One in ten offences recorded by the Met involve domestic abuse

Domestic abuse is on the rise in London. In 2011, there were 46,000 domestic abuse offences recorded by the Met, compared to just over 85,000 in 2018: approximately ten per cent of all recorded offences that year ^[1].

At the end of 2019, there were 90,000 domestic abuse offences recorded by the Met. It is widely acknowledged that domestic abuse is an underreported crime, and that the true number of offences is likely to be far higher than this.

The London Assembly has published a report on domestic abuse in London which makes a number of recommendations including:

• The Committee calls on the Mayor and Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC) to continue to support the Assembly’s work in lobbying for the introduction of a Domestic Abusers Register and consider options for piloting a register in London.
• MOPAC should report back to this Committee, by May 2020, on how it intends to increase awareness and the use of DVPOs, DVPNs and Clare’s Law disclosures.
• The Mayor should provide ringfenced funding to ensure dedicated domestic abuse services for children and young people.
• The Mayor should set out how he intends to meet his equalities obligations and support all victims of domestic abuse, including refuge provision for male victims and those in same-sex relationships.

Once the immediate Covid-19 crisis has ended, the Met and Mayors Office for Policing and Crime need to ensure that the domestic abuse services that are in place provide quality London-wide support for victims and bring people to justice for these crimes.

Chair of the London Assembly Police & Crime Committee, Unmesh Desai AM, said:

“Domestic abuse cases have been on the rise in London since 2011. The Met reported that from the start of 2019 to September 2019, there were over 13,600 repeat victims of domestic abuse. Despite this, MOPAC does not provide data on repeat victimisation on its dashboard, even though it is a measure of progress used by the Mayor. This needs to change so we can easily understand and report on the number of people who are repeat victims of this horrendous crime.

“And with the measures taken by Government to fight COVID-19 and people being urged to stay at home, we need to ensure there are support services in place for victims of domestic abuse. This report will ensure we are keeping the pressure on the Mayor to improve domestic abuse support across London at this time.

“Importantly, this report also calls on the Mayor to draw up a rapid action plan to address both the falling rates of domestic abuse convictions and the falling number of referrals from the Met to the Crown Prosecution Service.

“In addition, the Assembly is continuing its calls for the introduction of a Domestic Abuse Register which would give the Met the tools to be more proactive in its response to domestic abuse, rather than only responding to its devastating impact. Now that the Domestic Abuse Bill has returned to Parliament, we’re calling for the Mayor and MOPAC’s support in our efforts to lobby the Government to introduce a Register, which we know has the potential to save lives.”

Download DA report - London Assembly PCC