We've reached a crisis point of domestic abuse in the UK.
In the past month alone, Emma Pattison and her seven-year-old daughter were allegedly murdered by husband and father, George Pattison; an inquest found that Lyndsey Watkins, a 31-year-old woman from Durham, was unlawfully killed when her partner crashed their car in a "domestic abuse episode"; and a police officer has been jailed for targeting domestic abuse victims for "for his own sexual purposes."
Today (Monday, 20 February), the Home Office has announced a series of new proposals to crack down on violence against women and girls – as well as allocating £8.4million to be invested into specialist victim support programmes over two years.
While Refuge – the UK's largest domestic abuse organisation – has “broadly welcomed” the announcement, their CEO Ruth Davison notes that the measures don't tackle the “root causes of domestic abuse and male violence.”
Here, GLAMOUR breaks down what the government's new proposals actually mean, how they've been received by specialist domestic abuse charities, and whether they're sufficient to protect women and girls from domestic abuse.
These attitudes make it less likely that victims will feel able to report or reach out for help.
What are the government's new proposals to protect women and girls from domestic abuse?
Announcing the new proposals, the Home Office said, “The new proposals go further than ever before in protecting women and girls from harassment, aggression and violence and focus on stopping domestic abuse before it takes place.”
The changes include:
1. The law will be changed so that the most dangerous domestic abusers will be watched more closely. Controlling and/or coercive behaviour will be put on par with physical violence, meaning those “sentenced to a year or more imprisonment or a suspended sentence will automatically be actively managed by the police, prison and probation service.”
2. The police and the probation service will ensure that offenders sentenced to a year or more for controlling and coercive behaviour are recorded on the violent and sex offender register.
3. Abusers could be fitted with a tag. This would prevent them from going within a certain distance of a victim’s home.
4. Abusers could be made to attend a “behaviour change programme.”
5. Those at risk of domestic abuse will be entitled to emergency help from one of 18 jobcentres and jobs and benefit offices across the UK. This is known as the "Ask for ANI (Action Needed Immediately) scheme, which already operates in 5,000 pharmacies across the UK.
6. Police forces must treat violence against women and girls as a national threat, on par with “terrorism, serious and organised crime and child sexual abuse.”
The full list of proposed changes can be read here.
“It’s encapsulating just how embedded ideals around gender hierarchy and male egoism have become.”
What has Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said about the proposals?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:
"No woman or girl should ever have to feel unsafe in her home or community and I am determined to stamp out these appalling crimes.
"The Ask for Ani scheme provides a lifeline for anyone suffering from domestic abuse and we will continue to expand the scheme so that more people can access it, including piloting this service in the first jobcentres.
“As well as extra support for victims, we’re making it a priority for the police to tackle violence against women and girls and toughening up the way offenders are managed – preventing more of these crimes from happening in the first place, and bringing more perpetrators to justice.”
How have specialist domestic abuse organisations responded?
Ruth Davison, CEO of Refuge, notes that the announcement makes a “clear statement” about the seriousness of domestic abuse, which is “much needed.”
However, she outlines that the measures don't “go nearly far enough” and that “radical and bold action is needed immediately if victims and survivors are to be protected and if perpetrators are to be held account.”
She highlights that the measures don't adequately focus on prevention, explaining, “adding the worst offenders of coercive and controlling behaviour to a register won’t, for example, help women spot the signs of coercive control. Early intervention is needed so survivors can recognise these behaviours in their partners – just as we have called for alongside the Make it Mandatory campaign.”
“What meaning is there to a ‘national threat’ or ‘policing priority’ when forces do not intervene when a survivor is in danger?”
She also points out that calling domestic abuse a “national threat” feels “empty” and lacking in "real meaning." “What meaning is there to a ‘national threat’ or ‘policing priority’ when forces do not intervene when a survivor is in danger?” she asks.
Ruth adds, “I’m afraid I can’t, with confidence, believe that this will make a difference when women’s trust in the police is already so woefully low. More than four in five people who experienced domestic abuse did not report it to the police, and the most recent CPS statistics show that referrals from police, charges and prosecutions for domestic abuse have all decreased in the last year compared to figures recorded in 2020/21. The current system is failing survivors – a sticking plaster measure like this won’t change that.”
Refuge isn't alone in their concerns about the police. While Ashley le-Core, a Senior Associate at Stowe Family Law, described the announcement as “welcome news.” However, they also highlighted that "After spending many years working in family law, and for the domestic abuse charity, Choices, I often find that the police do not have the time or resources to deal with the increasing levels of domestic abuse, leaving people trapped in dangerous and abusive situations, in some cases for over 20 years.
For more information about emotional abuse and domestic violence, you can call The Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge on 0808 2000 247.
For more from Glamour UK's Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.
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