The chancellor has announced a £15million package for support for domestic abuse programmes. This follows a previous increase in funding for domestic abuse services during the first national lockdown last year amid the huge rise in domestic abuse and has almost doubled the funding towards domestic abuse in the 2020 budget.

People often believe that issues arising from separation such as divorce, financial matters and child arrangements can only be resolved through Court proceedings.

Family Mediation Week is this year taking place between the 18th-22nd January. The annual initiative creates awareness of the many benefits of reaching mutual post-divorce agreements, rather than heading to court.

Domestic abuse victims will be able to “Ask for Ani” in pharmacies, as part of a code word scheme backed by the Government and Safeguarding Minister Victoria Atkins.

As we bring in the new year, resolutions are at the forefront of everyone’s mind, bringing with it fresh starts and changes. For this reason divorce is often one of the top resolutions that people make, hence the reason January is dubbed “divorce month”.

Guidance published on 4 January 2021 confirms that once again the government recognises the importance of children from separated parents being able to spend time with both of their parents. Children are permitted to leave one household to spend time with their other parent in another household, if it is medically safe to do so.

On 5th January 2021, the Domestic Abuse Bill returned to the House of Lords for its second reading after almost three years of delays.

Employers will welcome new guidance from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD - the professional body for HR and people development) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which aims to help them deal with employees suffering domestic abuse.