The Home Office and Ministry of Justice have announced today (27 November 2024) the launch of new protective measures for victims of domestic abuse.
Domestic Abuse Protection Notices (DAPN) and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPO) will be piloted in Greater Manchester, three London boroughs and with the British Transport Police. They will also be used in Cleveland and North Wales from early 2025 ahead of a planned national rollout.
Harriet Wistrich, Director of Centre for Women’s Justice, stated:
“Whilst we welcome this announcement, the initiative will have very little impact unless there is a radical transformation in the implementation of these orders.”
Nogah Ofer, Lead Enquiries & Policy Development Lawyer at Centre for Women’s Justice, explained:
“These orders are due to replace Domestic Violence Protection Notices (DVPN) and Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPO). One of the key problems with these measures is that they are only being used in 1% of domestic abuse cases.
“The new DAPO orders do have additional powers of various kinds, but if, like the DVPOs, they are only used in 1% of cases then they will have minimal impact on the lived experience of most domestic abuse survivors.”
CWJ highlighted this issue in their 2019 super-complaint, when statistics for 2016/17 showed that DVPOs were being used in only 1% of cases. A wide range of recommendations were made to police forces following the outcome of the super-complaint, including increasing the use of these orders. However, CWJ does not believe there has been any real change and the most recent available figures for the year to March 2024 are at around 1.4%.
Nogah continued:
“While we welcome this pilot, the real challenge is in rolling out these orders so that they are a widespread effective tool against domestic abuse. This means significant additional spending is needed on police training, police time, lawyers to make court applications etc.”
ENDS