Current Affairs13th October 2025
Karma Nirvana is proud to announce that our founder, Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, has been appointed as one of three new public office holders to the Quality Assurance (QA) Board for Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), approved by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips MP.
Dame Jasvinder joins Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs OBE, founder of Surviving Economic Abuse, and Rachel Freeman, an experienced former police officer and safeguarding consultant, who works with Karma Nirvana to deliver police training across the UK. Together, they bring decades of leadership and expertise in tackling domestic abuse, safeguarding, and violence against women and girls (VAWG). The new members will sit alongside representatives from NHS England, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, and the Welsh Government.
Strengthening the Domestic Homicide Review Process
The DHR process exists to ensure that lessons are learned following deaths. Local areas must carry out a DHR in instances where the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect. Recent legislative updates under the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 have expanded this framework, introducing a new requirement for reviews where a death appears to have resulted from domestic abuse as defined by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. These reviews will now be known as Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews to reflect the range of deaths which fall within their scope.
These reviews provide vital opportunities for learning, ensuring that local and national agencies treat every death as preventable, and that the insights gained help to protect future victims and survivors. The new QA board will play a critical role in ensuring that DHRs meet the required standards for publication, including:
- Ensuring that DHRs follow government guidance
- Confirming that reviews have engaged all relevant agencies, organisations, and family members to build a comprehensive picture
- Identifying meaningful learning to prevent future deaths
- Providing timely feedback to Community Safety Partnerships to enhance practice and improve outcomes