Charity evidence can be conclusive evidence of domestic abuse

Article summary

The Home Office's caseworker guidance on the domestic abuse settlement route includes a hierarchy of what weight decision makers should attach to different kinds of evidence. In a welcome change, the Home Office has now accepted that detailed professional reports from refuges and charities can be 'very compelling or possibly conclusive' in the assessment of domestic abuse by the Home Office. If the service providing the letter is not providing other support to the person then this will need to be explained. The updated table lists domestic abuse triage tools (the DASH and DARA checklists) as being less compelling than a detailed assessment. Video and audio files are now also included on the table, but have to be reduced to transcripts and screenshots before being submitted and are stated as being less compelling, because they provide only a snapshot that has been selected by the applicant.