Domestic abuse: Information for professionals

For general information on Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences, please visit the Safelives website.  

Referrals to Kingston MARAC

Referrals are made to the Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) if a victim survivor is identified as being at ‘high risk’ of serious harm or homicide. This is usually because of what the abuser is doing or threatening to do.

Download a MARAC referral form  

To get more information on the Kingston MARAC process, please contact the Kingston MARAC team.

Level of risk

The level of risk is determined by the worker from the agency who contacted the victim survivor after completing what is known as a ‘DASH (domestic abuse, stalking and ‘honour’-based violence) risk indicator checklist’ or based on professional judgement. You can download a DASH form here. 

Any professional can make a referral to the MARAC.  

Referrals to the MARAC can reach the following MARAC threshold:

POTENTIAL ESCALATION: There have been five or more domestic abuse incidents or three or more domestic abuse crimes by the same perpetrator on the same victim survivor in the last 12 months and they are increasing in severity or frequency; or

VISIBLE HIGH RISK: You have completed a DASH Risk indicator checklist (RIC) with the victim/survivor and they scored 14 or more yes ticks (you can use the Safelives guidance for help with this)

PROFESSIONAL JUDGEMENT: If the DASH RIC score is low, however you feel based on your professional judgement that the victim survivor is at high risk of further harm or homicide.

HARMFUL PRACTICES, INCLUDING SO-CALLED HONOR BASED ABUSE, FORCED MARRIAGE AND FGM: Automatic referral. Please state all perpetrators who may pose a risk to the victim survivor. 

REPEAT INCIDENT WITHIN 12 MONTHS OF LAST MARAC: If there is a further domestic abuse incident (same alleged perpetrator and same victim survivor) 12 months of the meeting. An incident is any of the below (whether or not they have been reported to Police):

• Violence or threats of violence to the victim (including threats against property); OR
• A pattern of stalking or harassment OR
• Rape or sexual abuse

Kingston will also accept Adult Child To Parent Abuse as a criteria for a MARAC meeting.

We offer regular quarterly MARAC and Domestic Abuse training for professionals, who can book by contacting the training team at vawg@kingston.gov.uk.  

Get assistance identifying potential indicators of Honour Based Abuse (HBA) using the Karma Nirvana Honour Based Abuse Identification tool, a resource designed to support frontline professionals in recognising and responding to cases of Honour-Based Abuse (HBA).