Nearly one in ten adults are victims of domestic abuse

Nearly one in ten people experienced domestic abuse last year, a sharp rise that campaigners said should be a “stark wake up call”. The Crime Survey for England and Wales reported that 9.6 per cent of people aged 16 and over were victims, which equates to 4.7 million people. Most commented 1 US withdraws diplomats from Saudi Arabia amid deadly Houthi attacks US news 203 comments The figure compares with 3.8 million people who experienced domestic abuse in the 12 months to September last year, according to a previous survey. Politics newsletter Get our daily insider’s guide to Westminster, plus a rundown of PMQs every Wednesday. Sign up with one click You’ve successfully signed up to the Politics newsletter Explore our newsletters An error occurred. Please use the link below. Politics newsletter Explore our newsletters The “significant increase” over the past 12 months was partly down to a rise in partner abuse, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. It was experienced by 7.9 per cent of people aged over 16, up from 6.1 per cent in the preceding year. Top stories 1 Tripsnacking? Finally a travel trend I can get on board with Advice Changes to the survey’s methodology may have affected the size of the increase in recorded domestic abuse . However, the ONS said the rise represented “real change”. Advertisement Elsewhere, robbery fell to a record low and violence was at its lowest level since the crime survey began in 1981. Top stories 1 High street banks are on borrowed time Saving & Investing 2 Belgium’s most stylish autumn weekend break — and it’s not Bruges Belgium Meghan Elkin, the head of crime statistics at the ONS, said: “While minor survey changes and the usual uncertainty around gathering data on this sensitive topic are likely to have affected these estimates, our assessment is that the rise in domestic abuse includes real change. Meghan Elkin “More data points are needed to further understand the uncertainty and what this tells us about trends in domestic abuse.” One of Labour’s key manifesto pledges was to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade. But Refuge, a charity that supports women and children experiencing domestic violence, said the latest figures told a “troubling story”. Alice Russell-Harris, Refuge’s public affairs lead, said: “While the ONS has highlighted that changes in data collection may have contributed to this increase, what remains steadfast is our concern that the government is not on track to fulfil its pledge. Advertisement “Refuge has been clear that this ambitious goal is simply not achievable without sustainable, long-term funding for specialist domestic abuse services. We have yet to see a financial commitment that matches the scale needed for every survivor to access timely support.” My abusive partner snapped my neck. This is why I’m speaking out Kemi Badenoch also warned there were “not enough” police officers to protect communities if mass civil unrest broke out. The Conservative Party leader told the Police Federation conference that she worried about civil unrest as much as national security threats, pointing to the unrest in France. ‘He smashed my head, and laughed when I cried’ Injuries suffered by Harriet Southall Jam Press As part of domestic abuse awareness month, a survivor described the moment her former partner strangled her before repeatedly smashing a mobile phone in her face. Harriet Southall, 32, said that Jake Blount launched the attack when she returned home from a night out with friends in September 2024. She was subject to controlling behaviour during their four-year relationship. Advertisement Blount delighted in destroying her phones, handbags and personal items, she said. She described feeling trapped in their relationship because they shared a mortgage. Southall, a district nurse, said: “He would grab my hair and go to smash my head against the coffee table but stop when he got my head close enough. He would laugh when I cried.” Describing the final attack, she said: “I felt something hit the back of my head and he grabbed my phone demanding to know who I was texting.” Southall refused to unlock her phone and Blount repeatedly struck her with the handset. “All I could taste was blood. I tried to get away. He chased me and put me into a headlock. He hit me repeatedly in the face with the bottom of the phone,” she said. Advertisement “I was gasping for air, begging him to stop. He told me I didn’t deserve to live. I thought, ‘I’m going to die here and never see my [child] again.’” Southall pretended to be unconscious and then fled the property in her pyjamas. She called the police from her car and Blount was arrested. Blount pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and intentional strangulation. He was jailed for 18 months in January last year. Katie Kempen, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said: “Domestic abuse must be treated as the urgent national priority that it is. The general fall in crime is welcome but the rise in partner abuse in the last year is a huge concern and should be a stark wake-up call.” The Home Office said it was “determined” to tackle domestic abuse, adding: “We are embedding domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms and rolling out pioneering domestic abuse protection orders, to ensure victims have the protection they need. Advertisement “Backed by £53 million, we are rolling out the pioneering Drive Project, to tackle the highest harm perpetrators, stop reoffending and protect victims.” Crime rates have improved so much it’s scarcely believable The fall in violent crime revealed in these figures is part of a long pattern (writes Fraser Nelson). For the last three decades it has dropped by about 5 per cent a year on average: hardly dramatic in any one year. But when small changes happen long enough, they add up to one of the biggest changes of our times: a 79 per cent drop in violent crime from its 1995 peak. Most crime is never reported to police, which is why Margaret Thatcher set up the crime survey. Some 35,000 people in England, Wales and Scotland are asked about their experiences of crime to show the true figure. For its first 15 years, that picture was horrific. Now, it has improved so much as to be scarcely believable. There are pockets of serious problems. Shoplifting has surged, snatch theft is still a major problem and the boom in online fraud is not subsiding. But the Crime Survey of England & Wales shows the following change since 1995: Violence at its lowest since the survey began in 1981. An estimated 940,000 incidents in the 12 months to June, down from a 4.5 million peak. Robbery at a record low, down 86 per cent since its peak. Police-recorded figures run the other way, but such figures are not comparable because (unlike the crime survey) definitions change. Theft down 77 per cent from its peak. Bicycle theft down 70 per cent, car-related theft down 86 per cent, theft from homes down 90 per cent. Total crime (excluding fraud) down 78 per cent. This is something seldom mentioned in the recent bout of 1990s nostalgia. When Oasis first played Knebworth, your chance of having your car stolen or being mugged was seven times greater than it is now. The chance of having something stolen from your house was ten times greater. And immigrants? Broadly speaking, crime has more than halved over a period where the immigrant population more than doubled. The “lawless Britain” theme that Nigel Farage tried to get going in the summer of last year has no grounding in reality. And yes, a survey has flaws. But the fall in violent crime is corroborated by NHS hospitalisation data showing knife crime hospitalisations lower than any time since the series began in 1998. The UK murder rate — a very hard metric — is the lowest since the 1970s. London, rather than having somehow “fallen”, has safer streets than at perhaps any time in centuries. There’s all too much crime still around. But probably less of it now than in most people’s living memory. In a world with too much bad news, that’s worth knowing.