From Pilot to Nationwide Protection: New Powers to Protect Victims of Domestic Abuse

Domestic Abuse Protection Notices (DAPNs) and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) were introduced by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (the DAA 2021) in an attempt to provide better protection for victims of domestic abuse. The DAA 2021 also consolidates and strengthens the existing patchwork of protection orders, with the aim of making it easier for victims and their families to navigate the system during, what is likely to already be, a very difficult time. 

These new protection measures have been piloted in selected areas throughout England and Wales since 27 November 2024, including in certain London boroughs (Croydon, Sutton and Bromley), in Greater Manchester and by the British Transport Police. In early 2025, two further areas were joined to the pilot, namely North Wales Police and Cleveland Police. 

On 4 August 2026, following a successful pilot, the Ministry of Justice announced that a nationwide rollout of DAPNs and DAPOs across England and Wales will commence on 25 November 2026. In short, a DAPN is an emergency measure issued by the police to safeguard a victim of domestic abuse. This means that immediate conditions will be placed on the alleged perpetrator, for example by requiring them to leave their home (if the parties live together) or by staying away from the victim for a specified period. 

Once the police have issued a DAPN, an application must then be made to the court for a DAPO. The court must then, within 48 hours, consider whether a DAPO should be made, requiring the court to consider whether, in each individual case, it would be necessary and proportionate to make a DAPO in order to protect the victim from (risk of) domestic abuse by the alleged perpetrator. 

The DAPO, if made, can impose extensive and long-term conditions, such as banning the alleged perpetrator from entering a specific area, requiring attendance at a behaviour change programme and/or electric monitoring. DAPOs would only apply in circumstances where the victim and the alleged perpetrator are ‘personally connected’, meaning that the parties:

• are, or have been, married or civil partners of each other.
• are, or have been, engaged to each other (whether or not the agreement has been terminated).
• are, or have been, in an intimate personal relationship with each other.
• each have, or there has been a time when they each have had, a parental relationship regarding the same child.
• are relatives (as defined in an extensive list at s63(1) of the Family Law Act 1996). 

Importantly, DAPOs cover all forms of domestic abuse, not just physical violence, and include coercive and controlling behaviour, emotional abuse and financial abuse. DAPOs are not limited to the family court, and they can also be sought in civil or criminal proceedings. Applications may be made by the police, the victim or another third party such as a family member, a solicitor or a social worker. Once a DAPO has been made, it would be a criminal offence should the alleged perpetrator breach any of the DAPO conditions. 

The Government has framed the national rollout as central to its mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, highlighting that domestic abuse, very sadly, remains far too common, with an estimated 2.2 million people in England and Wales having experienced such abuse in the year to June 2024. 

It is hoped that the national rollout will prove to be a very positive step in the work required to reduce the number of domestic abuse victims throughout England and Wales.