1. Other pages in this release
Domestic abuse prevalence and trends, England and Wales: year ending March 2021
Domestic abuse victim characteristics, England and Wales: year ending March 2021
Domestic abuse and the criminal justice system, England and Wales: November 2021
Redevelopment of domestic abuse statistics: research update November 2021
2. Main points
This release follows our initial analysis on the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic where domestic abuse victim services experienced an increase in demand. However, we cannot determine if this is directly attributed to an increase in the number of victims. Here we highlight findings from data provided by services for victims of domestic abuse.
In the year ending March 2021, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline supported 49,756 people, a 22% increase from 40,859 in the previous year; this was generally driven by peaks in calls during periods of national lockdown (Table 9).
On average, in the year ending March 2021, the ManKind Initiative experienced 23% more calls to their helpline per month and 61% more visitors to their website per month than the previous year (Table 5, Table 6).
The number of refuge bedspaces has increased in recent years in England to 4,277 in 2021 but remains below the minimum number of bedspaces recommended by the Council of Europe; only London and the West Midlands exceeded the minimum recommended bedspaces (Table 38).
High demand for support services in the year ending March 2020 led to 63% of referrals of women to refuge services in England and 34% of women in Wales being declined; the main reason in England being because of a lack of capacity to support survivors and in Wales because the refuge was unable to meet survivor support needs (Table 26, Table 27, Table 34).
The number of cases discussed at multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs) in England and Wales increased by 8% to 107,855 in the year ending March 2021 compared with 99,966 in the year ending March 2020; this likely reflects an increase in reporting, not necessarily an increase in victims of domestic abuse (Table 20).
3. Domestic abuse victim services data
Domestic abuse victim services
Dataset | Released 24 November 2021
Data from different organisations on the availability of domestic abuse services and the characteristics of service users.
Domestic abuse in England and Wales – Data tool
Dataset | Released 24 November 2021
An interactive Excel-based data tool for domestic abuse statistics. It allows users to explore data for their police force area in more detail and compare with other areas.
4. Glossary
Domestic abuse
Domestic abuse is not limited to physical violence and can include a range of abusive behaviours. It can also be experienced as repeated patterns of abusive behaviour to maintain power and control in a relationship. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 defines domestic abuse as any incident or pattern of incidents between those aged 16 years or over who:
are a partner
are an ex-partner
are a relative
have, or there has been a time when they each have had, a parental relationship in relation to the same child
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 outlines the following behaviours as abuse:
physical or sexual abuse
violent or threatening behaviour
controlling or coercive behaviour
economic abuse
psychological, emotional, or other abuse
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 recognises children under the age of 18 years who see, or hear, or experience the effects of the abuse as a victim of domestic abuse if they are related or have a parental relationship to the adult victim or perpetrator of the abuse.
Helpline
A helpline is a telephone service that offers information, advice or support to callers about particular issues. A domestic abuse helpline offers these services to victims of domestic abuse and their families, friends, colleagues and others calling on their behalf. Local, community-based helplines are distinct from the 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline. Many survivors may speak to both services, as the national helpline provides referrals to services in their local area, alongside refuge referrals, emotional support, risk assessment and safety planning, and information on rights and options.
Multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs)
A multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC) is a meeting where information is shared on the highest-risk domestic abuse cases between representatives from a range of agencies. After sharing all relevant information about the circumstances for a particular victim, the representatives discuss options for increasing the victim's safety and turn these into a coordinated action plan.
Refuge service
A domestic abuse refuge service provides emergency temporary accommodation for victims of domestic abuse with a planned programme of therapeutic and practical support.
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys5. Data sources and quality
This publication is part of our domestic abuse statistics release. It presents information on services that are available to victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales. Other commentary discussing domestic abuse in England and Wales can be found in the Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview.
Data sources
To provide insight into how domestic abuse services respond to victims of domestic abuse, we have sourced data from a range of organisations. These data are sourced from non-governmental, administrative datasets and are not classified as official statistics.
The following services are included in this publication:
ManKind Initiative
The National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge
SafeLives
Suzy Lamplugh Trust
Welsh Women's Aid
Women's Aid Federation of England
For more information about the data sources available from the victim services see Section 7 of our Domestic abuse victim services, England and Wales: November 2020 publication and Section 6 of our Domestic abuse QMI.
Quality
More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Domestic abuse quality and methodology information (QMI).
Nôl i'r tabl cynnwys