What is coercive control?

Coercive control is a form of emotional abuse.  It occurs when one partner in a troubled relationship, or spouse in a marriage, attempts to control the behaviour of the other by limiting what they can and can’t do: they make unreasonable demands, accuse their partner of multiple failings and try to pry into every aspect of their life in order to emotionally manipulate a person they supposedly love.

Examples of coercive behaviour include:

*Continually monitoring their partner’s whereabouts.

*Forbidding them from visiting – or even talking to – friends and family members.

*Monitoring their partner’s bank accounts, and telling them what they can and can’t spend money on.

*Reading their email, text messages and correspondence.

*Threatening to leave the relationship, ruin their partner’s relationship with their children, or spread compromising information.

*Attempting to bully and intimidate.

Perpetrators are often highly insecure individuals, using overbearing behaviour to try and keep their own anxieties at bay. They may have experienced abuse themselves, or perhaps had a traumatic or neglected childhood. Some have personality disorders. Unlike physical abuse, coercive control leaves no physical marks and so can go entirely unnoticed by others for years if the perpetrator is careful and the victim is too demoralised and distressed to seek help.

Coercive control and the law

Prior to 2022, coercive abuse could be cited in a divorce petition as a contributory factor the breakdown of a marriage. However, this is no longer the case since the introduction of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act. Now it is only necessary to formally declare that the marriage has irretrievably broken down: specific reasons need no longer be given.

However, family courts may take evidence of coercive abuse into account when deciding how the couple’s assets should be divided on divorce.

Fortunately for victims, coercive control can also cross the line from bad to criminal behaviour. An offence of ‘controlling or coercive behaviour’, or CCB, was created by section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. To qualify as an offence open to prosecution, the behaviour complained of must have been actions the perpetrator knew – or ought to have known – would be perceived as coercive by a spouse or partner they live with.

In addition, the behaviour must have been engaged in “repeatedly or continuously”, and it must have had a “serious effect” on the victim. Typically, prosecutors attempt to demonstrate the latter by citing at least two incidents in which the victim had grounds to fear violence, or otherwise try to show that the coercive abuse has had “substantial adverse effect on the victims’ day to day activities”.

A total of 1,112 individuals were prosecuted across the UK for CCB offences in 2019.

Anyone convicted of the offence can be fined and face injunctions forbidding further contact with the victim. Coercion at the more serious end of the scale may also result in jail time. But the psychological nature of this form of abuse can make it difficult to prove in court, so it is always advisable for anyone on the receiving end to gather as much evidence as they can.

Coercive control has been a mandatory inclusion in relationship education across UK schools for the last five years.

Government proposals

The problem of coercive and controlling behaviour was highlighted earlier this month by government minister Alex Davies-Jones, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Victims.

Responding to a question from Liberal Democrat MP Jessica Brown-Fuller about potential financial aid for victims of coercive abuse, the Minister insisted manifesto pledges to protect women and girls from abuse would be honoured:

“This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade. We will use every tool within our power to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence, including domestic abuse.”

The Minister referred to a recent review of legislation governing the financial aspects of divorce. One aspect considered by the Law Commission was ‘conduct’ – the behaviour of each party and the extent to which this should be reflected in the division of the divorcing couple’s assets. The Commission concluded that the law could be clearer on the types of conduct that should be penalised by the family courts and to what degree. Their proposals are under serious consideration by the Labour government, Alex Davies-Jones insisted.

A further reform proposal is an  amendment to the Serious Crime Act 2015 which would remove the co-habitation requirement from Section 76. Eliminating this would be a formal acknowledgement that coercive or controlling behaviours can escalate following separation and that members of a victim’s extended family may also be involved. It would also bring the statutory definition of CCB into line with that of domestic abuse, as laid out in Domestic Abuse Act 2021.