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Serious Crime Act 2015, Section 76 — Controlling or Coercive Behaviour in an Intimate or Family Relationship

Jurisdiction: England & Wales · Citation: Serious Crime Act 2015 (c. 9), section 76 · Authoritative source: legislation.gov.uk — s.76

The criminal offence of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship — the principal criminal-track tool against patterns of alienating-and-controlling conduct. Substantially expanded by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 s.68 (in force 5 April 2023) to extend the personally connected category — meaning that the criminal offence now expressly covers post-separation, non-cohabiting co-parents for the first time. This is the most significant criminal-law expansion for PA cases in England & Wales since the 1989 Children Act.

Verbatim text (current consolidated, post-2023 amendment)

76 Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship

(1) A person (A) commits an offence if—

(a) A repeatedly or continuously engages in behaviour towards another person (B) that is controlling or coercive,

(b) at the time of the behaviour, A and B are personally connected (see subsection (6)),

© the behaviour has a serious effect on B, and

(d) A knows or ought to know that the behaviour will have a serious effect on B.

(2) [omitted by DAA 2021 s.68(3) on 5.4.2023 — the previous "members of the same household" requirement is removed]

(3) But A does not commit an offence under this section if at the time of the behaviour in question—

(a) A has responsibility for B, for the purposes of Part 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (see section 17 of that Act), and

(b) B is under 16.

(4) A's behaviour has a "serious effect" on B if—

(a) it causes B to fear, on at least two occasions, that violence will be used against B, or

(b) it causes B serious alarm or distress which has a substantial adverse effect on B's usual day-to-day activities.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (1)(d) A "ought to know" that which a reasonable person in possession of the same information would know.

(6) A and B are "personally connected" if any of the following applies—

(a) they are, or have been, married to each other;

(b) they are, or have been, civil partners of each other;

© they have agreed to marry one another (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);

(d) they have entered into a civil partnership agreement (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);

(e) they are, or have been, in an intimate personal relationship with each other;

(f) they each have, or there has been a time when they each have had, a parental relationship in relation to the same child (see subsection (6A));

(g) they are relatives.

(6A) For the purposes of subsection (6)(f) a person has a parental relationship in relation to a child if—

(a) the person is a parent of the child, or

(b) the person has parental responsibility for the child.

(7) In subsections (6) and (6A)—

"civil partnership agreement" has the meaning given by section 73 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004;

"child" means a person under the age of 18 years;

"parental responsibility" has the same meaning as in the Children Act 1989;

"relative" has the meaning given by section 63(1) of the Family Law Act 1996.

(8) In proceedings for an offence under this section it is a defence for A to show that—

(a) in engaging in the behaviour in question, A believed that he or she was acting in B's best interests, and

(b) the behaviour was in all the circumstances reasonable.

(9) A is to be taken to have shown the facts mentioned in subsection (8) if—

(a) sufficient evidence of the facts is adduced to raise an issue with respect to them, and

(b) the contrary is not proved beyond reasonable doubt.

(10) The defence in subsection (8) is not available to A in relation to behaviour that causes B to fear that violence will be used against B.

(11) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or a fine, or both;

(b) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates' court, or a fine, or both.

Why this matters for PA

  • The 2023 expansion of "personally connected" is the operative change. Pre-amendment, s.76 required parties to be "members of the same household" — which excluded most post-separation PA cases. The DAA 2021 s.68 amendment (in force 5 April 2023) broadens this to include any of the seven categories in s.76(6), including the parental-relationship trigger at (6)(f). This means that a non-cohabiting alienating co-parent can now be prosecuted under s.76 for sustained controlling-or-coercive conduct directed at the targeted parent.
  • s.76(1)(a) "repeatedly or continuously engages in behaviour" — the pattern-conduct requirement matches the structural reality of PA, which is typically incremental and sustained rather than single-event.
  • The "serious effect" test (s.76(4)) is high but achievable in entrenched PA cases. Fear of violence on at least two occasions (s.76(4)(a)) or "serious alarm or distress with a substantial adverse effect on day-to-day activities" (s.76(4)(b)) — the latter is the typical route in PA-pattern cases without a violence component.
  • The "ought to know" objective limb (s.76(1)(d), s.76(5)) prevents the offender from sheltering behind subjective intent.
  • The "best interests + reasonable" defence (s.76(8)) is not available where violence is feared (s.76(10)). For non-violent PA-pattern cases, the offender may argue they were acting in the child's best interests — but this is a high bar requiring the conduct to be "in all the circumstances reasonable", which sustained PA is not.
  • 5 years' indictable maximum (s.76(11)(a)) — proportionate to the serious-harm consequences. CPS charging guidance treats sustained coercive control as Crown Court material in most cases.

Procedural consequences

  • CPS Charging Guidance (Coercive Control) sets the evidential and public-interest standard. The 2023 amendment generated updated CPS guidance specifically addressing post-separation co-parent contexts.
  • DA Protection Notices / Orders under DAA 2021 ss.22–29 provide civil-track interim protection alongside any criminal proceedings.
  • Parallel family-court proceedings under CA 1989 — a criminal s.76 charge does not stay family proceedings but typically generates fact-finding implications. The Re H-N [2021] EWCA Civ 448 framework is the operative civil-track method.

Sources & authoritative references

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