Key Facts
The Act introduces two new civil protective measures to strengthen responses to domestic abuse: Domestic Abuse Protection Notices (DAPNs) for immediate protection and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) for longer-term, flexible protection. DAPNs, issued by police, can provide swift safeguards following an incident, such as requiring a perpetrator to leave the victim’s home for up to 48 hours. DAPOs consolidate and improve existing protective orders, addressing long-standing concerns that current measures are fragmented, short-term, and weakly enforced.
DAPOs can be used across criminal, family, and civil courts, reducing confusion and improving enforcement. They can cover all forms of domestic abuse, including non-physical and coercive control. Courts can impose tailored prohibitions (for example, exclusion zones) and positive requirements (such as behaviour change or substance misuse programmes), vary conditions over time, and use electronic monitoring where appropriate. All DAPOs include notification requirements to assist police monitoring.
Crucially, breach of a DAPO will be a criminal offence, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both, although civil contempt remains an option. The Act repeals existing DVPOs and pilots the new system before national rollout. Overall, DAPOs are intended to become the primary, “go-to” protective order, offering stronger, longer-lasting, and more coherent protection for victims and their children.
Key fact summary
- 4,468 DVPNs issued (year ending March 2020).
- 6,267 DVPOs granted (year ending March 2020).
- 36,952 Non-Molestation Orders made (year ending December 2020).
- Estimated ~55,000 DAPOs per year after rollout