Domestic abuse – what UK employers can do to help

Domestic abuse – what is it and what are an employer’s obligations?

Domestic abuse is defined under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 as “abusive behaviour” which one person exhibits to another, where both individuals are personally connected to each other. “Abusive behaviour” consists of any of the following: physical or sexual abuse; violence or threatening behaviour; controlling or coercive behaviour; economic abuse; and psychological, emotional or other abuse.

Employers have a general duty to promote health, safety and wellbeing at work. These duties may be engaged in the context of domestic abuse, for example where the perpetrator of the abuse harasses the employee at their place of work, or if working from home places the individual at a greater risk of abuse.

The physical and mental impacts of domestic abuse may also give rise to duties on the employer to ensure adequate support is in place for victims of domestic abuse, including providing support during periods of sickness absence from work. Employers may also need to consider what reasonable adjustments can be adopted to support an employee who suffers from a physical or mental health disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, in connection with domestic abuse.

What can employers do to help?

• Learn to recognise the signs. Indicators of domestic abuse are often difficult to spot and will vary on a case-by-case basis. However, some signs may include: regular or sudden absenteeism from work; problems with arriving at or leaving work; sudden or sustained changes in behaviour or performance at work; changes in appearance which could include use of long-sleeves in the summer or heavy make-up to cover injuries; injuries with an inconsistent or no explanation; social isolation; substance abuse or dependence and insufficient financial resources.
• Encourage employees to speak up and respond appropriately to disclosures. Consider nominating confidential contacts in the workplace for those experiencing domestic abuse. Ensure that disclosures are handled confidentially and sensitively, accurate records maintained and employees are signposted to appropriate resources for onward support.
• Conduct a health and safety risk assessment. Additional steps to ensure the security of staff in the workplace may need to be taken, including preparing a tailored plan of action with individual employees to appropriately respond to any threats to individual employee safety on workplace premises.
• Consider whether any steps can be taken temporarily or on a permanent basis to support the employee. Employees may need additional flexibility around their working arrangements. Employers should consider the needs of individual employees on a case-by-case basis and consider whether they can reasonably take additional measures to support the employee – including adjustments to working patterns, performance/attendance policies, allowing reasonable time off to attend to housing and childcare arrangements or participate in criminal proceedings and financial assistance to support employees suffering from economic hardship.
• Perpetrators of abuse. In some cases employees may disclose that they are the perpetrators of domestic abuse. Consideration should be given to signposting employees to appropriate resources to understand and change their behaviour, balanced against the need to maintain the health and safety of the wider employee population.

Introducing a domestic abuse policy makes the support offered clear to employees and can encourage them to feel confident disclosing issues of domestic abuse which may be affecting them in the workplace.

Changes on the horizon?

As part of its package of employment reforms, the government will extend the existing duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace to a duty to take “all reasonable steps” and reintroduce protections against harassment by third parties. Victims of domestic abuse may experience abusive behaviour which also constitutes sexual harassment or harassment related to a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. When conducting a risk-assessment to consider duties to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent harassment, employers should also consider measures to tackle issues of domestic abuse.

A private members’ bill (The Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Bill) was introduced to parliament earlier this year to provide victims of domestic abuse with up to 10 days of paid leave, similar to legislation already in place in Northern Ireland. The Bill is due to have its second reading on 16 January 2026 and even if it does not progress, highlights support that employers may choose to introduce voluntarily.

The FCA remains focussed on tackling non-financial misconduct. Financial services employers may need to consider issues of domestic abuse in the context of reporting non-financial misconduct and conducting assessments of fitness and propriety.

Authored by Anvita Sharma.