30 July 2025

 

On 29 July 2025, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner published Learning from Loss: Ensuring the lessons from domestic homicide reviews lead to change. With victims and their loved ones at its heart, this report outlines the Domestic Homicide Review process – now called Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs) which is how we will refer to them here - and highlights a devastating reality: more victims of domestic abuse are now dying by suicide than by homicide. Suicide must be recognised as a fatal consequence of abuse, not separate from it. 

The report reiterates the urgent need for greater accountability and central oversight. It calls for the creation of a national mechanism grounded in evidence and tested practice.

At Hestia, we share the Commissioner’s view that an effective, properly funded DARDR process, supported by central oversight and the systematic sharing of learning, is long overdue. From our experience, we know that too many services continue to miss vital opportunities to intervene. Whether due to a lack of understanding of coercive control, minimisation by professionals, poor information sharing, or lack of trauma-informed and mental health support for adults and children, these failures are sadly familiar and tragically, repeated. Each time, lives are lost, and families, friends, and communities are left with a legacy of pain.

The report rightly calls for the voices of those closest to the trauma - bereaved families, survivors, and frontline advocates - to be central to the design of policy and practice. It also emphasises the importance of recognising and responding to the specific needs of Black and minoritised women, migrant victims, and those facing multiple barriers.

DARDRs must inform multi-agency safeguarding practice. Many victims, particularly women with children, interact with children’s services, housing, health and mental health, criminal justice, education, refuge support, and more. Learning must drive improvement across all of these systems.

However, the success of any reform will also depend on the sustainability of the services that victims rely on. Specialist and frontline domestic abuse and mental health services remain critically underfunded. Without urgent investment, victims will continue to fall through the cracks, and the Government’s laudable ambition to halve violence against women and girls will remain out of reach.

At Hestia, we offer tiered MH interventions for both women and their children, recognising the complex and long-term impact of abuse. We also know that employers represent a critical - but often overlooked - site of intervention. Many victims remain in contact with their workplace even when contact with other services has broken down. Yet, DARDRs rarely examine the role of employers or the missed opportunities to act. With clear guidance and expectations, employers can be empowered to play a meaningful role in prevention and support.

Sue Harper, Director of Hestia’s Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Prevention Programme, said:

“This important report makes clear that we can no longer afford ‘reflection’ without action. If the Government is serious about halving violence against women and girls, we must not only invest in an effective DARDR process but also act decisively on its findings. That means properly funding and implementing solutions, not just identifying problems, and resourcing the frontline services that make prevention and protection possible. To succeed, we need political will, statutory leadership, community partnership, and active engagement from employers.”