Domestic Abuse Screening Tool Fails to Identify High-Risk Victims, Minister Admits

Published: 26 August 2025. The English Chronicle Desk

The primary tool used across the United Kingdom to determine which victims of domestic abuse receive urgent support has come under scrutiny after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips admitted to the BBC that it “doesn’t work.” The revelation has sparked growing concern among professionals, academics, and advocacy groups who warn that the existing system may leave vulnerable individuals exposed to further harm.

Since 2009, police, social services, and healthcare providers have relied on the Domestic Abuse, Stalking, Harassment and Honour-Based Violence (Dash) questionnaire to assess the level of risk faced by victims. The 27-question checklist—answered with “yes,” “no,” or “don’t know”—includes queries such as “Has the current incident resulted in injury?” and “Is the abuse getting worse?” The responses generate a risk score, which is then used to determine whether a victim qualifies for specialist, intensive support.

However, mounting evidence indicates that the Dash tool is inadequate at identifying individuals most at risk. A 2020 study by the London School of Economics, examining Greater Manchester Police data, found that in nearly nine out of ten repeat violence cases, victims had previously been classified as medium or standard risk. Similarly, research in 2022 by Manchester and Seville Universities concluded that 96% of victims retrospectively deemed “high risk” had been initially rated lower by Dash.

Dr Heather Strang, director of the Jerry Lee Centre for Experimental Criminology at the University of Cambridge, told the BBC that “there is a growing consensus that Dash does not perform well as a predictive tool.” She emphasised that although the tool was never designed for prediction, it has effectively become the primary method for assessing risk and guiding protective interventions.

Minister Phillips acknowledged the flaws in the system while indicating that immediate reform is not possible. “Until I can replace it with something that does [work], we have to make the very best of the system that we have,” she said. She also stressed that risk is dynamic and can change rapidly, even within minutes, highlighting the importance of professional judgement alongside assessment tools. “Any risk assessment tool is only as good as the person who is using it,” Phillips said, noting that systems and support structures flowing from assessments are more critical than the numerical score itself.

Families of victims who were later killed despite not being classified as high risk are now exploring legal action, arguing that institutions failed to protect their loved ones. Lawyer Matthew Jury commented: “These aren’t just statistics, they’re preventable tragedies, and it leaves families devastated when risks are inadequately assessed and victims are left exposed.” One such case is that of Nour Norris, whose sister and niece were killed in 2018. She described the Dash assessment as a “tick-box exercise” that failed to reflect the severity of the situation.

Although the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) has developed a newer assessment tool, Dara, for use by police forces following concerns about Dash, adoption has been inconsistent. In response to freedom of information requests, 20 out of 39 police forces in the UK reported still relying on Dash. The NPCC emphasised that risk assessment tools are meant to complement, not replace, officers’ professional judgment, training, and experience in safeguarding victims and pursuing offenders.

Charities working with vulnerable populations have also voiced concern. Djanomi Robinson of Sistah Space, a charity supporting Black African and Caribbean women affected by domestic and sexual abuse, stated that Dash fails to capture nuanced cultural and social factors that influence risk. “We’ve had many instances where service users don’t rank very high in their risk assessment, but their situation is in fact very serious,” she explained.

Ellen Miller, chief executive of SafeLives, the charity that originally developed Dash, acknowledged that the tool’s simplicity and accessibility were its main strengths. She said that shortcomings in the identification of high-risk cases were partly due to the tool not being updated to reflect contemporary knowledge, and partly due to variations in how it is applied by practitioners.

The Home Office is now conducting a comprehensive review of the domestic abuse risk assessment process across all agencies, aiming to develop a more effective system as part of its broader strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, which is expected to be published in the autumn.

As concern grows over the effectiveness of current assessments, experts and families alike warn that improving risk evaluation is essential to prevent further avoidable tragedies and ensure that victims of domestic abuse receive timely and adequate protection.