Government rejects proposal to allocate funds for domestic homicide reviews

The Home Office has rejected a proposal to allocate government funds for reviews into domestic abuse-related deaths. Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner, said it was “deeply concerning” that local authorities in England and Wales would not receive direct resources to help them carry out domestic homicide reviews (DHRs) and urged officials to be “braver and bolder” in their decision making. The government said it was unable to provide “specific guidance” on how local authority funding should be spent but added that it recognised improvements to the review process were needed. DHRs are multi-agency investigations in England and Wales that take place when someone aged 16 or over dies after apparent abuse, violence or neglect by a partner, relative or household member. They are designed to ensure that public bodies learn lessons from tragedies to protect future victims. They operate separately from any related criminal proceedings and cannot assign legal blame for a death. Jacobs said: “When someone loses their life to domestic abuse, we should be doing all we can to learn from this tragedy and ensure it never happens again. …