Domestic abuse 'epidemic' as one in four adults have been victims
The UK is suffering a domestic abuse 'epidemic' it has been claimed after new figures reveal one in four adults have been victims.
One in four adults in England and Wales are likely to have experienced domestic abuse, according to new research released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure is greater for women, at nearly one in three, while for men it is closer to one in five. The estimates taken from the age of 16 are the first to use an improved method for measuring how much domestic abuse there is among the population. A new set of questions has been added to the ONS's Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Questions about health abuse and forced marriage are now included. And they reflect recent changes in the law regarding coercive and controlling behaviour.
Reacting to the new figures, the UK's leading charity for victims of domestic abuse, Refuge, said it is now an 'epidemic' and warns they are just the 'tip of the iceberg'.
Gemma Sherrington, CEO of Refuge, a charity which opened the world's first safe house for women and children in 1971, said: 'We are in an epidemic of violence against women and girls, so sadly, the latest ONS estimates around the prevalence of domestic abuse come as no surprise.
'We welcome improvements to data collection, but these figures are likely to represent the tip of the iceberg as violence against women and girls remains severely under-reported.'
The charity said the Government must take urgent action if it is to achieve its pledge to halve violence against women and girls within the next decade. The new ONS research also includes details on economic abuse, when someone deliberately gets a person into debt or prevents them from getting a job.
The ONS now estimates that in the year to March 2024, 26.1% of adults - around one in four - had experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16, the equivalent of 12.6 million people. Under the old research this was one in five.
The new estimates suggest 30.3% of women and 21.7% of men surveyed in this period had experienced domestic abuse at some point since the age of 16, equivalent to 7.4 million and 5.1 million people respectively.
Meghan Elkin, ONS head of crime statistics, said: 'The way domestic abuse manifests is constantly changing and is difficult to measure. In developing these questions, we have listened to victims and survivors of domestic abuse alongside a range of users from charities to academics and other government departments.
'...The new approach has resulted in a higher prevalence rate as we have introduced questions to ask about types of abuse not previously covered by the crime survey, such as health abuse and forced marriage.'
Health abuse includes anything from depriving a person of food and sleep, to forcing someone to terminate pregnancy. Responding to the findings, Dame Nicole Jacobs, domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, said: 'Developing new ways to further our understanding of this terrible crime so we can put in place measures to tackle it and ensure survivors receive the support they need is absolutely vital.
'I welcome the ongoing focus on domestic abuse by the ONS, as only through knowing the full picture will we be able to rid society of it for good.'
Women's Aid said they were 'pleased' with the new questions which they helped develop which they point out does not rely on police reports.
'Women's Aid has for many years been concerned that the questions in the survey have failed to adequately capture the lived experience of victim-survivors of domestic abuse.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
8 hours ago
- Metro
More than 5,000,000 UK victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking
Around one in 10 people have been victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking, the latest bleak figures reveal. One in eight women and one in 12 men have reported being victims of these types of crimes despite the government promising a clamp down. This is a total of 5.1 million people aged 16 and over in England and Wales, the Office for National Statistics said. Heidi Riedel, CEO of Woman's Trust, told Metro: 'The overwhelming number of abuse survivors are female. 'Survivors deserve better – and the government must do better if it's serious about addressing not only the incidents of VAWG but also the impact. 'What the numbers won't include is people who either don't yet recognise that what they are experiencing is domestic abuse, for example people in coercively controlling relationships or where their partner might be restricting access to finances, for example.' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Around 100 women are killed by men each year – often ones closest to them. Ministers have promised to halve levels in a decade in its strategy to end violence against women and girls. The latest figures are slightly lower than last year's estimate of 5.4 million people. But the ONS said these estimates are still in development and are subject to change, and caution should be taken when making comparisons. Gemma Sherrington, CEO of Refuge, told Metro: 'We are in an epidemic of violence against women and girls (VAWG), so sadly, the latest ONS estimates around the prevalence of domestic abuse come as no surprise. 'We welcome improvements to data collection, but these figures are likely to represent the tip of the iceberg as VAWG remains severely under-reported. 'The Government must take urgent action if it is to achieve its pledge to halve VAWG within the next decade.' More Trending Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it is the first time combining reports of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking. She said: 'As part of our mission to tackle the national emergency of Violence Against Women and Girls, we have made sure that for the first time the figures are being recorded in a combined way, showing that one in eight women were victims of domestic abuse, stalking or sexual assault last year. 'That is why we have already started to put domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms, invested in major new perpetrator programmes, and why we are publishing a transformative cross-government VAWG strategy in September, because everybody has a right to feel safe on our streets.' The figures have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using data collected as part of the Crime Survey for England and Wales. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Officer in Manchester Airport brawl 'was an uncontrolled bully with a badge' MORE: Multiple bodies found in Cornwall woodland during police hunt for missing man MORE: Man in his 60s 'raped in the street outside a church'
Sky News
a day ago
- Sky News
New measure to track pledge to halve violence against women and girls
A new tool for monitoring violence against women and girls (VAWG) has drawn a mixed reaction from campaigners as the government seeks to halve its levels within the next decade. The Office for National Statistics's (ONS) new combined estimate of the prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking in England and Wales will be used as the main measure for assessing Labour's landmark goal. Experts and MPs told Sky News that it was a "welcome sign" ministers are taking the manifesto pledge seriously. But there is concern it doesn't capture all crimes that affect women, including femicide and online misogyny, with the End Violence Against Women coalition suggesting the new metric has been created "for the ease of government". According to new ONS estimates published on Thursday, about one in eight women aged 16 and over in England and Wales were victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking in the year to March. It is the first time an estimate has been made of the combined prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking. The figures use data collected as part of the Crime Survey for England and Wales. Labour MP Jess Asato, who previously worked for domestic abuse charity Safelives, told Sky News this is the "best way" to measure VAWG as not all victims report crime so police figures "don't give a view of the actual prevalence". "This is a really good sign the government is taking this mission very seriously," she said. Ms Asato has recently urged the government to ban "nudification apps", which use artificial intelligence to create fake nude images of people without their consent. The Lowesoft MP said the tools "disproportionately affects girls" and should be seen for what they are - "a tool for facilitating digital sexual assault". It comes amid mounting concern about online misogyny, with MPs warned earlier this summer that deepfake pornography is the next sexual violence epidemic facing schools. Meanwhile Clare Moody, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners Joint Lead on Victims and VAWG, wrote an article for Policing Insight today in which she said called tackling VAWG "one of the great societal issues of our time... particularly in a digital era with social media and the online world fuelling so much misogyny and male violence towards women". 'Created for government ease' Rebecca Hitchen, Head of Policy and Campaigns at End Violence Against Women (EVAW), warned the data being used to assess the government's goal fails to capture the full scale of incidents affecting women. The government's own definition of VAWG includes online crimes such as revenge porn and upskirting, as well as honour-based abuse and female genital mutilation. Ms Hitchen said."Our concern is that this measure has been created for the ease of government, rather than trying to truly represent the scale and impact of violence against women and girls. "Questions must be asked about the extent to which this measure may impact on funding decisions, as the government's choice to assess itself on this basis may dictate the direction of resources." 2:39 EVAW are now calling for a consultation to open so that women's groups can discuss with the government how best to measure its commitment. Labour's 2024 manifesto pledged that they would "halve violence against women and girls in a decade" by using "every government tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence". A number of policies have since been announced to tackle what Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called a "national emergency". More details about the VAWG strategy and how its progress will be monitored will be set out in September. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "As part of our mission to tackle the national emergency of Violence Against Women and Girls, we have made sure that for the first time the figures are being recorded in a combined way, showing that 1 in 8 women were victims of domestic abuse, stalking or sexual assault last year.
South Wales Guardian
a day ago
- South Wales Guardian
About one in 10 people victims of domestic abuse, stalking or sexual assault
The figure is closer to one in eight for women, while for men it is slightly lower at about one in 12. It is the first time an estimate has been made of the combined prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking. The figures have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using data collected as part of the Crime Survey for England and Wales. Women's Aid head of research and evaluation Sarah Davidge said this is a 'poignant year' for data relating to violence against women and girls and publishing the figures is a step towards a better overview of such crimes. The survey measures experiences of crime, with domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking referred to as 'crime types' because in some cases a criminal offence may not have occurred. Some 10.6% of all people aged 16 and over are likely to have experienced one or more of these crime types in the year to March 2025, with 12.8% for women and 8.4% for men. The figures equate to an estimated 5.1 million people aged 16 and over in England and Wales, of which 3.2 million are women and nearly 2.0 million are men, the ONS said. A slightly higher estimate of 5.4 million people or 11.3% has been made for the previous 12 months – the year to March 2024 – which equates to 3.4 million women (14.0%) and 2.0 million men (8.6%). The ONS said that because these estimates are still in development and are subject to change, caution should be taken when making comparisons between the two years and is it not possible to say whether the difference is statistically significant. The new estimate of the prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking will be used as the main way for the Government to track its efforts on tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG). Ministers have promised to halve levels in a decade – to 2034 – and will set out more details on how the data will be used in its VAWG strategy which will be published in September. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'As part of our mission to tackle the national emergency of violence against women and girls, we have made sure that for the first time the figures are being recorded in a combined way. 'We have already started to put domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms and invested in major new perpetrator programmes.' Ms Davidge said the move 'reflects the Government's commitment to ending VAWG', but added such prevalence measures do not consider the number of times each person was victimised. 'We know that women encounter higher rates of repeat victimisation, are more likely to be subject to coercive and controlling behaviour and be seriously harmed or killed than male victims,' she said. 'Therefore, prevalence measures can underestimate the gender asymmetry of these crimes.' End Violence Against Women and Girls Coalition's Rebecca Hitchen warned that the data fails to capture the full spectrum of incidents such as online and honour-based abuse, and that questions must be asked how much the new measure will impact funding decisions. Refuge chief executive Gemma Sherrington said the Government must act urgently to meet its target, including for ring-fenced multi-year funding for specialist organisations to support survivors. 'We welcome improvements to data collection, but these figures are likely to represent the tip of the iceberg as VAWG remains severely under-reported,' the charity boss said. Elsewhere, data published on Thursday shows the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has climbed to another record high. Some 530,643 offences were logged in 2024-25, up 20% from 444,022 in 2023-24 and the highest total since current police recording practices began in 2002-03. Retail bosses have warned that shop theft is spiralling out of control and that business owners need to see immediate results as ministers have pledged thousands more officers for neighbourhood policing by next spring. The Home Secretary said: 'This summer our new neighbourhood policing guarantee means over 500 town centres are getting extra neighbourhood patrols and action on town centre crime.' Association of Convenience Stores chief executive James Lowman said the recorded figures show more crimes are being reported, but this is still 'far too low'. He added: 'Retailers tell us that they won't report crime if they have no faith in it being investigated. There are pockets of good practice around the country…but these examples are still too rare.' Theft from the person offences also remain at record levels, with 151,220 recorded by forces in the year to March, up 15% from 131,584 in the previous 12 months. However, the number of knife crime offences recorded by forces slightly dropped. The figure stood at 53,047 in 2024-25, down 1% from 53,685 in 2023,24 and 4% below the pre-pandemic level of 55,170 in 2019,20. Commenting on published figures on Thursday, Billy Gazard of the ONS, said: 'Police recorded crime paints a mixed picture. While homicide, and offences involving knives and guns, declined nationally, there were variations across police forces. 'Meanwhile, the number of recorded shoplifting offences continues to rise.' In total, police forces recorded 6.6 million crimes in England and Wales in 2024-25, down slightly by 1% from 6.7 million in 2023-24. This is up from 6.1 million in the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20, and from 4.2 million a decade earlier in 2014-15. This is likely to reflect 'changes in police activity and recording practices' as well as genuine changes in trends in crimes reported to and recorded by forces, meaning the figures do 'not tend to be a good indicator of general trends in crime', the ONS said. Separate figures published by the Home Office show of all police-recorded offences in 2024-25, 7.3% led to a charge or summons, up from 6.4% in the previous year. For knife-related crimes, 11.5% resulted in a charge or summons in the year to March, which is higher than similar offences without a knife at 6.7%.
