Drive was developed in 2015 by Respect, SafeLives and Social Finance – the Drive Partnership – to address a gap in work with high-harm perpetrators of domestic abuse. The project was developed out of a need to address the many perpetrators who were repeatedly offending with either the same or new victims.
Drive is a national project, with service providers delivering the intervention in local areas. In every site, we partner with local specialist domestic abuse organisations to design and deliver a programme tailored for the locality. This work is done in partnership with statutory agencies such as the police, public health, and children’s social care.
The Drive Partnership also works across the domestic abuse specialist sector, public sector partners and beyond to develop sustainable, national systems in England and Wales that respond effectively to all perpetrators of domestic abuse. Our vision is that one day there will be a consistent approach which sees agencies in all PCC and local authority areas across England and Wales working together to disrupt abuse and change behaviour to increase safety for victims-survivors, children and families.
Drive is funded by a mix of grant-making trusts, central government grants, and local government commissioning from policing, public health, and local authorities. Local commissioners play a particularly important leadership role in Drive Project sites. The National Lottery Community Fund is a key funder, supporting the delivery of the Drive Project in certain sites and funding the Drive Partnership National Systems Change work until March 2023. The UK government is another key funder and is supporting some sites to adopt the Drive Project. The Drive Central Delivery Team can work with areas to explore potential sources of funding to support local commissioning. The pilot stage of Drive, testing the model in three areas and proving and evaluating its success, was supported by the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, Comic Relief, and the Tudor Trust.
Briefing document for interested sites
Current Drive sites
West Mercia
- Worcestershire
- Delivery partner: Cranstoun
South Wales
- Cardiff
- Rhondda Cynon Taf
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Delivery partner: Safer Merthyr Tydfil
West Midlands
- Sandwell
- Birmingham
- Delivery partner: Richmond Fellowship
London
- Croydon
- Sutton
- Bromley
- Delivery partner: Rise Mutual
Avon & Somerset
The Wirral
Derbyshire
Northumbria
- Delivery partner: Barnardo’s
Dorset
- Delivery partner: The Hampton Trust
Greater Manchester
- Salford
- Manchester
- Delivery partner: TLC