What is domestic abuse?

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 defines domestic abuse as when one person is abusive towards another person they are personally connected to, and both are aged 16 or over. It can be a single incident or ongoing behaviour.

Examples of abuse can be:

• physical abuse
• sexual abuse
• violent or threatening
• controlling or coercive
• psychological and emotional
• non-fatal strangulation
• stalking and harrassment
• economic abuse (where the behaviour prevents or hampers the ability to get, use or keep money or property, or obtain goods and services)

Personally connected means that two people have been or they are:

• married or civil partners to each other
• agreed to marry one another or have entered into a civil partnership agreement (even if it didn't go ahead)
• in an intimate personal relationship with each other
• parents or guardians to the same child
• relatives