The Scottish Parliament passed ground-breaking legislation in April 2019, recognising coercive control as a domestic abuse offence. At the same time as this legislation has been being developed, a number of local authorities have also been looking at how they respond to domestic abuse and how they can improve the support they give to women and children as well as to perpetrators of domestic abuse.
Ten local authorities now use the Safe and Together approach. This approach is about partnering with women and supporting them to remain safe and together with their children. To support these 10 local authorities Social Work Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid, the Improvement Service, the Centre for Inspiring Children’s Futures and Barnardo’s came together to support a piece of scoping research, which develops ideas for how Safe and Together could be sustained and supported in Scotland.
