What is Domestic Abuse

Controlling behaviour can be a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.

Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten the victim.

Post-separation abuse is domestic abuse that takes place after a relationship has ended. Controlling or coercive behaviour after a relationship ends and that took place after 5 April 2023 is a criminal offence – the perpetrator and employee no longer have to be in a relationship or living together when the behaviour occurred. Signs that an employee may be experiencing post-separation abuse can include their perpetrator showing up to the workplace or to staff social events unexpectedly.

Economic (including financial) abuse means any behaviour that has a substantial adverse effect on an individual’s ability to acquire, use or maintain money or other property or obtain goods or services. In the workplace, for example, this could amount to controlling working hours or someone’s ability to participate in work-related activities; making the victim late for work or controlling their travel to or from work; and/or isolating the victim from colleagues.

Technology-facilitated abuse involves the use of technology to perpetrate domestic abuse and has become increasingly common.

Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets can be misused to stalk, harass, impersonate, and threaten victims.

The growing use of internet-connected home devices (such as smart speakers) may also provide perpetrators with a wider and more sophisticated range of tools to track and harm their victims. Employers should remain vigilant about the different forms of technology that employees have access to within the workplace or when they are working from home, which could be targeted by a perpetrator and prevent the employee from carrying out their role effectively.

In the workplace, some examples of technology-facilitated abuse include, hacking into, monitoring, or controlling email accounts, coercing the victim to share their passwords, limiting or controlling access to the internet or other equipment, or using GPS locators on items such as phones and computers.

Spiritual abuse, which is characterised by a systematic pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour, which may be perpetrated (but not exclusively) in a religious context.

Domestic abuse can also include so called ‘honour’ based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage