Definitions of domestic abuse
The Home Office 2021 definition of domestic violence and abuse now states:
Behaviour of a person (A) towards another person (B) is domestic abuse if A and B are each aged 16 or over and are personally connected to each other, and the behaviour is abusive.
Behaviour is abusive if it consists of any of the following:
- physical or sexual abuse
- violent or threatening behaviour
- controlling or coercive behaviour
- economic abuse
- psychological, emotional or other abuse
It does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct.
Personally connected means they are, or have been:
- married
- civil partners
- have agreed to marry one another
- have entered into a civil partnership agreement
- are or have been in an intimate personal relationship
- they have or have had a parental relationship in relation to the same child
- are relatives
It can encompass but is not limited to the following types of abuse of another person:
Psychological or emotional
- monitoring your movements and activities
- intimidation
- insults
- isolating them from friends and family
- criticising them
- denying the abuse is happening
- treating them as inferior
- threatening to harm children or take them away
- forced marriage
- being constantly sworn at
- undermining their confidence
- making racist remarks at them
- making them feel unattractive
- calling them stupid or useless
- eroding their independence
- repeatedly putting them down
- calling them names
- telling them they are worthless
- making threats to harm or kill them and, or threatening suicide if they leave them
- putting them in fear
Abuse can often be referred to here as gaslighting.
Sexual
- forced into having sex
- being forced into sex work
- ignoring religious prohibitions about sex
- refusal to practice safe sex
- sexual insults
- sexually-transmitted infections
- preventing breastfeeding
- forced to be filmed or photographed naked
Physical
- shaking
- smacking
- punching
- kicking
- grabbing and biting
- starving
- tying up
- stabbing
- suffocation
- throwing things
- using objects as weapons
- female genital mutilation
- 'honour violence'
Physical effects are often on areas of the body that are covered and hidden.
Economic
- not letting them work
- undermining their efforts to find work or study
- making a person lose their job
- refusing to give them money, asking for an explanation of how they spend every penny
- making them beg for money
- gambling with the money meant for bills
- not paying bills
- bailiffs and, or debtors at their door
- putting cards and loans in their sole name
Controlling behaviour
- acts designed to make them subordinate or dependent by isolating them from sources of support
- exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain
- depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour
Coercive behaviour
Coercive behaviour is an act or pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse used to harm, punish, or frighten victims. This is not a legal definition.
It includes 'honour-based' violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage. Abused individuals are not confined to one gender or ethnic group.
To aid the understanding of domestic abuse, we advise the completion of our domestic abuse - short course e-learning.