Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) and Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs)

Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) and Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs)

What is a SAR?

Bolton Safeguarding Adults Board will carry out a SAR whenever an adult at risk has been seriously harmed or has died in circumstances where abuse or neglect is suspected or confirmed and there are concerns that agencies could have worked better to protect that individual.

This is a statutory requirement of the Safeguarding Adults Board set out in Section 44 of the Care Act 2014.

A Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) looks at how local organisations worked together to protect the adult at risk at the centre of the review. The review considers what was done, what worked well, what lessons can be learned for the future and what changes may need to be made.

A Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) is not an enquiry into the cause of an individual death or injury. It does not look for someone to blame and it is completely separate from any investigation being undertaken by the police or a coroner. The SAR concentrates instead on whether professionals and organisations can learn anything from what happened.

The purpose of a learning review is;

To establish whether there are lessons to be learned about the way in which local professionals or organisations work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of adults at risk
To identify clearly what those lessons are, how they will be acted upon and what changes might be necessary
To improve how agencies work together and better safeguard adults at risk
To identify any areas of good practice and what worked well

Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDR)

Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDR), were formerly known as Domestic Homicide Reviews. The name was changed following calls to better recognise deaths from domestic abuse related suicide.

Domestic Homicide Reviews were introduced under section 9 (3) of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. They are a review of the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by-

(a) a person to whom he was related or with whom he was or had been in an intimate personal relationship, or

(b) a member of the same household as himself,

with a view to identifying the lessons to be learnt from the death.

Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews are the responsibility of Community Safety Partnerships. For more information about DARDRs in Bolton, please visit What happens when someone dies as a result of domestic abuse?

More information can be found in the Multi-agency Statutory Guidance for the Conduct of Domestic Homicide Reviews (December 2016). Please note, the statutory guidance is currently being updated.