National context

In the year ending March 2020, an estimated 2.3 million adults aged 16 to 74 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year (1.6 million women and 757,000 men). The cost of domestic abuse is estimated to be approximately £66bn for victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales for the year ending March 2017.

The cumulative effect of small year-on-year reductions, including a significant decrease in the year ending March 2009, has resulted in a significantly lower prevalence of domestic abuse experienced by adults aged 16 to 59 years in the year ending March 2020 (6.3 per cent), compared with the year ending March 2005 (8.9 per cent) (GOV.UK). Whilst this is a positive trend it remains that the prevalence of domestic abuse in society is significant.

Nationally in 2019/20, 32 per cent of Child in Need assessments reported parental domestic violence (up 6 per cent from 2019) and a further 12 per cent reported domestic violence (up 3 per cent from 2018/19) as a factor identified that contributed to the child being in need (Department for Education, 2021).

There is recognition that it is likely that domestic abuse was under reported during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly at the points in time that the country experienced lockdowns. We cannot yet fully understand the longer-term impacts that some will experience because of this. 64 per cent of referrals to domestic abuse refuge services were rejected in 2018/19, with a significant proportion due to lack of space and capacity (Davidge et al 2021).