UN Women Security Sector Module

December 2011

Case Study: The Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference

between London police, local authorities and service providers
(United Kingdom)
Summary
The Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) is a monthly meeting of agencies such as
the local police, health and housing practitioners, shelter workers and other government and non-
governmental specialists, including Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) providing
services to domestic violence survivors identified as being at the highest risk (defined as a pattern of
abuse which presents a risk of serious harm or femicide). The first MARAC conference was
organised in 2003 by Cardiff‟s Women Safety Unit (a multi-agency initiative dealing with domestic
abuse) in Wales, and has since spread to over 200 MARACs across the United Kingdom.
The Conference operates at the local borough level, with meetings chaired by the police. Each
meeting deals with 20-30 very high risk cases at a time. The IDVAs are central to the MARAC
process are, as they are responsible for representing the views of the victim/survivor at the meeting,
and liaising between the woman or girl and partner agencies to ensure that the proposed course of
action is safe and appropriate.
The aims of the MARAC are to:
Share information to increase the safety, health and well being of survivors
Determine whether the perpetrator poses a significant risk to any particular individual or to
the general community
Work together to develop and implement a risk management plan that provides professional
support to all those at risk and that reduces the risk of harm
Reduce repeat victimization
Improve agency accountability
Improve support for staff involved in high-risk domestic abuse cases
The MARAC model has helped the police in the United Kingdom to develop a more comprehensive
response to domestic violence. Although there has been an increase in safety for domestic violence
survivors, including a reduction in the escalation and severity of abuse and a reduction or even
cessation in repeat incidents of abuse, more research is needed determine the contexts in which the
MARAC is the most effective mechanism of coordination.

Background
The Cardiff‟s Women Safety Unit was established in 2001 to create a multi-agency response to
domestic violence and was instrumental in setting up the first MARAC in April 2003, which met on a
monthly basis. The goal of these monthly meetings was and remains the provision of a forum for
sharing information and taking actions that reduce future harm to very high-risk domestic violence
survivors and their children.
During MARAC meetings, local agencies discuss the risks faced by women and girls in each case of
high-risk domestic violence identified in their area, the actions needed to ensure their safety, and to
ensure the resources available locally are shared and used to create a risk management plan
involving all agencies.
The MARAC became part of the policy agenda in 2006 as part of the United Kingdom Home Office
Coordinated Community Response to domestic violence. In early 2007, when there were few
London boroughs with operational MARACs, the government announced a £1.85 million investment
in the Conference, alongside the expansion of Specialist Domestic Violence Courts and Advisors,
conceptualized „to transform the delivery of domestic violence services at the local level‟.
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A 2004 evaluation of the original MARAC model in South Wales found reductions and cessations in
violence, recorded by both police callouts and interviews with survivors. As of 2010, all 32 Greater
London boroughs have MARACS, totalling 240 MARACs across England and Wales, with a national
roll out to be completed by 2011. It is estimated that 150,000 cases per year will be discussed at
MARACs when there is full national coverage.

The expansion of the model has been supported by the Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic
Abuse (CAADA), a national non-governmental organization which partners with the Cardiff‟s Women
Safety Unit and supports multi-agency responses to domestic abuse, aiming to link advocacy service
agencies and individuals seeking information on violence against women. CAADA now provides
general resources and training on MARACs including:
 MARAC Governance Templates Pack 2010
 The 10 principles of an effective MARAC
 The MARAC Guide 2010 - From Principles to Practice (full manual)

The MARAC Model

A MARAC is a monthly meeting of several agencies such as the local police, health and housing
practitioners, shelter workers and other government and non-governmental specialists providing
services to high-risk, domestic violence survivors. The meeting operates at the borough level,
although as MARACs are not mandated by legislation, there is no legal obligation for MARACs to
exist in every area. The primary focus of the MARAC is to safeguard the women survivors of abuse,
while linking with other agencies to safeguard children and manage perpetrator behaviour.

High-risk domestic violence is a pattern of abuse, which presents a risk of serious harm or homicide;
approximately 10 percent of all domestic abuse in the United Kingdom results in serious harm and
death. Only high-risk cases are referred to the MARAC given limited resources. Organizations are
legally able to share information on high-risk cases, through the Information Sharing Protocol (from
Richmond MARAC), which aims to facilitate the exchange of information for the purposes of
prioritizing the safety of the domestic violence survivors and their children.

Coordinated action planning is an important way of reducing the potential danger to high risk
survivors and improving the safety of other family members, especially children. As every case is
different, the representatives present at the MARAC discuss each situation and identify appropriate
actions accordingly, which often fall within the scope of the respective mandates of the participating
agencies.

Typical actions might include (CAADA, 2010):

All agencies: Identifying high-risk victims through files so they can provide an enhanced and
responsive service in the event of an incident.
Police: Placing the survivor‟s home on „cocoon watch‟ (a measure established with a victim's
consent, where immediate neighbours or those with a direct view of a woman‟s home watch
the property to prevent the risk of future trespassing or contact from the perpetrator. Any
suspicious activity is communicated to a local police officer responsible for taking further
action against the perpetrator if required. Other crime prevention measures include
increasing the security of a building or a survivor‟s home to prevent further attacks; or
providing panic alarms.
Health: Ensuring that the survivor is separated from the perpetrator during medical visits so
that health care workers can provide confidential treatment and support to women and girls.

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Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs): Providing women an update on the
actions to be taken by the MARAC where safe; providing ongoing psycho-social support;
assisting survivors to attend legal, medical and other appointments; seek legal assistance;
identify new housing and education or employment opportunities; follow-up coordination and
communication with all agencies; ongoing risk assessment with survivors; and providing
updates on repeat victimization to the MARAC.
Children and Young People’s Services: Agreeing to undertake an initial assessment of
children involved in MARAC cases as appropriate; making referrals to children and
adolescent mental health services; and providing additional support to the family.
Housing Authorities: Assisting survivors to find alternative accommodation; processing
applications for housing benefits and services for the homeless; and implementing safety
devices on the home property.
Education Administrators: Sharing information with appropriate staff to support children
effectively; and monitoring school performance and behavioural issues.
Probation: Using information from MARAC for pre-sentence report writing.
Adult services: Making referrals to vulnerable adult teams and/or non-governmental
organization support, for example, Age UK.
Shelter: Providing safe accommodation; and providing ongoing psycho-social, legal, referral
and other support.
Drug and Alcohol team: Fast tracking access to specialist services and support.

The MARAC Principles

The MARAC Quality Assurance process, administered by the Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic
Abuse, is structured around the „10 Principles for an Effective MARAC‟, which centre on survivor
safety as a core consideration for all stages of the process (from referral and information sharing, to
action planning and implementation). Ensuring that the survivor has a clear voice and is supported
by the MARAC is crucial to achieving safety and reducing repeat victimization.

Identification: All agencies have protocols and systems for identifying and referring high-risk
cases to MARAC in a timely way.

Referral criteria: The MARAC has clear and transparent referral criteria that include visible high
risk, professional judgment on the case and escalation of incidents.
Representation: The relevant statutory agencies, specialist domestic violence services and non-
governmental/community organizations are appropriately represented at MARAC.

Engagement with the victim: The victim is at the centre of the process. An effective advocate,
most commonly the Independent Domestic Violence Advisor, is identified to represent and
support the victim within the MARAC process.

Research and information Sharing: All agencies research their files and information systems
and bring relevant, proportionate and up-to-date information which is shared and stored in
accordance with legislation by all attendees who hold information on each case discussed.

Action planning: Comprehensive action plans are developed which address the risks identified
at the meeting.
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Volume: The number of cases referred to the MARAC is commensurate with the local
population.

Administration: The administration of the MARAC promotes safety, efficiency and

accountability.

Strategy and governance: The MARAC process is embedded in key local partnerships to
promote sustainability.

Equality: The MARAC demonstrates that it is a process, which is structured to deliver equality of
outcome to all.

Structure and Process

Cases can be referred to a MARAC by any frontline agency that has agreed to the Information
Sharing Protocol and has undertaken a risk assessment with a survivor that determines the case
meets the high-risk threshold. CAADA developed risk identification tool for determining high-risk
cases, although the police and health professionals also refer high-risk survivors to the MARAC.
MARACs are chaired by the Detective Inspector of the Community Safety Unit of the local borough
police. The local borough police usually have a dedicated MARAC coordinator or a Domestic
Violence Project Officer, who is responsible for the coordination of the MARAC partnership and
administration of the monthly meetings.

Independent Domestic Violence Advisors are trained specialists responsible for case management
of all MARAC cases, liaising and providing a single point of contact between victims and the MARAC
partner agencies, with a focus on ensuring the safety of survivors. A variety of organizations
supporting domestic abuse survivors may have an independent advisor who works directly with
survivors to assess the level of risk they are facing, provides advice and support by discussing the
range of options available to them and helps develop coordinated safety plans. Independent
advisors often work very closely with the police. For example, in Lewisham, the main Advisor service
is based within the Community Safety Unit at the police station, and each morning, the Advisors will
check whether any high-risk cases were reported to the police overnight. Where appropriate, these
survivors are referred to the Advisor. The IDVAs are also available to offer informal advice to police
on cases that do not meet the threshold for referral to their service.

During MARAC meetings, relevant information regarding each case is shared, options for increasing
the safety of the survivor are discussed, and a coordinated action plan is created. Actions related to
the police might include: pursuing the perpetrator and working in partnership with the Advisor on
engaging with survivors to support safety planning and supporting the prosecution of the perpetrator.
All agencies, including the police, are responsible for ensuring their actions are carried out and for
recording the outcome of their actions, which are reported to the MARAC Coordinator to
electronically record as actions that have been „completed‟ or are „in progress‟. In the event of a
Serious Case Review or Homicide Review, this information would be requested as an indicator that
all was done to help protect the victim. This accountability has improved the practice of all agencies.

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The process of the MARAC starts from case identification to the final stage of follow-up:

Excerpt: CAADA. 2010. Specialist Domestic Violence Services Toolkit for MARAC. London.

The costs incurred to implement the MARAC model are relatively low. The police and/or the local
authority fund the position of the MARAC Coordinator or the Domestic Violence Project Officer,
which is the only direct cost for the MARAC. The Independent Domestic Violence Advocates, who
are also central to the process, may be funded from a variety of agencies and local borough funding
streams. For example, Advisor teams may be resourced by a local government agency (particularly
if the Advisor is based within the local police), as in the Lewisham borough, where 4 Advisors have
been established with joint funding from the police and local authority. Advisory services may also be
provided by a non-governmental organization and receive funding from grant-making trusts and
foundations. All MARAC representatives attend the monthly meetings, track progress on actions,
and raise institutional awareness of the MARAC as part of their mandated role within their respective
agency/ organization; which is each agency‟s in-kind contribution to the mechanism, requiring no
additional funding. The Coordinator and Advisors provide free training as part of their role to all
participating agencies in the MARAC, eliminating ongoing training costs resulting from staff turnover.

Results and Lessons Learned:

The MARAC has improved police capacity to respond to domestic violence cases.
Police personnel have a better understanding of: the variety of agencies that exist to support
survivors and their families; the criteria for referring a case to a particular service provider;
and the services each agency provides. The police have been able to build strong
relationships with the various organizations directly supporting domestic violence survivors,
facilitating a swifter and more comprehensive police response to domestic violence cases,
particularly in referring survivors to specialized health, legal and social support agencies.

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Domestic violence cannot be addressed by one agency alone. No single agency can
provide the various supports that domestic violence survivors require to escape the violence
and address the short and long-term consequences of abuse. The most effective efforts
involve a multisectoral partnership with a coordinated response.
Identification of common goals and targets among service providers and other
potential MARAC agencies/organizations is an important step in establishing the
partnership. Discussing key targets of each agency can help to identify relevant
organizations that should be included in the MARAC, highlight the value of a coordinated
response and benefits to each agency, which can facilitate agreement on the partnership and
commitment by agency‟s leadership and senior management.
The Independent Domestic Violence Advisors are central to the MARAC as the liaison
between the survivor and partner agencies to ensure that the agreed plan of action is safe.
Survivors often disclose more information to the Advisors than they may to other agency
representatives. They are specialists on the issue with greater technical skills in providing
support to abused women, asking appropriate questions and building effective relationships
with survivors.
Joint multi-agency actions and the presence of Independent Domestic Violence
Advisors within frontline agencies are linked to better outcomes for high-risk
survivors. Abuse is reported to have ceased for 7 out of 10 women receiving more
concentrated support, compared to only 4 out of 10 women receiving less coordinated
support (Howarth et al., 2009). The presence of Advisors based in police stations has led to
increased trust and understanding among service providers, survivors and the police.
Consistent participation of members is critical for the MARAC to function effectively.
To ensure timely and comprehensive implementation of planned coordinated actions,
consistency in representatives participating in the MARAC each month is important, although
may be less likely in larger metropolitan areas or where staff turnover is high. When agencies
with specific roles (e.g. police or health care providers)do not attend the meeting, critical
actions may be delayed and time-sensitive opportunities may be lost (e.g. accessing housing
or securing protection)
All agencies/organizations involved in providing support to survivors should be
involved in MARAC meetings. The presence of the full range of agencies that have signed
up to the MARAC including both those that have core membership (e.g. police, health,
shelter) and those that have secondary membership (e.g. drug and alcohol, disability
services) is important. Specialist agencies, working with lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender,
minority ethnic groups or other communities should also be included in the MARAC process
to ensure marginalized groups are equally able to access the MARAC.
Establishing focal points or designated representatives within each agency is good
practice. This practice ensures consistency in case identification and referrals, streamlines
case management by providing frontline service providers with a single point of contact within
their organizations to discuss cases and possible referrals. It is particularly important for the
police, who lead coordination of the MARAC.
The speed with which a case is dealt with is critical. Given the seriousness of the harm a
woman may face in high-risk cases, there should be no more than a six-week delay between
the identification of a case and the conference (with monthly MARACs) and an even smaller
time frame with bi-weekly MARACs. The impact of the action plan will be considerably
reduced if there is a further delay and could have potentially fatal consequences for the
woman or girl at-risk.

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Transparency and accountability are pre-conditions for the MARAC to function
effectively. The specific and distinct survivors support committed by each agency is the
foundation of the comprehensive security provided through the MARAC. Each agency must
be genuinely committed to implementing the agreed actions, since the responsibility lies with
each partner agency and lack of action by one partner affects the impact of the entire plan.
MARAC members need specific training on domestic violence, screening and risk
assessment. Representatives participating in the MARAC do not have the same level of
expertise and understanding of domestic violence issues. As part of the training provided by
the MARAC Coordinator, Independent Domestic Violence Advisors or MARAC
representatives, all frontline staff should receive basic training on domestic violence in
addition to the ongoing refresher training on risk assessment to help ensure that all
representatives are aware of the full risks facing survivors of abuse and are able to
appropriately identify high-risk cases of domestic violence and determine safe and relevant
actions where women consent to receive such assistance.
Adherence to the survivor-centred approach requires establishment of additional
mechanisms beyond the MARAC principles. In many cases, women may not be ready to
share information about their case with the different service providers and agencies due to
poor perceptions and trust of police or other agencies, fear of consequences they may face if
the case is pursued by a larger group of organizations, among other issues. A 2010
Evaluation of four MARACs highlighted that women‟s consent was not always secured
before referring a case to the MARAC and appropriate confidentiality was not always
maintained by MARAC members. As part of the initial identification and risk assessment
process conducted with survivors, agencies should provide any survivors potentially referred
to the MARAC with full information about the purpose and process of the mechanism.
Procedures should ensure women and girls have provided informed consent for any
information shared; and a review of all cases should be conducted before they are closed to
improve the accountability of the Conference to the survivor.
Contributions of each MARAC need to be assessed regularly to ensure their relevance
over time. The evaluation of four MARACs highlighted the importance of ongoing monitoring
of the functions and contributions made by individual MARACs. For example, where
Independent Domestic Violence Advocates are operational and well-networked with other
service providers, a MARAC referral may not be necessary. However, the Conference
method has helped to bring greater weight to cases given the number of agencies
participating and may help survivors with immigration-related issues and with the probation
process, ensuring greater accountability of perpetrators.
Coordinated responses should be available to domestic abuse survivors at all risk-
levels: When cases do not meet the risk level threshold to be referred to the MARAC,
appropriate actions are continued and the victim/survivor is referred to local specialist
domestic abuse services. This is problematic because there should be a more holistic
approach on combating domestic violence; one of the negative consequences of the MARAC
has been that there has been a higher focus on just one particular type of victim.

 Specialist Domestic Violence Services Toolkit for MARAC (CAADA, 2010)

Sources: Social Development Direct interview with Metropolitan Police Service, 2010; CAADA. 2010;
Coy and Kelly. 2011. “Islands in the stream: An evaluation of four London independent domestic
violence advocacy scheme.” Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit. London.