The Economic Cost of Domestic Abuse in the UK

Not preventing domestic abuse takes a huge toll on the system’s economy. It is very expensive to allow these negative events to happen. A lot of taxpayer money is used in reacting to domestic abuse, and reactive responses are more costly than preventive approaches.

According to the GOV.UK (2019, p. 6) the total cost for domestic abuse was £66,192m, and on average, it costs £34,015 to react to these incidents per victim, and up to £2.2m in cases of domestic homicide. Of course, these are estimates which do not include the dark figure of crime (i.e. the cases which have not been reported). Moreover, these costs include the police, the criminal justice system, the civil legal system, and the multi-agency risk assessment conferences. Furthermore, there are also costs associated with the services offered to victims after an adverse event happens, such as health and victim services. These yearly figures were for the year ending in 2017 (there does not currently seem to exist any more recent report). 

Police Service Provision

The police spend approximately £1,257 million per year responding to domestic abuse. The fees include the investigation, incident response, arrests, the collection of evidence, and the presenting of the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). All this amounts to approximately £645 per person. 

Criminal Justice System 

It costs approximately £336 million per year to cover criminal justice fees related to the CPS which include the services of taking a case to court, holding hearings, legal aid and perpetrator defence. This amounts to an average of £170 per case. The criminal courts are there to take cases involving grievous bodily harm and murder. 

Civil Legal System

This system of courts deals with aspects of domestic abuse related to injunctions (e.g. restraining or non-molestation orders), divorce, child custody, and child protection. The costs amount to a total of £140 million per year, equalling to an average of £70 per case. 

Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences

These meetings involve governmental representatives and third-sector organisations, where information and support is provided to individuals assessed as high risk of being abused. It may also involve members of the police, child protection agencies, health organisations, and housing organisations. These conferences cost around £11 million per year, which amounts to approximately £5 per case. 

Health Services

These fees cover the treatments for injuries caused by domestic abuse, ambulances, and also mental health services treating emotional and psychological trauma. In total, it costs £2,333 million per year, which amounts to £1200 per case. 

Victim Services

Victim support services involve specialists to support the abused individual, and also wider services such as housing, group services, and the support from the Department of Work and Pensions. It also covers third sector organisations and government-funded agencies. The total is £724 million per year, amounting to £370 per case. 

References

GOV.UK (2019) ‘The economic and social costs of domestic abuse’, Home Office, 21 January [Online]. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-economic-and-social-costs-of-domestic-abuse (accessed 26 February 2022). 

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