New Learning Report: Six-Month Pilot Shows Integrating Safe & Together Model into MARAC Strengthens Response to Domestic Abuse

An independent evaluation by the Improvement Service has found early evidence of a clear shift in MARAC practice in two Scottish local authority areas following the integration of the Safe & Together Model.

The MARAC and Safe & Together Integration Pilot (MSTIP) Learning Report evaluates a six-month pilot delivered by the Safe & Together Institute and SafeLives, funded by the Scottish Government through Delivering Equally Safe. The pilot ran between July and December 2025 in Dumfries and Galloway and East Renfrewshire. 

The integrated process was built in collaboration with the two areas—local practitioners shaped the aims and outcomes from the outset, and monthly troubleshooting sessions ran throughout, feeding practitioners’ learning back into the design in real time. The pilot tested embedding Safe & Together’s Perpetrator Pattern Mapping Tool (PPMT) within key stages of the MARAC process, applying the integrated process to two cases per MARAC meeting across the pilot period in each area.

It aimed to strengthen how local MARAC practice keeps children safe and together with the non-offending parent, partners with them as the default position, and intervenes with perpetrators to reduce risk and harm to children.

What Practitioners Reported 

Pre- and post-pilot practitioner surveys point to what the evaluation calls “a clear and sustained shift” in MARAC practice. Practitioners’ agreement with the following statements increased:

• MARAC processes effectively identify the full range of a survivor’s protective efforts — up 22 percentage points, from 65% to 87%

• Partnering with the adult survivor around their children’s safety is well-articulated at each stage of MARAC — up from 73% to 91%

• Action plans include meaningful attempts to engage perpetrators about their abusive behaviour — agreement more than quadrupled, from 15% to 61%

• MARAC discussions frame domestic abuse perpetration as a parenting choice that harms children — up from 54% to 83%

• MARAC referrals include comprehensive information about perpetrator patterns of behaviour — agreement nearly doubled, from 38% to 70%

Beyond the survey data, focus groups and interviews with practitioners and strategic leads across both pilot sites described a broader culture shift in how MARAC discussions are framed. As one MARAC representative put it: “The perpetrator was much more visible… and actions were being sought around the perpetrator… the Safe & Together principles were running right throughout that meeting.”

Notably, practitioners began applying the principles across all MARAC cases, not only the two being formally mapped—an unintended outcome the evaluation attributes to wider culture change. 

The report also finds the PPMT helped practitioners identify perpetrator patterns across multiple victim-survivors and cases, strengthened joint ownership of action plans across agencies, and brought sharper attention to worker safety and perpetrator manipulation of systems. Protecting agency staff is already one of MARAC’s four aims; practitioners said the pilot gave them additional space and structure to act on it.

Enablers and Barriers

The evaluation identifies the key enablers as:

• Training and ongoing implementation support

• Strong MARAC Chair leadership

• Structured tools such as the PPMT

• Effective information sharing

It is equally direct about the barriers:

• Constraints on practitioner time and capacity

• Gaps in alignment between MARAC and statutory child protection procedures

• Uneven access to perpetrator data across agencies and local authority boundaries

• A shortage of non-court-mandated behaviour change programmes for perpetrators

• Uneven access to Safe & Together training across partner agencies

Both pilot sites concluded that Safe & Together training should be mandatory for all MARAC partners going forward.

Looking Ahead

The report concludes that the pilot demonstrates a clear commitment and appetite for continued integration of the Safe & Together Model within MARAC processes across Scotland. Since publication, a second stage pilot extension has been commenced within the existing pilot areas, aiming to further develop and test the MSTIP process and toolkit and to consult with pilot areas and wider stakeholders on how to align MARAC with wider public protection processes.

Read the full MSTIP Learning Report, including detailed case studies and practitioner reflections, here.