UK Safeguarding Minister: Domestic Abuse Screening Tool Doesn't Work
The UK’s main tool for assessing domestic abuse risk, known as Dash, is under growing scrutiny as experts, campaigners, and the safeguarding minister admit it’s not working. Jess Phillips, the UK safeguarding minister, says the system has “obvious problems” and is being reviewed, but she has warned that change “won’t happen overnight.”
The Dash questionnaire, which has been used since 2009, has been linked to multiple cases where victims were misclassified as low risk and later killed, prompting families to consider legal action. Critics argue the 27-question checklist, used by police, social workers, and healthcare staff, oversimplifies complex situations. Studies support these concerns, with research showing that nearly 90% of repeat domestic violence victims were previously assessed as low or medium risk. Dr. Heather Strang of Cambridge University said there’s a “growing consensus that Dash does not do that job at all well.”
The government is also tackling honour-based abuse, announcing new legal definitions, awareness campaigns, and mandatory training for frontline workers. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said such crimes “shatter lives” and are often misunderstood by authorities. While Phillips maintains that “it is the systems that flow from those risk assessments that matter much, much, much more than the score,” critics and families continue to demand urgent, lasting change.
