Domestic abuse

What is domestic abuse?

Domestic abuse is any type of controlling, bullying, threatening or violent behaviour between people in a relationship. It can seriously harm children and young people and witnessing domestic abuse is child abuse. It’s important to remember domestic abuse:

Types of domestic abuse

Domestic abuse can be emotional, physical, sexual, financial or psychological, such as:

Domestic abuse has a devastating impact on both the individual and society. The societal cost of domestic abuse has been estimated to cost public services (criminal justice system, health, social services, housing and civil legal services) £31.1 billion per year. The average cost of a domestic abuse case is estimated at £14,000, not inclusive of long-term costs such as unemployment, housing and social services.

In Enfield over one-third of violence reported to police is domestic abuse, with 86% of these reports being from women. Domestic abuse related offences account for 8.5% of total recorded crime within Enfield, with 30% of personal crimes identified as domestic abuse.

See more information on domestic abuse. Domestic abuse is a key part of our training programme. Visit our training page for more details.

What to do if you are worried?

There are free, charitable organisations that can help you. Please see contact details below:

You can also contact us on 020 8379 5555 (Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5pm and Friday, 9am to 4.45pm). For out of office hours, call 020 8379 1000 (select option 2 and you will be transferred to an advisor). You can email at childrensmash@enfield.gov.uk.

Further support and resources

If you think you or a friend are being abused, talk to someone you trust. There are services locally and nationally you can talk to for more information.