Rise in domestic abuse offences during pandemic

The number of domestic abuse offences recorded by the police in England and Wales has increased during the coronavirus pandemic.

Police recorded 259,324 offences flagged as domestic abuse related between March and June. This is a 7% increase from recorded cases from the same period in 2019, and an 18% increase since 2018.

The report, by the Office for National Statistics, suggests that domestic abuse may have intensified during the lockdown.

The category that most of these offences fall under is “violence against the person”, including offences such as assault, harassment and murder. Offences such as sexual offences would be outside of this category but still be flagged as domestic abuse.

However, the ONS said these offences were gradually rising in recent years, so it cannot be certain if this increase was in relation to the pandemic.

The report shows information from a wide variety of different sources, including the police forces’ own data.

The number of cases flagged as domestic abuse related increased each month between April and June 2020, with there being a 9% increase between April and May alone. This increase coincides with the ease of lockdown, when it may have been easier for victims to reach out to the police.

Through April, May and June, the period covering the first national lockdown, domestic abuse offences were shown in a larger proportion compared to previous years.

As the lockdown began to ease, the ONS found that domestic abuse offences went down. This is most likely because of an overall reduction of police recorded crime during the lockdown period, followed by an increase as measures began to ease.