From Monday 5 October, every criminal court in England and Wales has had to formally record when domestic abuse was a factor in an offence. This new “Judicial Finding of Domestic Abuse” is made mandatory under the Criminal Procedure Rules introduced by the Sentencing Act 2026, and creates, for the first time, a single official record of this kind for each case.
The finding will be shared across police, probation and prison digital systems, giving frontline staff a clearer picture of someone’s history when they assess risk – including when decisions are made about licence conditions or release. Ministers say the change matters because domestic abuse has long made offences such as assault and stalking more serious, but until now there was no consistent way of tracking this once a case moved beyond the courtroom.
The announcement comes with £18 million of extra funding for a new Victim Support helpline, alongside other measures including wider use of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders and electronic monitoring. Andrea Simon, Victims’ Commissioner for London and a panel member of the Independent Sentencing Review, welcomed the change but stressed that justice agencies must act on these flags – particularly as more prisoners are released early under the wider sentencing reforms.