Steps to Safety initiative introduced in 12 areas across England

23 Oct 2026 03:29 PM

Phase 1 of Steps to Safety will enable GP practices across 12 areas in England to connect people experiencing domestic abuse with specialist support.

Overview

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has begun rolling out a new referral service across general practices for people experiencing violence and abuse. The Steps to Safety programme is being introduced in 3 phases which started in April 2026, with a goal of national provision of the service in England by 2029.

Steps to Safety will ensure general practice staff are trained to spot the signs of domestic abuse and sexual violence, so they can connect victims and survivors directly to local specialist support services.

DHSC committed to the Steps to Safety programme in the Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy, published in December 2025.

What this means for patients

Patients will be able to talk to any member of staff in a participating GP practice about their current or previous experience of domestic abuse or sexual violence. Their disclosures will be dealt with sensitively and they will be referred into the specialist support service, if they agree. The specialist support worker will be a single point of contact for them, and will advocate for their needs when accessing specialist services. 

What this means for general practices

Each group of practices will have access to independent domestic abuse and sexual violence (DASV) specialist workers funded through the programme. They will work alongside them, receive referrals and provide specialist support. The specialist workers will:

What this means for integrated care boards

Participating integrated care boards (ICBs) will receive targeted funding to:

Phase 1 of Steps to Safety

In September 2026, 12 ICBs were selected for the first phase of Steps to Safety. They will receive a total of up to £34.4 million over 3 years to commission or expand local specialist services and strengthen referral pathways between general practices and domestic abuse and sexual violence support.

Table 1 shows the ICBs selected for phase 1 of Steps to Safety and the funding allocations over the next 3 years.

Table 1: funding allocation by ICB for Steps to Safety phase 1

 
ICB Year 1 - 2026 to 2027 (£) Year 2 - 2027 to 2028 (£) Year 3 - 2028 to 2029 (£) Total (£)
Cheshire and Merseyside 363,803 670,467 676,523 1,710,793
North East and North Cumbria 856,446 1,900,756 1,927,358 4,684,560
Essex 949,525 1,769,524 1,735,075 4,454,124
Norfolk and Suffolk 487,155 1,151,767 1,168,706 2,807,628
Black Country 227,863 412,191 424,713 1,064,767
Birmingham and Solihull 950,000 1,005,000 1,050,000 3,005,000
Coventry and Warwickshire ICB (joint bid with Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB) 1,280,052 2,649,710 2,742,451 6,672,213
Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB As above - joint bid with Coventry and Warwickshire ICB As above - joint bid with Coventry and Warwickshire ICB As above - joint bid with Coventry and Warwickshire ICB As above - joint bid with Coventry and Warwickshire ICB
Surrey and Sussex 1,522,984 1,263,901 1,258,416 4,045,301
Kent and Medway 225,112 982,811 987,615 2,195,538
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire 1,089,245 969,025 996,692 3,054,962
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 194,586 267,112 260,620 722,318
Total 8,146,771 13,042,264 13,228,169 34,417,204

Supporting the rollout

DHSC and NHS England are developing national support to help ICBs, specialist providers and general practices deliver Steps to Safety consistently.

This will include:

An independent national evaluation will examine how Steps to Safety is delivered and its impact. The findings will help inform the future delivery and development of the programme.

Victims and survivors support fund

DHSC is also investing £15 million across all ICBs over 3 years to boost local specialist support services for victims and survivors.

The funding is being allocated to ICBs proportionately based on the average number of patients registered at a GP practice between April and July 2026. We are asking ICBs to focus the funding on: