Make a Change highlighted at All-Party Parliamentary Group on Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse

In September 2026, Make a Change presented findings from its recent impact report and GP healthcare pilot report at an APPG meeting that focused on learning from early intervention approaches in England and Wales, and explored the question: ‘How effective is the VAWG Strategy focus on perpetrators?’

Learning from early intervention approaches

This APPG meeting explored learnings from early intervention approaches for adult perpetrators across England and Wales to better understand how effective the Government’s focus on perpetrators is within its 2025 Freedom from Violence and Abuse Strategy (VAWG Strategy).

Evidence was shared from Respect’s Make a Change programme, WWIN’s Right Turn programme and Integrated Support Service, and the Hampton Trust’s CARA programme, alongside commissioning insights from Northumbria PCC.

History and background of Make a Change

Developed by Respect in partnership with Women’s Aid in 2018, Make a Change is community-wide, early response approach that provides a voluntary route into behaviour change for those concerned that they are using harmful behaviours.

Through three strands, Make a Change creates a coordinated and mutually reinforcing model that brings perpetrators into behaviour change interventions earlier, strengthens support for victim-survivors, and enables communities and services to play an active role in preventing domestic abuse.

Make a Change’s three strands

  • Expert Support: Voluntary behaviour change programme for people using harmful behaviours, alongside dedicated support for partners, ex-partners and children through the Integrated Support Service.

  • Community Outreach: Public awareness and education activities that empower communities, and friends and family to recognise abuse and encourage individuals to seek support to change.

Make a Change has been delivered in six cities and metropolitan boroughs and piloted in eight sites. MAC is currently being delivered across the Northeast and West Midlands in Newcastle, Durham, Sunderland and Coventry.

Earlier intervention through health responses

Research indicates that individuals concerned about their behaviour are more likely to seek support through health services, yet many healthcare settings lack clear pathways for responding.

As part of its workforce development strand, Make a Change developed tailored approaches for primary and secondary care; training more than 500 healthcare professionals and supporting the development of referral pathways into specialist behaviour change services.

For example, in Newcastle, a partnership with a safeguarding GP lead introduced a whole-practice approach that combined staff training, referral systems, case management tools and public awareness activity to improve identification and enable healthcare professionals to connect both perpetrators and victim-survivors with support at an earlier stage.

This work demonstrates the potential for health to play a significant role in identifying domestic abuse and intervening earlier, which can lead to safer outcomes for families and cost savings across society.

Further detail is highlighted in MAC’s recent report: Addressing perpetrators of domestic abuse through GP healthcare: A good practice example.

Building on the Government’s response to perpetrators

Learning from Make a Change outlines four key areas in which the government could build further progress in its response to perpetrators as part of its VAWG Strategy:

  • End the postcode lottery in accessing a full range of behaviour change services.

  • Strengthen opportunities for behaviour change referrals across statutory services coming into contact at earlier stages, before abuse escalates.

  • Increase accountability by exploring how police, courts and probation can encourage or mandate behaviour change engagement.

  • Build victim-survivor informed systems through co-design and victim-survivor centred impact evaluation.

Questions and discussion

Questions focused on the reach, impact and future development of Make a Change. The discussion highlighted the importance of looking beyond programme completion when measuring impact and success, as positive results for individuals can be significant even in cases of partial engagement.

Discussion also highlighted the importance of close partnership with victim-survivor services in capturing victim-survivor safety and wellbeing outcomes.

Attendees discussed and agreed on the clear role that GPs can play, and the opportunities for further development across healthcare responses to those causing harm – for instance, at a later stage in the development and roll-out of Steps to Safety.

You can find the full APPG briefing on the Respect website.

Rebecca Vagi