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MERSEYSIDE Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell has secured more than:- £250,000 of Home Office funding to support a new pilot programme aimed at preventing:- domestic abuse, tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG), and stopping perpetrators from causing harm.

The funding, worth:- £253,255.64, has been awarded to:- Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council (KMBC) to deliver a comprehensive domestic abuse and VAWG prevention and early intervention programme through to January 2027.

The pilot will focus on preventing domestic abuse before it escalates, while providing earlier interventions for those at risk of causing harm. It will expand awareness campaigns, deliver education and healthy relationship programmes for young people, strengthen support and recovery services for children affected by domestic abuse, improve referral pathways for perpetrators, and provide specialist training for frontline professionals.

Through closer partnership working, the programme aims to reduce offending, improve victim safety and help create safer communities across Knowsley, although parts of the training programme will also be offered to partners across Merseyside in the other four local authority areas.

The PCC worked with Knowsley Council to redirect funding to this new prevention and early intervention programme after the charity she previously awarded funding to, Causeway, unexpectedly closed in June. This approach was approved by the Home Office earlier this month, ensuring vital support and safeguarding activity could continue without disruption.

The new pilot will build on Knowsley's established domestic abuse prevention work and its Multi Agency Tasking and Coordination (MATAC) process, which identifies and manages high risk domestic abuse perpetrators.

Knowsley was selected to deliver the pilot because it is currently the only local authority area in Merseyside with a fully developed domestic abuse perpetrator programme and operational MATAC process capable of being rapidly expanded within the required timescales.

Merseyside Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell said:- “Domestic abuse devastates lives, families and communities, which is why it is vital that we continue investing in work that prevents abuse from happening in the 1st place and challenges those responsible for causing harm. That's why we acted quickly with our partners and the Home Office, following the sudden and unexpected closure of the charity Causeway which previously carried out this work, to ensure there was no loss of momentum in this vital area and that valuable funding remained available to support victims and improve public safety."

Emily continued:- "This investment will allow Knowsley Council and its partners to expand proven interventions, strengthen support for children and families, improve professional awareness and help prevent future domestic abuse. By identifying harmful behaviour earlier, holding perpetrators accountable and providing better pathways into support, we can help protect more people from harm and build safer communities across Merseyside."

The pilot has been assessed as meeting all:- 7 Home Office Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Intervention Standards and will provide a safe, evidence-based response while longer term commissioning arrangements for perpetrator interventions are developed across Merseyside.

Cllr Shelley Powell, Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods, added:- “This funding will help us to further strengthen our awareness, education, early intervention and prevention priorities; helping to prevent incidents happening in the 1st place, as well as providing intervention at the earliest opportunity to ensure such issues don't escalate. As well as supporting our established adult perpetrator pathway here in the borough, this project will support with recognising and responding to children and young people's behaviour and targeted actions around responsibility and prevention; a priority issue identified through our multi-agency survivor forum.”

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