The Mentor Court Project created a wide evidence base demonstrating the current picture of SDACs across England and Wales. Part of this work involved Standing Together establishing observation and learning sessions at SDACs across the country, conducting national research to find and evaluate courts and provide capacity-building support to other areas. The findings across the research conducted clearly demonstrate the need for specialist court models and tailored criminal justice responses to domestic abuse. While we found pockets of good practice across the country, we also found a serious lack of consistency between regions in terms of specialised court provision.

For the last 20 years, Standing Together has coordinated Specialist Domestic Abuse Courts (SDACs) in West London. Today, they coordinate two domestic abuse Courts at Westminster Magistrates Court, covering domestic abuse cases from Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, City of London, and British Transport Police. After receiving funding from the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport via the Tampon Tax Fund, Standing Together launched the pioneering Mentor Court Project, establishing observation and learning sessions at the SDACs, conducting national mapping of SDACs across the country, providing capacity-building support to areas across England and Wales, and providing onward funding to Advance for the provision of Specialist Criminal Justice Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs).