Learning from 25 years of preventative interventions in Scotland
Within Scotland, there has been a long standing interest in preventative approaches. This report includes 15 case studies of successful preventative interventions introduced in Scotland since devolution and draws together overarching observations.
15. The Caledonian System
The Caledonian System: An intervention to prevent re-offending by changing the behaviour of men convicted of domestic abuse
The Caledonian System was introduced in Scotland in 2011 and takes a ‘whole systems’ approach to tackling domestic abuse perpetrated by men. It is an accredited programme that aims to improve the lives of women, children and men. An independent evaluation in 2016 found that women felt safer as a result of their (ex) partners participating in the programme, and men who completed the programme posed a lower risk to partners, children and others.
Introduction
The Caledonian System is an example of a tertiary preventative intervention which takes a ‘whole systems’ approach to addressing domestic abuse. It is a court-mandated programme which works with men convicted of domestic abuse related offences to reduce their risk of re-offending. Aligned support services for women (the men’s (ex) partners) and a children’s service are offered to ensure that the safety of women and children is maintained. Working together with the whole family is central to the Caledonian System’s ultimate aim of reducing violence against women (VAW) and the impacts of domestic violence on children.
Context
As the World Health Organisation and Scotland’s strategy to address violence against women and girls outlines, this type of violence is a major public health problem and a violation of women's human rights. [338], [339] While men can be also victims, domestic abuse disproportionately affects women, with men as the primary perpetrators. [340],[341] This is the case in Scotland and worldwide.2
In the lead up to the evaluation of the Caledonian System in 2014-15, 59,882 incidents of domestic abuse were recorded by police in Scotland, an increase of 2.5% from 2013-14. 79% of all such incidents had a female victim and male perpetrator. [342]
Victims/survivors of domestic abuse are amongst the least likely to report their victimisation to the police,[343] and thus self-reported data is important. In 2016, when the evaluation was conducted, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey showed that since the age of 16, 14.1% of adults had experienced ‘partner abuse’[344] with 2.9% experiencing it in the last 12 months. A higher proportion of women than men reported psychological abuse (16.5% of women compared to 7.5% of men), and physical abuse (12.8% women compared to 5.9% of men) in the previous year. The risk of partner abuse in the previous year had not changed between the 2012-13 and 2014-15 surveys.[345]
“In addition to the devastating impact that VAWG has on the lives of families and communities across Scotland, it negatively impacts on society as a whole, including placing a significant pressure on public services.” 1
The personal and societal costs of VAW are alarmingly high.[346] Home Office analysis (2019) estimated that the social and economic cost for victims of domestic abuse in the year ending March 2017 in England and Wales was approximately £66 billion.[347] The largest component of this was the physical and emotional harms incurred by victims (£47 billion). The cost to the economy was also considerable, with an estimated £14 billion arising from lost output due to time off work and reduced productivity as a consequence of domestic abuse.
Response
VAW is preventable.1,2 Equally Safe is Scotlandʼs strategy for preventing and eradicating VAWG. The strategy was published in June 2014 and most recently refreshed in 2023. It was developed by the Scottish Government and COSLA in association with a wide range of organisations, and aimed to work collaboratively with key partners in the public, private and third sectors.5 The vision of Equally Safe is ‘a strong and flourishing Scotland where all individuals are equally safe and respected, and where women and girls live free from all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation - and the attitudes that help perpetuate it.’ 1
Source: Equally Safe: Scotland’s Strategy for Preventing and Eradicating Violence Against Women and Girls
This diagram shows a timeline of when Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) occurs, and when primary, secondary and tertiary prevention can happen. It shows that Primary prevention is focussed on the past and involves preventing VAWG before it occurs. Secondary prevention is focussed on the present, and involves early interventions to respond earlier, more safely and more effectively when VAWG occurs. Tertiary prevention is concerned with the future, and preventing reoffending, longer term harm and trauma, and intergenerational violence.
Primary prevention is a core objective, but it also recognises that gender-based violence is a deep-rooted problem requiring significant cultural and attitudinal change, and so is likely to continue for some time to come. The strategy therefore highlights the importance of secondary and tertiary prevention (Figure 1) and the role of intervention services in achieving its vision.1
The Caledonian System (referred to as ‘the System’) helps to support the delivery of Equally Safe’s strategic focus on interventions which: maximise women’s safety; hold men to account for their violence; are early; and address men’s re-offending.3
Intervention
The System was developed to address domestic abuse. It was designed to replace several local authority initiatives and has been in operation since 2011. [348] By 2016 the System was available across five regional ‘hubs’ (Aberdeen; Dumfries and Galloway; Lothian and Borders; Forth Valley; and North Ayrshire), covering 13 local authority areas, at an annual cost of around £2.3 million, paid for by the Scottish Government.
The System was developed by the Scottish Government, and informed by international evidence and best practice on what works to prevent domestic violence.[349] It is aimed at domestic abuse perpetrators who present as being at a moderate or above risk of re-offending. The programme is for those subject to court orders of two years or more, the purpose being to encourage perpetrators to acknowledge their behaviour is wrong and to complete a programme to reduce their risk of reoffending.
The Caledonian System works with the whole family.[350] The service comprises of: a men’s programme - working with men convicted of domestic abuse offences to change their behaviour and address their attitudes to women and violence; a women’s service; and a children’s service. All elements work together to reduce VAW, and the impacts of domestic violence on children.3
The men’s programme was the first offender-rehabilitation programme to be accredited by the former Scottish Accreditation Panel for Offender Programmes, the predecessor body to the Scottish Advisory Panel on Offender Rehabilitation (SAPOR) in 2009. SAPOR’s role is to endorse interventions which support desistance from crime.[351] The programme lasts at least two years and is delivered by case managers (who deliver the one-to-one sessions and manage individual men throughout the programme) and group workers (who deliver the group work stage).3 It involves;
(i) A Pre-Group stage involving a minimum of 14 one-to-one preparation and motivation sessions;
(ii) A Group Work stage of at least 26 group work sessions covering six themed modules (lifelong change, responsibility for and to self, relationships, sexual respect, men and women, and children and fathering);
(iii) The Maintenance stage comprising further post group one-to-one work.3
The women’s service provides safety planning, information, advice and emotional support to female partners and ex-partners of men referred to the men’s programme.
The children’s service is supported by children’s workers who ensure their rights and needs are considered within the System and by wider services.
Integral to the System’s approach is that the programme is embedded in a wider system of multi-agency working. Those delivering the System work with a wide range of services, including: Children and Families Social Work; Police Scotland; the Court service; and also housing, health services, drug and alcohol support services, Victim Support, Women’s Aid and a range of other voluntary and statutory services.3 Community Justice Scotland provide national oversight and training and are funded by the Scottish Government to support an expansion of this service.11
Monitoring and Evaluation
The independent evaluation of the men’s programme element of the System was conducted between February and June 2016 by Ipsos MORI Scotland. The evaluation was funded by the Scottish Government and cost around £45,000. The evaluation was a process and outcome evaluation that used quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the system's effectiveness, delivery, and outcomes. The main purpose was to inform its application for re-accreditation by SAPOR in September 2016, but also to:
· assess to what extent, and how, the planned activities have taken place
· assess to what extent, and how, the short and medium (and, where possible, long) term outcomes have been realised, and
· propose a data collection framework for a future evaluation.3
The evaluation included quantitative analysis of monitoring data from the five regional Caledonian ‘Hubs’, qualitative interviews with 21 men participating in the Caledonian men’s programme, 19 women supported by the women’s Service, 42 staff delivering the service (men’s, women’s and children’s workers and delivery managers), and a small number (four) of additional professional stakeholders.3
While the research team worked with staff to try to minimise recruitment bias, those interviewed were nearing the end of the Group work or Maintenance stages of the programme (so that they could comment on the impact of the programme as a whole). This inevitably meant they were also more engaged with the programme and that the experiences of others less invested in the programme may not have been captured.3
Uptake of the men’s programme and women’s service was difficult to quantify because of limitations to the System monitoring data. The evaluation was also conducted over a short timescale meaning that longer term outcomes could not be captured.
While the evaluation showed that men, women and children can benefit from the System, it did not provide conclusive evidence of its impact. This would require a different research design, ideally with a control/ comparison group, which is challenging due to costs, ethical and practical issues.3 The study did not include any economic evaluation. [As outlined below, the Caledonian National Team are currently working to improve data collection within the Caledonian database].
Key Findings
a) Outcomes for women and children
Women reported that they felt safer and attributed this to: safety planning; support to contact the police about breaches of no-contact orders; and being better able to keep track of men’s behaviour because of their involvement with the men’s Programme. Besides feeling safer, other perceived benefits for women interviewed included improved self-confidence; better physical health; reductions in their own substance use and criminal behaviour; and positive impacts on income and work. There were more mixed views on the extent to which women felt the System had an impact on men’s behaviour, in some cases because women were no longer in contact with their partner.
Perceived benefits for children (as reported by women) included increased safety, changes in problem behaviour, and better emotional and mental wellbeing. Both men and women reported a number of ways in which the System had improved their parenting skills.
b) Outcomes for men
Although the monitoring data could not be used to conclusively assess the impact of the men’s Programme on behaviour, it did indicate that those men who completed it posed a lower risk to partners, children and others by the end of the programme.
Men who completed the programme were judged by case workers as posing a lower risk to partners, children and others by the end of the programme. The Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA) questionnaire was administered both at the initial ‘Assessment’ stage (which assesses men’s level of imminent risk of violence to partners, children, and others) and again at the ‘Maintenance’ stage (defined above), and so provides an indication of behaviour change.
The risk men posed to their partners decreased substantially over time (Figure 2). The proportion assessed as ‘high risk’ to their partner decreased from 26% to 8%, while the proportion classed as ‘moderate risk’ fell from 62% to 32%. By the Maintenance stage, the proportion classed as ‘low risk’ increased from 12% to 60%.3,[352]
Psychometric data on changes in men’s attitudes presented a more mixed picture. There was some evidence that participants made progress in terms of general attitudes and feelings that may be predictors of abuse, and in reduced tendencies to blame their problems on either chance or other people. However, there was less clear evidence of any change in whether men felt they have control over their own lives.
Source: Caledonian System Evaluation: Analysis of a programme for tackling domestic abuse in Scotland
As well as reducing the level of risk that men posed, men also reported improved understanding of the nature of abuse and of appropriate behaviour in relationships; a greater awareness and understanding of the inequalities that exist between men and women; and a more ‘positive mindset’ about both their relationships and themselves.
Learning and Next Steps
The evaluation made recommendations to improve the monitoring and evaluation of the programme, including considering a longer-term study with a control group, which could provide more conclusive evidence of impact. The Scottish Government and SAPOR are working with partners to implement an outcomes monitoring framework to provide scrutiny of the programme’s effectiveness and to inform continuous improvement practices and further evaluation.
The findings from the 2016 evaluation indicated a number of areas for improvement which informed changes to the design and delivery of the programme. The evaluation also led to further investment in the Caledonian System. In 2016, Scottish Government funding of £359,372 was awarded to respond to the evaluation’s recommendations for improvement and to ensure the programme was ready for reaccreditation. The funding resourced a new National Co-ordinator post and a data champion post, and a further award of £306,196 was provided by the Scottish Government to extend the scope of the IT system that supports the operation of the Caledonian System. Full accreditation of the System was ratified in June 2018 and that year a further £2.8 million was made available to local authorities to apply for support to roll out the System within their area.[353] SAPOR reaccredited the Caledonian System again in December 2022 for a further five years.
The System is currently delivered in 20 local authority areas across Scotland.[354] Following additional investment of £11.4m in Justice social work services in 2024/25 aimed at reducing reoffending, two more areas (Moray and Shetland) are preparing to deliver the System in 2025. This is timely, as the latest domestic abuse statistics recorded by the police show levels have increased since the time of the evaluation. In 2023-24 63,867 incidents of domestic abuse were recorded. Of these, 81% incidents involved a female victim and a male suspected perpetrator.[355],[356]
Wider developments have occurred since the 2016 evaluation of the Caledonian System, intended to further address VAWG. The Domestic Abuse Act (Scotland) 2018 came into force on 1 April 2019, modifying portions of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act of 1995. The act expands the definition of domestic abuse to include psychological abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour. When introduced the Domestic Abuse Act was the only UK legislation with a specific statutory sentencing aggravation to reflect the harm that can be caused to children growing up in an environment where domestic abuse takes place.
Contact
Email: Tom.Lamplugh@gov.scot