All entries on Feminist Legal Clinic’s News Digest Blog are extracts from news articles and other publications, with the source available at the link at the bottom. The content is not originally generated by Feminist Legal Clinic and does not necessarily reflect our views.
Coercive and controlling behaviour (CCB) has been a criminal offence in the UK since 2015. It isolates and harms victims using psychological abuse, and is now accepted to underpin all domestic abuse. Campaigners say understanding CCB is vital.
However, nine years on from the law change, a BBC investigation has found more than a third of accredited university social work courses in England are not teaching specific training on coercive control.
The domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales has described our findings as “baffling” and has called for mandatory levels of coercive-control training for all social workers.
“Sadly we have two homicides every week that relate to domestic abuse. We have to get this right from the start, not learning on the job,” says Nicole Jacobs.
When Amelia turned to social workers for help, she says they failed to see through her ex-partner’s deception.
“He had fed the social workers with lies. I wasn’t listened to. I wasn’t believed,” she says.
Even when living apart, the controlling abuse continued to have a devastating impact on the family’s mental health. But whenever Amelia turned to children’s services for help, she says she was blamed, because her ex-partner had “charmed them”.
If social workers had known more about the signs of coercive control, says Amelia, it would have made a difference.
Source: Social workers ‘must be taught’ to spot controlling behaviour