.

North Surrey Domestic Abuse Service (NSDAS) is provided by Citizens Advice Bureau and covers the boroughs of Epsom & Ewell, Elmbridge, and Spelthorne.

South-West Surrey Domestic Abuse Services (SWSDAS) is a partner in the SDAP and the service covers the boroughs of Guildford and Waverley.

Your Sanctuary are a partner in SDAP commissioned domestic abuse service for Surrey. The service covers the boroughs of Runnymede, Surrey Heath, and Woking. In addition to provision offered by other partner agencies Your Sanctuary provides a Community Outreach Service for men experiencing domestic abuse who live in Surrey.

Your Sanctuary also run a volunteer programme with approximately 75 volunteers who assist in delivery of outreach services, the helpline, refuge services and other administrative functions.

Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA)
AAFDA Provide specialist and expert one to one advocacy and peer support to individuals bereaved by suicide or unexplained death following domestic abuse in Surrey.

Hourglass
Hourglass is the UK’s only charity focused on the abuse and neglect of older people. Their mission is to end the harm, abuse, and exploitation of older people in the UK. The OPCC has commissioned this service to provide tailored support to older victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum (SMEF)
SMEF supports and represents the needs and aspirations of a growing ethnic minority population in Surrey. The OPCC have commissioned ‘The Trust Project’ which is an outreach support service for black and minority ethnic women at risk of domestic abuse.

Safe Accommodation

Refuge services are an established, essential element in delivering support to the most vulnerable victims of domestic abuse who are no longer safe at home. A refuge service provides holistic, specialist support to meet the needs of victims and their children in a supportive, safe, and secure environment. There is no ‘typical victim’ supported in a refuge – victims and children will have a range of support needs, including those related to safety, criminal and family justice, disability, physical and mental health, immigration status, children’s welfare and education, financial needs including debt, and social needs.

Across Surrey, Refuge is provided by 3 providers, Your Sanctuary, I Choose Freedom and Salvation Army. There is a total of 80 refuge spaces, up 23% from November 2021.

Perpetrator Interventions

Hope for Change – Intensive Housing Management for Perpetrators

Hope for Change is a service that offers temporary housing solutions for those individuals causing harm through domestic abuse – 6 residents currently with a further 24 on the waiting list from Probation alone.  6 referrals were not accepted due to no spaces available, and there were 2 female perpetrators amongst enquiries for support.  In 1 week – 16th March – there were 7 perpetrators who needed hope for change accommodation.     

Steps to Change Hub

Steps to Change brings together independent and expert services in this field to work alongside each other which are: Interventions Alliance (interventions for perpetrators), Surrey Domestic Abuse Partnership and Victim and Witness Care Unit (integrated support for survivors) and Waythrough (formally Richmond Fellowship) who provide services for children and adolescents who use abuse/violence in their relationships – YUVA. The Steps to Change hub acts as a gateway to interventions for anyone demonstrating abusive behaviours which are of concern. This will include adults perpetrating domestic abuse/stalking who are arrested by police but not charged, those subject to a police investigation, or those who may have committed an offence which is appropriate for a formal out of court disposal. After a referral into the Steps to Change team, there will be engagement work undertaken to motivate those offending to address their behaviour and make a change.

Youth Using Violence and Abuse (YUVA) – funded by Surrey County Council and OPCC

The project is delivered by Waythrough (formally known as Richmond Fellowship) and provides interventions for 11–18-year-olds (up to 25 where there are additional needs) who use abusive behaviours in their relationships with a family member or an intimate relationship, and parents/carers, siblings, or intimate partners affected by young people’s violence/abuse.

YUVA service incorporates a whole family model to address young people who use abuse or aggression toward family members or intimate partners. The primary aim is to increase the safety of families and support young people to maintain positive relationships. The service consists of two separate but integrated services:

The young person programme, which works directly with young people who are using violence/abuse toward their family or intimate partner
A support service consisting of a combination of 1:1 session for siblings and/or intimate partners, and a structured parent’s group

Referrals will be accepted from all professionals and families. Following referral, a suitability assessment will be completed with the young person to assess their motivation to engage with the programme, as well as assess any family members or partners involved. After that, a total of 10 face-to-face sessions is offered. A consent form needs to be signed by the parent/carer before work can start with young people.

Compulsive and Obsessive Behaviour Intervention (COBI) – by Interventions Alliance

COBI is a treatment for people whose thoughts and behaviours could be described as obsessive. It is a challenging and intensive talking therapy which uses a treatment model called Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). The aim of the therapy is to help people to acknowledge, accept and recognise their difficult emotions and thoughts that trigger harmful behaviour towards others. The programme helps people to learn new ways to manage these feelings without this causing harm to others.

Healthy Relationships – by Interventions Alliance

This programme helps people using abusive behaviours to understand the choices needed to make a change. Working with a professional, they are supported to understand their thoughts, feelings and behaviours, so they can develop skills to manage these better in the future. By attending sessions in a non-judgemental, supportive and safe space, they benefit from:

Learning what a healthy relationship looks like and how best to work to achieve that;
Knowing how to communicate effectively whilst respecting another’s emotional and physical boundaries;
Responding to emotional responses with awareness, to create positive behavioural change and without causing harm or distress to others; and
Understanding the impact of harmful relationships on children.

Other Services for Domestic Abuse victims in Surrey

DA advocates embedded within Surrey Police Domestic Abuse teams to provide fast-time support at point of report, specialist professional advice on case.

Victim and Witness Care Unit (this is the unit operated by Surrey Police which supports many domestic abuse victims in addition to referrals being made to SDAP).

Family Lives:

Family Lives is a charity whose aim is to help support parents and carers to deal with all aspects of family life. It provides this through a 24hour helpline, extensive advice on its website, live chat services, befriending services, and parenting/relationship support groups.

Family Centres:

Surrey’s 11 Family Centres based in each District and Borough use a whole family approach to support children aged 0-18 years (up to 25 years for those with additional needs and disabilities) at the earliest opportunity to find solutions to the parenting and relationship challenges they face, and to grow in confidence to manage future difficulties. The Family Centres aim is to help families build their own resilience and self-reliance. The Family Centres provide one-to-one family support where the family situation is having a significant impact on the health, development, or wellbeing of the child/children. The centres work in partnership with health, schools, community groups, and other commissioned services to ensure families receive joined up support from key agencies.

MySpace:

MySpace is a 12week community-based treatment programme run by Welcare for children from homes where domestic abuse and violence has occurred. The group environment helps children to realise they are not alone and provides a supportive and safe space for them to process their experiences.

Guildford Action for Families (the GAF):

The GAF (Guildford Action for Families) service supports isolated families with issues including debt, housing, mental health challenges, isolation, relationship breakdown, domestic abuse, parenting skills, employment, and substance misuse.

Vaughan House:

Based in Guildford, Vaughan House offers supported housing to those who are single, homeless or at risk of homelessness. Residents may have complex support needs, such as substance abuse, mental health issues or offending behaviour. They work to create greater independence and success in employment, education, or training.

The Women’s Support Centre:

The Women’s Support Centre (WSC) works with women whose lives are affected by the Criminal Justice system—both those who have served a sentence and those that are in contact with, or at risk of being in contact with, the Criminal Justice system. The WSC is based in Woking. The project workers at the Centre support their clients to recognise and address their needs with the aim of reintegrating back into the community and leading a more stable life. The WSC works closely with several organisations including all the Surrey local authorities, the police, and NHS Surrey.

Identified Gaps in Services

Children as victims

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 made it so that children who witness domestic abuse are considered victims. As with any victim of domestic abuse it is important there are specialist services available to them and an acknowledgement of the impact the abuse will have had on them.

The 2021 census results align closely with Surrey’s population projections from 2016 – 2030. The graph below shows the projected population changes from this data and indicates:

The number of 0–4-year-olds is anticipated to continue to decrease down to 61,797 in 2030.
The 5-9 age group is projected to decrease by an even larger amount falling to 66,359 in 2030.
The number of 10–14-year-olds is predicted to increase to 80,000 in 2023 at which point it will plateau and then begin to decline by 2025.
In percentage terms this means by 2030 the population of 0–4-year-olds would have fallen by 9.1% compared to 2020, the population of 5–9-year-olds by 14.3% and 10–14-year-olds would have fallen by 4.6%. While the 15–19-year-old age group will have risen by 15.1% by 2030.

Figure 6: Annual population projections by age group in Surrey

This chart shows annual population projections by age group in surrey from 2020 to 2030. The 0-4 age group is showing a decrease between 2020 and 2030, as does the 5-9 age group.
The 10-14 age group shows an increase until 2025 when it starts to decrease. The 15-10 age group shows an increse until 2027 when it steadys out.
The 20-24 age group shows a decrease until 2024 before it begins to increase again coming to its highest in 2030.

Between April 2023 and March 2024, 138 children were supported by DA Outreach service via group work or 1:1 work.

Surrey currently has no specialist provision that is exclusively for children or young people, including for those who are experiencing abuse in their early intimate relationships. Early intimate relationships often begin in adolescence which is an age group which is due to increase as a percentage of the overall Surrey population.

Preventing extremism

Counter Terrorism (Prevent)

The UK Government defines extremism as “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance that aims to:

Negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or
Undermine, overturn or replace the UKs system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or
Intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2)

(Gov UK New Definition of Extremism 2024)

CONTEST is the UKs counter terrorism strategy. The aim is to reduce the risk from terrorism to the UK, its citizens and interests overseas, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence. (CONTEST: The United Kingdom’s Strategy for Countering Terrorism 2023)

Prevent remains one of the key pillars of CONTEST, alongside the other three ‘P’ work strands:

Prevent: to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism
Pursue: to stop terrorist attacks
Protect: to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack
Prepare: to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack

The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (CTSA) provides an important statutory framework to support this strategy and places a specific duty on ‘specified organisations’ to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”

The Prevent Duty

The aim of Prevent is to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent also extends to supporting the rehabilitation and disengagement of those already involved in terrorism. It sits alongside long-established safeguarding duties on professionals to protect people from a range of other harms, such as substance abuse, involvement in gangs, and physical and sexual exploitation. The duty helps to ensure that people who are susceptible to radicalisation are supported as they would be under safeguarding processes.

Prevents objectives:

tackle the ideological causes of terrorism
intervene early to support people susceptible to radicalisation
enable people who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate

Prevent duty guidance: for England and Wales (accessible) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Channel

The CTSA 2015 sets out the duty placed on each local authority and specified organisations to establish ‘Channel panels’ to provide support for people (children and adults) vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.

Referrals to the multi-agency and Local Authority led Channel Panel can come from a wide range of people and organisations. Referrals are first assessed by specialist Counter Terrorism Police to establish the nature and extent of an individual’s vulnerability and whether the criteria set out in s36 of the CTSA 2015 are met. If a case is adopted, Channel panel members will discuss and agree a bespoke support plan tailored to the needs of the individual case. Panel members should bring individual expertise in relation to their respective professions and the services and support available locally to develop an appropriate support plan.

An effective Channel panel is established in Surrey chaired by Surrey County Council. This provides tailored support plans for the purpose of reducing an individual’s susceptibility to being drawn into terrorism.

The Surrey Prevent Executive Group

Specified authorities under the Prevent Duty in Surrey attend a multi-agency group called the Surrey Prevent Executive Group. The role of this meeting includes:

Assessing local risk
Developing a Prevent Action Plan to collate partnership activity
Demonstrating effective compliance with the Prevent Duty
Overseeing the activity of the Channel Panel

Understanding and Recognising Risk

Prevent’s first objective is to tackle the ideological causes of terrorism. The ideological component of terrorism is what sets it apart from other acts of serious violence. Prevent deals with ideologies including Islamist extremism, extreme right-wing ideology and other ideologies and concerns that may pose a terrorist threat. Established terrorist narratives exhibit common themes such as antisemitism, misogyny, anti-establishment, anti-LGBT grievances and religious or ethnic superiority.

People can become susceptible to being drawn into terrorism for a wide range of reasons and while the information set out below is intended to promote understanding it will be important for professionals to supplement this reading with more specific detailed literature or seek specialist advice from local Prevent contacts.

People can become susceptible to what has been described as ‘radicalisation’ through their exposure to, or involvement with, groups or individuals who advocate terrorism/extremism to promulgate their social, religious or political ideologies. This can occur due to the influence of family members or friends and/or direct contact with extremist groups and organisations or, increasingly, through individual online activities such as on social media and gaming platforms which is now seen as a major threat. This can result in some individuals becoming at risk of being drawn into extremist thought and action which could lead to criminal activity and has the potential to cause them and others harm. An increasing threat is from self-initiated terrorists who act alone to carry out low sophistication attacks which require little planning, such as those involving knifes or vehicles.

Most individuals, even those who hold radical views, do not become involved in extremism. Numerous factors can contribute to and influence the range of behaviours that can be associated with forms of extremism. It is important to carefully consider these factors to develop an objective understanding of the issue. It is also necessary to understand those factors that build resilience and protect individuals from engaging in extremist activity.

It is important that all professionals who have contact with vulnerable individuals are able to recognise these factors. Where further advice is necessary this can be sought from designated safeguarding leads, or the local authority lead for Prevent and then shared with the Counter Terrorism Police via the referral form. Counter Terrorism police can also be contacted for advice.

Vulnerability factors

There are many factors that can make someone susceptible to radicalisation. They can apply to any age, social class, religion, ethnic or educational background. There is no single route to radicalisation however research shows that indicators of an individual’s potential vulnerability can include:

Need for Identity Meaning and Belonging – can present as a distancing from family and friends and their community or in some cases, their cultural / religious heritage and feeling uncomfortable with their place in the society surrounding them
Personal Crisis – may include a significant trauma such as a major transition in life, family tensions; sense of isolation; experiences of bullying; the triggering of earlier traumas; low self-esteem; disassociating from existing friendship group and becoming involved with a new and different group of friends; searching for answers to questions about identity, faith and belonging
Grievance which may be due to personal events leading to a sense of injustice
Unmet Aspirations – in the context of perceived injustices; feeling of failure or inadequacy; rejection of civic life.
Mental Health Issues – most people suffering from depression, anxiety or other mental health issues are not drawn into extremism. However, for some people it can increase their vulnerability to being influenced by extremists.
Criminality – that may include experiences of imprisonment; poor resettlement / reintegration; previous involvement with criminal groups

The above list is not exhaustive, nor does it mean that everyone experiencing the above are at risk of exploitation for the purposes of extremism – individuals may show some, all or none of the vulnerabilities and the process of radicalisation is different for every individual and can take place over an extended period or within a very short time frame. As a result, it is important that awareness, sensitivity and expertise are developed within all contexts to recognise signs and indications of radicalisation.

As the risk of radicalisation is the product of several factors, identifying this risk requires that staff exercise their professional judgement, seeking further advice as necessary. It may be combined with other vulnerabilities or may be the only risk identified. This can place people at risk of being drawn into extremism and ultimately criminal activity and has the potential to cause harm. The Prevent and Channel Process is aimed at stopping people being drawn into terrorism at an early stage, safeguarding them through recognising the signs and intervening early to divert them away from this dangerous path.

Potential indicators of radicalisation may include:

Use of inappropriate language;
Possession or accessing violent extremist literature;
Behavioural changes such as becoming secretive;
The expression of extremist views;
Advocating violent actions and means;
Association with known extremists;
Articulating support for violent extremist causes or leaders;
Using extremist views to explain personal disadvantage;
Joining or seeking to join extremist organisations;
Seeking to recruit others to an extremist ideology.

Identification and referrals

If a member of the public has a concern about a person, they know who may be susceptible to radicalisation they can raise these via: https://actearly.uk/, by calling 101, or with their Local Authority safeguarding team.

Staff working in public-facing organisations receive training to help identify people who may be susceptible to radicalisation, and what to do about it. Local Authorities, schools, colleges, universities, health bodies, prisons, probation organisations and the police are subject to a statutory duty through the Counterterrorism and Security Act 2015 to include in their day-to-day work consideration of the need to safeguard people from being drawn into terrorism.

Professionals working with clients who live in Surrey can make a referral to Prevent using: Referral process | Healthy Surrey

What we know

In the year ending 31 March 2023, there were 6,817 referrals to Prevent in England and Wales. This is an increase of 6.4% compared to the previous year (6,406), and the third highest number of referrals since the first period reported on (2015/16). The increase is predominately driven by an increase in referrals from the Education, Community and Police sectors which saw increases of 16%, 16% and 7% respectively.

Like last year, the Education sector made the highest number of referrals (2,684; 39%), followed by the Police (1,943; 29%). The year ending 31 March 2023 saw referrals from the Education sector account for an increased proportion of all referrals (2,684 of 6,817; 39%) compared to 2024 (36%). Since data recording began in 2015/16, Education referrals have accounted for 33% of all referrals.

As in previous years, where gender was specified (6,801), most referrals were for males (6,125; 90%).

Of the referrals where age of the individual was known (6,796), those aged 15 to 20 again accounted for the largest proportion (2,203; 32%). Those aged 14 years and under account for the second largest proportion (2,119; 31%) of referrals. This year, Home Office analysts have included statistics broken down by a supplementary set of age groups to provide additional detail on the makeup of Prevent referrals. Those aged between 11 and 15 account for 2,628 (39%) of referrals where age is specified. Nearly half (46%) of referrals that became adopted cases are for individuals aged between 11 and 15.

Of those in custody for terrorism connected offences in Great Britain as of 30 June 2023, 65% were categorised as holding Islamist-extremist views, 27% were categorised as holding Extreme Right-Wing ideologies, and the remaining 8% were categorised as holding beliefs related to other ideologies. These figures include both those that had been convicted and those being held on remand (that is, held in custody until a later date when a trial or sentencing hearing will take place).

The threat from Islamist terrorism remains the foremost and most significant, accounting for 67% of attacks since 2018 and about three quarters of the MI5 caseload. Through the implementation of the Independent Review of Prevent, greater emphasis will be placed on ensuring that Prevent is delivered in a proportionate manner that focuses on the most prolific threats.

Serious and organised crime

Serious and organised crime is defined as individuals planning, coordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and or as part of transactional networks. The main categories of offences covered are child sexual exploitation and abuse, illegal drugs and associated harm, modern slavery and human trafficking and economic crime in all its forms including the threat caused by Cyber Crime. (Surrey Serious and Organised Crime Partnership Strategy 2023/25).