Domestic Abuse Bill
Information relating to the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Bill in the House of Commons on 3 March 2020.
Domestic abuse is a cruel and complex crime that can affect anyone, leaving physical and emotional scars that can last a lifetime. While there has been a welcome gradual fall in the incidence of domestic abuse in recent years, there are still some 2.4 million victims a year (aged 16 to 74), the majority of whom are women. Far too many individuals have their lives destroyed by abuse. We need to build a society that has zero tolerance towards domestic abuse and actively empowers victims, communities and professionals to confront and challenge it and to provide victims with the support they deserve.
That is why the government is committed to transforming the response to this terrible crime, including by introducing this landmark bill. The prevention of abuse and the protection of victims lies at the heart of the bill and our wider programme of work.
The measures in the bill seek to:
- promote awareness - to put abuse at the top of everyone’s agenda, including by legislating for the first time for a statutory definition of domestic abuse
- protect and support victims, including by introducing a new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and Order
- transform the justice response, including by helping victims to give their best evidence in the criminal courts through the use of video evidence, screens and other special measures, and ensuring that victims of abuse do not suffer further trauma in family court proceedings by being cross-examined by their abuser
- improve performance – the new Domestic Abuse Commissioner will help drive consistency and better performance in the response to domestic abuse across all local areas and agencies
The bill was published in draft in January 2019 for pre-legislative scrutiny. The Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill published its report on 14 June 2019 and the government published its response on 16 July 2019. A further government response to the Joint Committee was published in February 2020.
Documents related to the Domestic Abuse Bill can be found on the Parliament website.
Factsheets
Act documents
Draft Bill documents
Updates to this page
Published 21 January 2019Last updated 13 May 2021 + show all updates
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Added the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 commencement schedule.
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Added 'Review of the controlling or coercive behaviour offence'.
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Added the letter from Lord Rosser of the government amendments for the Lords report stage, including an accessible version, to the bill documents.
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Added letter from Baroness Williams to Peers following second reading of Domestic Abuse Bill.
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Findings of the Home Office review into migrant victims of domestic abuse published.
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Added two letters to Jess Phillips MP on the first and second tranches of the government amendments tabled for Commons Report stage.
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Follow up letter to Jess Phillips MP published.
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Added information on the Domestic Abuse Bill for March 2020.
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Added letter from Minister for Safeguarding and Vulnerability to Carolyn Harris MP.
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Added information on the Domestic Abuse Bill 2019.
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First published.