The Home Office has issued statutory guidance to help support services identify and respond properly to domestic abuse and promote best practice.

The document, published on 8 July, has been designed to help organisations fully understand the definitions of ‘domestic abuse’ and ‘personally connected’ as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

A very good and free-to-read online article by Lexis Nexis Family Law offers a good summary of the guidance. An extract from the article says:

“This new statutory guidance goes further to ensure that the complexity of domestic abuse is properly understood to support a coherent ‘whole system’ response to supporting victims and survivors, including children.

By setting out best practice approaches and encouraging multi-agency working, a whole system response will deliver the step change needed to tackle this abhorrent crime, recognising that everybody has a role to play in supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse.”