Violence against women and girls in England and Wales: the implementation of national domestic abuse policy at local level, a case study

The 2014 HMIC Report ‘Everyone’s Business’ highlighted significant concerns regarding the handling of violence against women and girls by police forces across England and Wales, predominantly focusing on domestic abuse. This report was condemned as treating domestic abuse as a ‘poor relation’ to other policing activities. However, at the same time other statutory agencies were found to be delivering variable services with research by specialist women’s organisation such Women’s Aid and Safelives providing evidence that the problems identified within the police were replicated in varying degrees across other organisations supporting victims of domestic abuse. Therefore, in spite of successive policies to tackle domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, problems continued with effective implementation.

Whilst there is a raft of research regarding the experiences of victims of domestic violence and abuse, there is very little research as to the perspectives of practitioners with regards the delivery of VAWG initiatives, leaving a gap in knowledge for understanding how or why practice does not match the intended outcomes of VAWG policy. This PhD addresses this deficit using a qualitative, mixed methods approach, through an interview based, case-study within a singular local authority area. Applying Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field and capital, it draws on the insights of practitioners with domestic abuse responsibilities, from organisations involved in a multi-agency partnership to implement policy initiatives. Findings identified the variability of leadership, partnership involvement, organizational priorities, contract funding dynamics, knowledge, understanding, judgments, attitudes and biases as significant factors in successful policy roll out.