CHAPTER ONE
THE DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC ABUSE
Over the years there have been changes and improvements to the definition of domestic violence. This has been to the benefit of clients.
In 2012 a new and broader definition of domestic was set out by the government in an attempt to further confront violence against women and girls[1]. This followed a recommendation from the Home Affairs Select Committee Report in 2008 to include victims under the age of 18[2], and a consultation launched in late 2011 to March 2012 which sought views (from local authorities, the police, the charitable and voluntary sector as well as many others) on the definition in place at that stage and the idea of expanding the same[3].
In 2021 the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into force. The 2021 Act had many goals and purposes. These included, for example, banning GPs for charging for medical evidence of domestic abuse, creating new criminal offences, and importantly for our purposes founding a legal definition of domestic abuse which recognised children as victims in their own right, and establishing a statutory definition of domestic abuse which emphasised that domestic abuse is not just physical violence.
The definition of domestic violence, as set out in the Home Office Policy Guidance on Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse (‘AVDA Guidance’)[4], is based on the legal definition of domestic abuse as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (the 2021 Act). It is “any single incident or pattern of conduct where someone’s behaviour towards another is abusive, and where the people involved are aged 16 or over and are, or have been, personally connected to each other (regardless of gender or sexuality).” It can be seen that there are several aspects to this definition.
The reference to personal connection, is described further in the s2(1) of the 2021 Act and the AVDA Guidance[5] as including where the individuals are married, civil partners, have been in an intimate personal relationship with each other, have been parents or had a parental relationship to the same child, or are relatives. Relatives is defined further in s2(3) of the 2021 Act and s63 of the Family Law Act 1996 as including in-laws and step-family. If an individual is able to show that their relationship has ended owing to abuse from a mother-in-law or extended family for example, they can qualify for settlement. The abuse must still be the reason for the relationship breaking down[6].
Whilst the definition above refers to those over the age of 16, practitioners will be aware that for the purpose of the immigration rules, a partner has to be over the age of 18 to qualify for leave as a partner. Importantly, the AVDA Guidance makes clear that where a relationship has broken down owing to a family member (such as a child) in a household being subjected to DA the abused partner can qualify for settlement. They may for example have ended their relationship or left the house in order to protect a child[7]. This is in accordance with s.1(5) of the 2021 Act which states that ‘for the purposes of this Act [the abuser’s] behaviour may be behaviour “towards” [the victim] despite the fact that it consists of conduct directed at another person (for example, [the victim’s child).’ Further, s3(2) of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 says that ‘any reference in this Act to a victim of domestic abuse includes a reference to a child who— (a) sees or hears, or experiences the effects of, the abuse, and (b)is related to [the abuser] or [the victim].’ We will revisit the issue of child victims later in this title.
Abusive behaviour is defined in s.1(3) of the 2021 Act as physical abuse, sexual abuse, violent behaviour, threatening behaviour, controlling behaviour, coercive behaviour, financial abuse, psychological abuse, emotional abuse and other abuse. We will look at the different types of abusive behaviour in more detail below.
s.1(4) of the 2021 Act defines financial abuse as conduct which affects an individual’s ability to acquire money, use money, maintain money or other property, or the inability to obtain goods or services.
Controlling behaviour is ‘a range of acts designed to make a person 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, regulating their everyday behaviour[8]. This is further broken down in the Home Office Statutory Guidance[9] as, for example, using digital systems such as smart devices or social media to monitor or upset the victim (e.g., using location tracking, checking phone use), controlling daily activities (dictating what they wear, eat, where they sleep, who they speak to), directing their spending and accounts and benefits, denying access to their work or turning up at their work, following them, and/or using substances to direct an individual.
Coercive behaviour is described as ‘an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation’[10]. Again Statutory Guidance helpfully breaks this down further as for example making accusations in public or private for deviating from the rules of their household/relationship, making false allegations, intimidations to go to the police, threatening the person to carry out criminal behaviour, threats to expose sensitive information (e.g., health status, sexual activity, sexual orientation), threatening precarious immigration status[11].
The AVDA Guidance makes clear that DA includes ‘honour’ based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, dowry-related abuse and transnational marriage abandonment.
The Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance sets out that ‘honour-based abuse is a crime or incident which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the perceived honour of the family and/or community, or in response to individuals trying to break away from constraining ‘norms’ of behaviour that their family or community is trying to impose.’[12]
FGM is also referred to as female cutting, female circumcision, when the genitals of a female are changed or removed on purpose for reasons which are not medical[13].
Dowry involves money or gifts or property being handed from the bride’s family to the in-laws or groom prior to or during or after a marriage. It has been suggested by the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women that dowry related abuse occurs when there is any act of violence or harassment associated with the giving or receiving of dowry[14].
Forced marriage involves the use of violence, threats or any other form of coercion for the purpose of causing another person to enter into a marriage, where the person believes, or ought reasonably to believe, that the conduct may cause the other person to enter into the marriage without free and full consent[15].
TMA is where a migrant victim of DA is abandoned overseas, by their spouse or partner, against their will and usually with the goal of preventing them from returning to the UK[16]. There is a chapter dedicated to TMA in this book and we will look further at the definition there.
Practitioners should have regard to this very extensive definition when advising clients, who may well not understand that being isolated or humiliated for example amounts to violence, and when preparing and gathering evidence for the applications that we discuss further on in this book.
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[1] Home Office News Story, New definition of domestic violence,
18 September 2012
[2] Sixth Report From The Home Affairs Committee Session 2007-08
HC 263
[3] Home Office, Cross-Government Definition of Domestic Violence –
A Consultation Summary of Responses, September 2012
[4] Version 17.0 dated 4 April 2024 at pp20-21
[5] Ibid. p20
[6] Ibid. p16
[7] Ibid. p17
[8] Home Office Policy Guidance on Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse, Version 17.0 04 April 2024, p20
[9] Controlling or Coercive Behaviour: Statutory Guidance Framework, 5 April 2023, p15
[10] Home Office Policy Guidance on Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse, Version 17.0 04 April 2024, p20
[11] Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance July 2022 pp31-32; Controlling or Coercive Behaviour: Statutory Guidance Framework, 5 April 2023
pp15-16
[12] July 2022, pp42-43
[13] s.1 Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003
[14] Good Practices in Legislation on “Harmful Practices” Against Women United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 26 to 29
May 2009, p20
[15] s.121 Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
[16] Home Office Policy Guidance on Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse, Version 17.0 04 April 2024, p23