A new report from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, ‘Everyday business – Addressing domestic abuse and continuing harm through a family court review and reporting mechanism’, has revealed that domestic abuse is ‘everyday business’ for the family courts yet women and children are being put at significant risk by dismissive attitudes towards victim survivors and wilful ignorance of the dangers posed by domestic abusers.

If this government is serious about halving Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) it must urgently reform family courts and put coercive control, including economic abuse, at the heart of any changes. The family court system must work for, and not against, victim-survivors, including children.

Surviving Economic Abuse has seen abusers turn the family courts system into a playground for coercive control.  Abusers routinely misuse divorce and financial proceedings to sabotage victim-survivors’ efforts to rebuild their lives by racking up costs and drawing out proceedings for years.  Due to unreachably high legal aid thresholds, victim-survivors are often forced to face an abuser alone in court without advice or representation. This is often too great a risk, and victim-survivors are forced to settle for an unfair outcome just to escape this abuse. Due to gaps in legal rights and protections this can be even worse for survivors who live with their abuser but aren’t married to them.

The Commissioner’s report also uncovered outdated views on domestic abuse among some legal professionals.  The research showed that “physical violence was taken more seriously, while coercive and controlling behaviour – which often underpins physical abuse and is an offence in itself – was frequently dismissed.” This tragically reflects the experiences shared by victim-survivors share with Surviving Economic Abuse, that judges repeatedly dismiss their experiences of economic abuse as irrelevant. 

Economic abuse is widely prevalent. In the past 12 months more than four million women (15%) have had their money and economic resources controlled by an abuser. It must be taken seriously – particularly by Family Courts.  To prevent this devastating form of post-separation abuse and ensure all victim-survivors can access justice, we urge the Government to:

·        Embed safeguards for victim-survivors within cohabitation reforms.

·        Introduce divorce and financial remedy reforms to stop abusers misusing the courts, ensure economic abuse is consistently recognised in outcomes, and strengthen enforcement.

·        Remove barriers to justice by scrapping the legal aid means test for domestic abuse survivors, improving evidential guidance, and expanding access to legal aid solicitors in family cases.

·        Introduce mandatory specialist training on domestic abuse, including coercive and controlling behaviour for judges and all relevant court professionals.

ENDS