PCD 1742 Restart and the Safe & Together™ London Partnership Funding 2025-2026

The Mayor’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2022-2025 committed to “continue to pilot early intervention projects in children’s social care, using the Safe and Together™ programme”.   

The Safe and Together™ Model is central to two existing projects currently funded by MOPAC until 31st March 2025: 

• Restart – A pilot project which provides earlier intervention for families at risk of experiencing DA in five London boroughs, which includes Safe & Together™ training for children’s social care and housing professionals.    

• The Safe & Together™ London Partnership – A project to implement the Safe & Together™ Model in six additional London boroughs. The model is an internationally recognised, child-centred approach to DA. 

This Decision is seeking approval to allocate a maximum of £1,000,000 from the 2025/26 budget to extend Restart (£750,000) and the Safe & Together™ London Partnership (£250,000) .  

A one-year extension, from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026, would sustain the delivery of outcomes in all boroughs and enable continued evaluation of both approaches.  

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve the extension of MOPAC’s existing grant agreements for Restart and the Safe & Together™ London Partnership for one year, from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026.  

2. Approve the allocation of up to £1,000,000 from the 2025/26 budget to extend Restart and the Safe & Together™ London Partnership from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026. 

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC 

1. Introduction and background 

1. Tackling VAWG is at the heart of the Mayor’s priorities for London. 

2. Central to his Police and Crime Plan for London 2022-2025 is holding perpetrators of DA to account whilst supporting projects to change their behaviour. 

3. The Mayor’s VAWG Strategy 2022-2025 also seeks to prioritise early intervention for perpetrators whose behaviour may not yet meet criminal thresholds.  

4. Together, these approaches will ultimately increase the safety of victims-survivors and their families. 

2. Issues for consideration  

1. The Mayor’s VAWG Strategy 2022-2025 specifically highlights a commitment to “continue to pilot early intervention projects in children’s social care, using the Safe and Together™ programme, which frames domestic abuse as a harmful parenting practice and seeks to enable social workers to focus on perpetrators’ behaviour”.  

2. The Safe and Together™ Model is central to two existing projects currently funded by MOPAC until 31st March 2025: 

3. Restart – Restart aims to increase safety for families by providing one-to-one interventions with the parent causing harm to challenge and change their abusive behaviour, whilst ensuring safety and support for the non-abusive parent. Restart provides Safe & Together™ training and ongoing support for Children’s Social Care and Housing professionals to improve their ability and confidence to identify and respond more effectively to parents causing harm. Restart also incorporates an innovative new housing approach by seeking alternative, diversionary accommodation for the perpetrator of abuse, led by wishes of the victim, enabling child and adult victims to remain safe at home. 

4. The Safe & Together™ London Partnership – This partnership project aims to implement the Safe & Together™ Model in six additional London boroughs. This is a child-centred model that is based on the principle that children and young people are best served when we can work toward keeping them safe and together with the non-offending parent. Safe & Together™ seeks to upskill Children’s Social Care, CAFCASS and police in holding perpetrators to account and challenging them to change their behaviour, as well as reducing risk to survivors and children through improved practices among professionals. 

5. This decision requests the continuation of MOPAC funding for both projects until 31st March 2026. 

6. This funding will ensure that there is no gap in the provision of both projects and will prevent unfunded pressures, such as the loss of jobs and Safe & Together™ infrastructure.  

3. Financial Comments 

1. The total budget requirement for this extension totals a maximum of £1,000,000, composed of £750,000 for Restart and and £250,000 for the Safe & Together™ London Partnership.  

2. Both projects will be funded for one year from the 2025/26 CJS budget, from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026.  

3. Both projects will need to confirm the continuation of match-funding from the relevant Local Authorities from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026. The expection is that these will be in line with existing levels of match funding.  

4. Legal Comments 

1. Section 143 (1) (b) of the Anti-Social, Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides for MOPAC to provide or commission services “intended by the local policing body to victims or witnesses of or other persons affected by, offences and anti-social behaviour”. Section 143 (3) specifically allows MOPAC to make grants in connection with such arrangements and any grant may be made subject to any conditions that MOPAC thinks appropriate. 

2. There are further relevant powers set out in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 at sections 17(1) (a) to (c) which place MOPAC under a duty to exercise its functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all it can to prevent, crime and disorder (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment), reoffending in its area, and the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in its area. The proposed arrangements are consistent with MOPAC’s duties in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. 

3. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve the award of all individual grants whether to secure or contribute to securing crime reduction in London or for other purposes. 

4. Officers must ensure the Financial Regulations and Contract Regulations are complied with. 

5. Officers should ensure that the funding agreements are put in place with and executed by MOPAC and each of the providers before any commitment to fund is made. 

6. Officers confirm that sufficient assurance has been carried out to this decision to determine that the DMPC has legal authority to agree the recommendations on funding and the extension of grants and contracts. 

5. Commercial Issues 

1. Current delivery of both Restart and the Safe & Together™ London Partnership are via grant agreements between MOPAC and SafeLives (MOPAC 897) and the London Borough of Waltham Forest (MOPAC 955) respectively, and this Decision requests approval to extend the existing grant agreements via a grant modification. 

2. MOPAC makes no commitment to fund SafeLives or the London Borough of Waltham Forest unless the continuation of match-funding is confirmed by the relevant Local Authorities for both projects and until grant amendments or contract variation letters are signed by both parties. These will detail the new performance and payment schedules, in line with previous arrangements. 

3. In accordance with 4.8 of MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation, the DMPC can approve the award of grant funding. 

4. The actions proposed can be taken in compliance with procurement legislation and MOPAC’s Contract Regulations. 

6. Public Health Approach  

1. Both Restart and the Safe & Together™ London Partnership deliver interventions which are informed by the Mayor’s public health approach to VAWG. Both projects seek to to reduce repeat victimisation by working in partnership with local agencies across health, social care, criminal justice and the voluntary sector to manage the risk posed by perpetrators and to provide support to victims (and their children). 

7. GDPR and Data Privacy 

1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.   

8. Equality Comments 

1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

2. Both Restart and the Safe & Together™ London Partnership deliver interventions for perpetrators of DA. DA is a gendered crime, and disproportionately affects women and girls. This is not to say that victims of these crimes cannot be male, but that women are more likely to be victims of every type of DA. In relation to reported DA in London, MOPAC’s Evidence and Insight team published a deep dive into crimes flagged as DA by the Metropolitan Police Service in 2022, which found that 77% of victims were female and 78% of suspects were male1. Homicide Index data for the year ending March 2020 to the year ending March 2022 also showed that 67.3% of the victims of domestic homicide were female2. 

9. Background/supporting papers 

• Appendix 1 – PCD 1398: The Restart Pilot 2023 - 2025 

• Appendix 2 – PCD 1460: Safe & Together Funding