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<p>There are two main services for victims, the Domestic Abuse Safety Officer Service
and the Victim Contact Scheme.</p><p> </p><p>The Probation Service runs the Victim
Contact Scheme (VCS) for victims of offenders convicted of serious violent or sexual
offences, who are sentenced to twelve months or more imprisonment. It has carried
out changes in 2021 to ensure efficacy of its systems in relation to data collection
to support the Victims’ Code of Practice.</p><p> </p><p>There is also ongoing work
to develop a set of national performance measures which can be used to measure the
impact of the scheme and inform future development and decision making.</p><p> </p><p>A
change to the referral process in 2021, outlined in the Victims’ Code of Practice,
now directs that victim’s contact details are automatically sent to Probation Service
Victim Contact Units. These details are then recorded on the Probation Service Victim
Contact Management System. This ensures timely offers of the VCS to victims, allowing
them the choice of whether or not to engage in the scheme. To ensure the receipt of
referrals, Probation staff also run reports from court and probation systems to ensure
the receipt of qualifying cases. Figures from the Victim Satisfaction Survey linked
to the scheme continues to show positive satisfaction of above 80% from victims who
engage in the scheme.</p><p> </p><p>To date, there has been no evaluation of the effectiveness
of the Domestic Abuse Safety Officer service. This is a service that is offered to
all victims and new partners of people attending Probation Service-run domestic abuse
rehabilitation programmes. In July 2023, a national case management database was launched.
This is a robust system, which enabled efficient collation, monitoring, and analysis
of victim data. There is ongoing work to develop a set of national performance measures
which can be used to measure the impact of the scheme and inform future development
and decision making.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, in September 2023, the new digital
service to apply for criminal injuries compensation was made available to 100% of
applicants. The number of questions asked as part of applying for compensation was
reduced where possible - by 20-30% on some application journeys - compared to the
older service we replaced.</p><p> </p><p>This approach was supported by user research
and trauma-informed practice, to ensure the data we are collecting is proportionate
and required to enable the decision-making process - for example, we removed the mandatory
need for victims to describe the nature of the incident as part of the application
process, to reduce the risk of re-traumatisation.</p>
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