November 2013 Domestic Violence Redefined

01/11/2013
New regulations have been issued in relation to the definition of domestic violence for victims who are claiming jobseeker's allowance (JSA).
In force from 29 October 2013, the new regulations define domestic violence as follows:

'coercive behaviour' means an act of assault, humiliation or intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten the victim
 
'controlling behaviour' means an act designed to make the victim subordinate or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance or escape or regulating their everyday behaviour and
 
regardless of the gender or sexuality of the victim, 'domestic violence' means any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling behaviour, coercive behaviour, violence or abuse including but not limited to psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, and emotional abuse.
 
Regulation 14A of the 1996 Regulations makes provision for a JSA claimant to be treated as meeting the requirement to be available for work for a period of four weeks on notifying the Secretary of State that they have had domestic violence inflicted on or threatened against them in the 26 weeks before the notification, by their partner, former partner or a family member.

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