Research and analysis

The economic and social costs of domestic abuse

This report estimates the social and economic cost for victims of domestic abuse in year ending March 2017 in England and Wales to be approximately £66 billion.

• From: Home Office
• Published: 21 January 2019

Documents

The economic and social costs of domestic abuse

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78655-767-4 , Home Office Research Report 107

PDF, 1.25 MB, 77 pages

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Details

The analysis follows the same approach as in other Home Office ‘cost of crime’ estimates to calculate:

• the cost in anticipation (covering preventative work),
• as a consequence (including physical and emotional harm, heath services, lost output and victim services) and
• in response to domestic abuse (police and other justice costs).

The largest element of domestic abuse cost is the physical and emotional harm suffered by the victims themselves (£47 billion). The next highest cost is for lost output relating to time taken off work and reduced productivity afterwards (£14 billion).

Published 21 January 2019