DAHA Policy Response: Sentencing Bill - Survivor Safety Must Be the Red Line
4th Sep 2025
The Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) has responded to the Government’s new Sentencing Bill, stating that changes to recall and release provisions risk exposing survivors of domestic abuse to further harm.
DAHA recognises the introduction of a formal judicial finding of domestic abuse at sentencing as a measure that could support better identification of abuse and improve risk management. However, we remain concerned about other aspects of the Bill that may compromise survivor safety.
The removal of standard recall, replacing it with automatic re-release even where licence conditions have been breached, strips away critical safeguards. Survivors could be left vulnerable to repeat abuse while perpetrators face little consequence.
National leaders, including the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, have warned that earlier release and community-based penalties without robust supervision and swift breach action will place victims at risk.
Impact on housing safety
These reforms have immediate consequences for housing, where safety is lived day-to-day. Without clear, timely information-sharing with social landlords and MARACs, survivors may face escalating harassment, stalking, and coercive control in and around their homes.
The recent removal of local-connection rules for domestic abuse survivors is a positive step, but it must be operationalised with safe move pathways and trauma-informed tenancy management.
DAHA calls for:
- Safety-first implementation. Make the judicial finding of domestic abuse mandatory to share with MARACs, probation, and relevant housing providers to trigger safety planning.
- Guaranteed enforcement. Breach of licence conditions linked to abuse must result in immediate recall and a full risk assessment before release. Curfews, exclusion zones and electronic tags must be monitored 24/7, with automatic notifications to survivor safeguarding contacts.
- Ring-fenced funding. Resource landlords to deliver DAHA Standards, including safe priority moves, tenancy adjustments, arrears protocols linked to economic abuse, and specialist training.
- Probation–housing protocols. National templates for joint information-sharing and case management where offenders live near a survivor’s home or children’s school.
- Independent oversight. The new “democratic lock” over sentencing guidelines must not dilute trauma-informed, gender-responsive practice- survivor voices must be embedded.
Sentencing reform cannot become a route to lighter consequences for domestic abuse. The removal of standard recall and automatic re-release, combined with early releases to free prison space, risks giving perpetrators licence to reoffend.
If the Government proceeds, it must hard-wire survivor safety into delivery, from the courtroom record to the front door of social housing. Anything less undermines its commitment to halve violence against women and girls.