Lambeth Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC)
The Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) is part of Lambeth's coordinated community response to domestic violence.
The Lambeth MARAC is chaired by the Detective Inspector of the Lambeth Police Community Safety Unit and is coordinated by the Lambeth Council Domestic Violence Project Officer.
The MARAC is a monthly meeting where professionals meet to share information on high and very high risk cases of domestic violence. Information about the risks faced by those victims, the actions needed to ensure safety, and the resources available locally are discussed and used to create a risk management plan involving all agencies.
By sharing risk related information, within a multi agency framework, agencies get a clearer picture of the victim's situation and current risk levels. This facilitates the development of responses that are tailored to the needs of individual victims and their children. Safe information sharing also allows agencies to manage the perpetrator in ways that aim to reduce the future risk of harm.
Lambeth MARAC panel membership includes representatives from the voluntary and the statutory sector.
Agencies represented at the Lambeth MARAC include:
- Lambeth Police Community Safety Unit
- London Probation Service
- Lambeth Community Health (midwives)
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health)
- Gaia Domestic Violence Centre
- Lambeth Women's Aid
- Reach Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy Project (Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital A and E Dept)
- Mozaic Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy Project (Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital Maternity Dept)
- Refuge Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy Project (Camberwell Green Magistrate’s Court)
- Lambeth Victim Support
- Lambeth council - Children's and Young Peoples Service
- Lambeth council - Education Welfare Officers
- Lambeth council - Substance Misuse Team
- Lambeth council - Safeguarding Adults
- Lambeth council - Housing Services
- Lambeth council - Learning Disability Team
- Lambeth council - Disabilities and Older Persons Team
Lambeth MARAC referral criteria
To be referred to the MARAC the victim must reside in the borough of Lambeth, be over the age of 18 and be assessed as being at a high or very high risk of harm of domestic violence by the referring agency in line with the Lambeth MARAC referral criteria.
Lambeth MARAC referral process
There are currently three criteria for assessing the risk of harm and for referring a case to the MARAC:
Professional judgment: If a professional has serious high risk concerns about a victim's situation, they should refer the case to MARAC. There will be occasions where the particular context of a case gives rise to serious concerns even if the victim has been unable to disclose the information that might highlight their risk more clearly. This could reflect extreme levels of fear, cultural barriers to disclosure, immigration issues or language barriers particularly in cases of 'honour' based violence. This judgment would be based on the professional's experience and/or the victim's perception of their risk even if they do not meet the other criteria below.
'Visible high risk': In order to assess whether a case meets the risk threshold, the CAADA DASH (Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse Domestic Abuse Stalking Harassment) MARAC Risk Indicator Checklist should be completed by the referring agency. If you have ticked 14 or more 'yes' boxes on the risk indicator checklist the case would normally meet the MARAC referral criteria, and/ OR
Potential escalation: This refers to the number of police callouts to the victim as a result of domestic violence in the past 12 months. This criterion can be used to identify cases where there is not a positive identification of a majority of the risk factors on the list, but where abuse appears to be escalating and where it is appropriate to assess the situation more fully by sharing information at the MARAC. In Lambeth, where there have been three plus reported domestic violence related crimes and/or five plus incidents in a 12 month period the case will be referred to the MARAC.
Professionals who would like further information about the Lambeth MARAC, should contact Sandra Anlin, Domestic Violence Project Officer, Lambeth Council on 0207 926 4877 or email on sanlin@lambeth.gov.uk.
For further information about the MARAC and for MARAC agency information toolkits go to the Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) website: www.caada.org.uk.