If you, or anyone you know, is suffering from domestic abuse there are lots of resources that can provide help. We have included the details of some organisations in this article: Where to find domestic abuse help
If there is an immediate risk of domestic abuse, you should call the police on 999.
The legal definition of domestic abuse comes from the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. The law says that behaviour of one person towards another person is domestic abuse if:
- Both people are over 16 years old and are personally connected to each other; and
- The behaviour is abusive if it consists of any of the following:
-
-
Physical or sexual abuse;
-
Violent or threatening behaviour;
-
Controlling or coercive behaviour;
-
Psychological, emotional or other abuse; or
-
Economic abuse (see below for explanation).
Economic abuse is behaviour that has a substantial adverse effect on the victim’s ability to acquire, use or maintain money (or other property), or obtain goods or services
-
- It does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct.
- The abusive behaviour may be behaviour “towards” the victim even if it is directed at another person. For example, the victim’s child.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 also stops someone accused of abuse from questioning the victim in court (when the victim is a party in a court case or a witness in a court case). We have more information in this article: Questioning in court where there are allegations of domestic abuse
