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Domestic Abuse Act 2021, Section 1 — Statutory Definition of Domestic Abuse

Jurisdiction: England & Wales · Citation: Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (c. 17), section 1 · Authoritative source: legislation.gov.uk — s.1

The first comprehensive statutory definition of domestic abuse in UK law. Critical to parental-alienation cases because (a) the post-2021 landscape requires courts to apply a structured, broad definition — covering not just physical violence but coercive control, psychological abuse, economic abuse, and emotional abuse — and (b) the definition explicitly extends to behaviour "towards" one parent that consists of conduct directed at the child. This is the statutory hook for treating contact-obstruction and alienating conduct as a form of domestic abuse against the targeted parent through the child.

Verbatim text (current consolidated)

1 Definition of "domestic abuse"

(1) This section defines "domestic abuse" for the purposes of this Act.

(2) Behaviour of a person ("A") towards another person ("B") is "domestic abuse" if—

(a) A and B are each aged 16 or over and are personally connected to each other, and

(b) the behaviour is abusive.

(3) Behaviour is "abusive" if it consists of any of the following—

(a) physical or sexual abuse;

(b) violent or threatening behaviour;

© controlling or coercive behaviour;

(d) economic abuse (see subsection (4));

(e) psychological, emotional or other abuse;

and it does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct.

(4) "Economic abuse" means any behaviour that has a substantial adverse effect on B's ability to—

(a) acquire, use or maintain money or other property, or

(b) obtain goods or services.

(5) For the purposes of this Act A's behaviour may be behaviour "towards" B despite the fact that it consists of conduct directed at another person (for example, B's child).

(6) References in this Act to being abusive towards another person are to be read in accordance with this section.

(7) For the meaning of "personally connected", see section 2.

Why this matters for PA

  • s.1(3)© — "controlling or coercive behaviour" — the central anti-alienation hook. Sustained interference with a parent's relationship with their child, denigration, blocked communication, manipulation of the child's wishes — all of these fit the controlling or coercive behaviour category. The doctrinal foundation is in Re H-N and Others (Children) [2021] EWCA Civ 448, which treats coercive control as a pattern requiring structured fact-finding.
  • s.1(5) — "towards B despite conduct directed at another person (for example, B's child)" — uniquely important for PA cases: behaviour directed at the child (e.g., refusal of handovers, denigration in the child's hearing, weaponising of the child's loyalty) is statutorily defined as domestic abuse against the other parent. This is the textual foundation for treating PA as a form of DA against the targeted parent.
  • s.1(3)(e) — "psychological, emotional or other abuse" — open-textured category that captures the typical PA-conduct that may not fit neatly into controlling/coercive (e.g., parental denigration in the child's hearing, sabotage of contact).
  • s.1(3) — "single incident or a course of conduct" — covers both isolated severe events and pattern-conduct cases. PA is typically a pattern; the definition explicitly accommodates this.
  • s.1(4) — "economic abuse" — relevant to maintenance-payment manipulation and weaponisation of school-fees, healthcare-costs, or extracurricular-funding decisions in PA contexts.

The post-2021 landscape

Sources & authoritative references

Referenced in this page:

Topic baseline (independently verifiable):