A survey from Derby Speaks Up aims to understand the views of adults in Derby & Derbyshire about funded programmes to help people (of all genders) to change unhealthy behaviour in relationships. This would provide skills and solutions for those causing harm and support everyone affected, as early as possible. This helps to prevent further harm or increased risk including emotional, psychological, financial, coercive, controlling, and physical abuse. This approach is already working well in other areas with community-based projects that people can access before it becomes an emergency 999 call, or as an option for people who cannot turn to the police. Click here to take the survey before it closes at midnight Sunday 23rd February 2025. Scroll down for Frequently Asked Questions.
Some programmes are already working well locally with funding for a limited number of people; this is mostly after police involvement and when identified as medium or high risk. We want to know if there is public support to offer this help to more people, earlier on, before things reach a crisis point. To design effective programmes, we want to know what would help people to accept and access support to change their unhealthy or abusive behaviour. Your answers are anonymous (you will not be asked for your name or contact details) and will help us understand what might work best to help people have safer, healthier relationships. Thank you for adding your views to this study to help make Derby & Derbyshire a safer place to live, love, work and play.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get the survey in another language or format?
You can use Google Translate – right-click anywhere on the form and choose the Translate option from the menu, then select the language required.
If the online survey does not work well for you, please e-mail us derbyspeaksup@gmail.com We can send you a different version or arrange to talk over your answers on the phone in confidence with a researcher to fill in your answers as you speak.
What about prevention?
This survey focuses on early intervention, as other projects are already addressing the importance of prevention through relationship education in schools and public awareness.
What will happen with the survey results?
Two researchers from the Derby Speaks Up project will analyse the responses. The overall results will be summarised, with efforts to exclude information that may risk identifying any individual and the survey does not ask for people’s names or contact details. The summary will be shared with relevant charities, campaigners, victim/survivor groups and local policymakers. It will also be published during March 2025 online at www.derbyspeaksup.org.uk
Where can you find support?
This survey is about a sensitive subject but could help to improve services for everyone affected by domestic or partner abuse. If you have been affected or have concerns about someone you know or about your own behaviour, a list of local and national free helplines and specialist support organisations can be found on this webpage: https://derbyspeaksup.org.uk/supportandhelplines/
Shouldn’t we just let the police handle this?
The current system is not working well for everyone. Many unhealthy or abusive incidents are not reported to the police. Refuge, a specialist charity, states that the police receive a domestic abuse-related call every 30 seconds but it is estimated that less than 24% of domestic abuse crime is reported to the police. SafeLives reports that victims typically experience 50 incidents of abuse before getting effective help and 2.5 years is the average time victims at high risk of serious harm or murder live with domestic abuse before getting help. When victims/survivors do report the situation, many are left disappointed. For every 100 domestic abuse-related crimes reported, the police make just 42 arrests. The police recorded 851,062 domestic abuse-related crimes in England and Wales during 2023-24, but there were just over 51,000 prosecutions brought to court (Office of National Statistics, 2024).
Offering another option can help people, for example –
- seeing early signs of concern that do not fit the criminal definitions
- where the relationship could be repaired and become healthy
- when their case does not fit the limited legal definitions and criteria to go to court or missed the deadline to bring a criminal case
- who have no faith in the police or court system
- don’t want a long legal process, which can be stressful
- who simply want change, instead of punishment/prison, in the interest of everyone involved, including any children
- who want to end an unhealthy relationship with support, including with co-parenting, and don’t want their ex-partner’s future relationships to repeat the same issues and harm more people
- who have no other way to access or pay for therapy or help to change unhealthy behaviour
Does domestic or partner abuse affect all genders equally?
No. Whilst people of all genders can be victims/survivors the frequency and severity, including rates of serious injury and murder is highest for women. Derby Speaks Up wants victims/survivors of all genders to get the support they need, and interventions and justice to address perpetrators of all genders, whilst asserting that it is factually incorrect to present the issue as equal in terms of the numbers affected and severity of danger. The following statistics make abuse and violence against women a specific public health emergency:
SafeLives reports that:
Eight women a month are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales.
94% of victim cases going to MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference, where agencies meet to address the highest risk domestic abuse cases) were women (2023)
92% of people accessing an IDVA (Independent Domestic Violence Adviser) service were women (2023)
The Office of National Statistics (2023) published data showing that:
7 in 10 victims of domestic homicide (murder) were women (70%) and 3 in 10 were men (30%)
The victim was female in 73.5% of domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police in the year ending March 2023, compared with 26.5% of domestic abuse-related crimes where the victim was male. For domestic abuse-related sexual offences, the proportion of female victims was 93.0%, compared with 7.0% for males.
The BBC (2024) reported, on government figures, that:
Fewer than half of domestic abuse cases in England and Wales end up as police-recorded crimes, and most of these do not lead to a prosecution. An estimated 2.3m people were victims of domestic abuse in the year to March 2024, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales. Just over two-thirds of victims were women while 712,000 were men.
Note: Domestic abuse includes abuse by a partner or ex-partner, family member or carer.
Want more facts and stats? Learn more here
What’s the wider project?
We have run a training programme to equip more local women in campaigning tools and techniques, with the opportunity to apply them in a real campaign for more earlier intervention, in response to listening sessions with the local community and survivor groups. We have made a film featuring interviews with local specialists from domestic abuse charities, campaigners and survivors plus vox pop (street interviews with the public) to engage in dialogue and carried out research into good practice elsewhere and evaluations from the small number of local programmes working with perpetrators, as well as this survey. Thanks to volunteer efforts and funding support from Rosa UK, this work has engaged many local voices, and the results will be presented at events in March with roundtable discussions, and online on this website.