Tackling domestic abuse locally: paradigms, ideologies and the political tensions of multi-agency working

The British government’s strategy to tackle violence against women and girls cements an approach seeking to prevent and protect. Within this context, local initiatives to tackle domestic abuse have proliferated. This article draws on an evaluation of an innovative multi-agency tasking and coordination (MATAC) approach to tackling serial perpetrators. Though the evaluation showed positive outcomes, tensions surfaced within this holistic strategy. In reflecting on the shifting economic and political context in which local agenda setting and commissioning is occurring, perceived concerns about victim safety are reported. Where initiatives have a heightened focus on perpetrators, and in the effort to responsibilise, there are tensions around safeguarding and risk. These are discussed with reference to divergent political cultures and translations of the problem of tackling domestic abuse.