Integrated offender management (IOM) for domestic abuse perpetrators

This initiative aims to apply the IOM framework to:

• reduce reoffending
• address persistent and prolific domestic abuse perpetrators

This initiative intends to:

• reduce the volume of domestic abuse incidents
• reduce level of harm
• increase access to diversion services
• increase access to treatment and education
• work more closely with the whole family – holistic problem solving
• have fewer cases receiving multiple referrals to the multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC)
• have better application of lived experience navigators
• increase engagement of community safety teams
• form closer working relationships with partners, particularly HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS)

Lancashire Constabulary is currently applying the IOM framework to reduce reoffending. This includes neighbourhood crime (that is, robbery, burglary, vehicle crime and theft against the person), according to national strategy. The framework also aims to address persistent and prolific domestic abuse (DA) and violence against women and girls (VAWG) perpetrators, where possible. 

This approach includes the use of:

• Buddi electronic monitoring to provide live-time GPS location data
• prohibition zones to protect vulnerable parties

Until recently, Lancashire deployed a hybrid model where management of sexual offenders and violent offenders (MOSOVO) managed their IOM cohorts. Investment has since been secured to develop a dedicated IOM team. This team will carry the existing acquisitive crime cohorts and an emerging cohort of domestic abuse perpetrators.

Specialist roles

Lancashire Constabulary is working with the regional IOM team to develop an IOM analyst. The analyst will help develop the data science and move from a reactive response to a more data-rich proactive analysis. The force has also tweaked some of the modelling at the multi-agency public protection arrangement (MAPPA) and MARAC level. This ensures IOM is considered as part of step-up and step-down offender management.

Dedicated MAPPA chairs are trained to use IOM appropriately as part of a step-down process for MAPPA level 2 cases that are nearing end point of management. This allows Lancashire to keep the partnership communication linked up through MAPPA and into IOM during the transition phase. This focuses mainly on violent offenders.

During phase 1 (2022/23) Lancashire Constabulary has invested in 6 dedicated police offender managers. For phase 2 (2023/24), however, this was expanded to include 3 dedicated/specialist IOM Sergeants, 12 IOM Police Constables (PCs) and 3 specialist IOM domestic abuse PCs (one per Basic Command Unit).

The police offender managers will work closely with MAPPA and MARAC to ensure the force are targeting the most appropriate high-harm offenders. IOM opportunities have been written into our MAPPA operating model which was recently remodelled as part of a wider Public Protection review.

Harm assessment and targets

Harm is assessed via the IOM targets:

• Offender Group Reconviction Score (OGRS) – from HMPPS
• Crime Severity Score (CSS) – from the police

IOM has national targets of 75% OGRS and 50% CSS, as IOM only works with persistent and prolific offenders.

IOM officers will engage with MAPPA and MARAC practitioners to access better quality risk management information, especially around compliance and desistance. Both MAPPA and MARAC have a full governance regime, so IOM can attend partnership meetings to help develop quality risk management plans.

By bringing DA perpetrators into the IOM model, Lancashire is providing intensive and robust offender management on top of current victim and child protection approaches. The force seeks to change the behaviour of those high-harm offenders in the long term. This includes close working relationships with commissioned services, such as independent domestic violence advisors (IDVAs), independent sexual violence advisors (ISVAs), Lancashire Victim Services (LVS) and the Wish Centre (a local commissioned service).

IOM pathways

By targeting the seven gateways of IOM, the force also seeks to prioritise diversion away from the criminal justice system if possible, into intervention or treatment programmes. Understanding the seven IOM pathways helps focus their shared activity towards reducing offending by targeting areas of disadvantage.

These involve:

1. accommodation 
2. attitudes, thinking and behaviour
3. family and relationships 
4. substance misuse 
5. training, education and employment 
6. finance, benefits and debt 
7. mental and physical health and wellbeing

Partnerships

The timing was good as Lancashire Constabulary was able to partner with the local authority-led Changing Futures programme. This was significantly funded under the Department of Levelling Up (DLUP) until 2024 and their respective objectives and criteria married up effectively.

The Lancashire Changing Futures programme is working with multiple disadvantaged offenders and their wider families to tackle the causes of the behaviour in a trauma-informed way. Their focus is on health and mental wellbeing, domestic abuse, criminal justice exposure, housing and substance misuse. Common objectives with Lancashire Constabulary are: 

• targeting five areas of disadvantage
• co-production with people who have lived experience in service design, redesign and monitoring 
• a no wrong door/one front door service system 
• integrated working as one system, engendering trust to work smarter and not harder

IOM tool

Lancashire Constabulary uses Intelligence Driven Integrated Offender Management (IDIOM). This is a national IOM tool, used to score cost of crime and desistance rates. This provides crucial data and management information to sow effectiveness, but this is pre-evaluation at this stage.

An evaluation is planned to take place at the end of 2023 by the force, with a possible collaboration with the University of Central Lancashire. This evaluation will make use of IDIOM (web-based offender tracking tool) and Power BI data visualisation from the police, and similar data from HMPPS. It will also include an end-point evaluation from Changing Futures.

Improved data has improved investment opportunities by showing the value of the IOM approach in terms of cost of crime and desistance rates.

It's expected that the DA perpetrator repeat offending rate will decrease, offering analysis around desistance rates. DA perpetrator programmes access under IOM will ensure offenders can access counselling and support via the Wish Centre. 

The majority of the current provision is victim or child based, so this offers a new approach to targeting offenders and to influence behavioural change.

Early indications show the need to closely define roles. The IOM approach is clearly offender-focused and needs clear communication with IDVA and safeguarding resources who are involved with victim and child support.

The test cases appear promising, but these are primarily consent-based cases. Lancashire Constabulary is keen to explore statutory or regulated engagement as a positive obligation as part of a licence condition or a civil order on conviction.

IOM is not one size fits all, and DA does not tend to score highly enough. Those cases that do meet IOM thresholds tend to be engrained and difficult to change, so Lancashire is flexible about offering DA perpetrators IOM support if they are willing to engage with desistance practices. Feedback so far suggests this approach can work, but Lancashire is exploring how they can enforce if required by using domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs), non-molestation orders and electronic monitoring.

Lancashire also has a small capacity of support under a single provider. They would welcome more DA perpetrator-focused commissioned services.

Currently the crime reduction toolkit does not include information on IOM to reduce domestic abuse. However, an element of the tactical approach used in this intervention is covered by the best-available evidence on electronic tagging for general offences and electronic tagging for sexual offences. There is also relevant evidence about domestic abuse including motivational interviewing, which can be used at the point of referral to a domestic abuse perpetrator programme.