Funding secured to better understand the scale of teenage relationship abuse

Funding has been secured which will enable services to better understand the scale of teenage relationship abuse to determine how to help prevent it.

Children aged under 16 are not considered in law to be victims of domestic abuse when in peer relationships, meaning the full scale of the issue is not fully understood, and victims may not be receiving the support they deserve.

The Police STAR Fund project, administered by the Office of the Police Chief Scientific Adviser, will enable the research team to further develop the evidence base.

They will review 10 years' worth of data to understand the prevalence of teenage relationship abuse, as well as create the evidence base for a new risk assessment for teenagers which can be used by all safeguarding agencies.

The research aims to help frontline practitioners identify abuse and understand the risks children face, as currently the resources which are available to domestic abuse victims are generally designed for adults and often do not reflect the unique dynamics of teenage relationship abuse.

For the past five years Deputy Chief Constable Katy Barrow-Grint has been working with Dr Ruth Weir, Deputy Director of the Violence & Society Centre at City St George’s, University of London on teenage relationship abuse.

They will co-lead the project and will be supported by the domestic abuse charity SafeLives.

DCC Barrow-Grint said: "We know there's a problem and that some children are displaying worrying behaviours within their relationships, but what we don't yet understand is the full scale of the issue. 

"We need to overlay a domestic abuse lens on offences such as stalking, strangulation and sexual offences when teenagers are involved to make sure victims receive the right support, and so that prevention and intervention can be put in place.

"Nationally there has been an increase in strangulation and sexual violence offences involving under 16s, and after doing a dip sample here in Gloucestershire, we believe around 4% of our strangulation cases involve 13 to 15 year olds.

"These ages are alarming, but what we don't yet know is the full scale of the issue and this funding will help determine that."

While children living in abusive homes are recognised in law as victims of domestic abuse involving their parents, those aged under 16 who are subjected to controlling or coercive behaviour, physical and sexual abuse, or other forms of harm at the hands of their peers, are not.

Police services will assess reports of criminal allegations and investigate them when necessary, but as teenage relationship abuse is not formally recorded nationally, there is limited support for teenagers who have an abusive partner.

DCC Barrow-Grint said: "There's a knowledge gap across multiple agencies in this area both locally and nationally, such as in education, youth services, health services, social care and policing, and we are all working together in Gloucestershire to improve this.

"Once teenage relationship abuse comes to the attention of police, a crime has often already happened. We need to review the data and see how we can identify and deal with the risks to ensure we can safeguard children and prevent the abuse from happening in the first place."

The Police STAR Fund is an annual innovation call, run by the Office of the Police Chief Scientific Adviser. Its aim is to stimulate local innovation and encourage collaboration to solve science and technology problems within policing.

There had been 149 applications made in a bid to secure the funding in 2026/27, with 12 bidders successful.

Academics and partners involved in the project include City St George’s, University of London, Gloucestershire Constabulary, Gloucestershire’s Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, University of Essex and University of Cambridge.

The funding will enable research to take place to review and analyse 10 years' worth of data in order to identify how many children have been victims of teenage domestic abuse, as well as gain an evidence base to develop a risk assessment framework which will enable better identification of this issue across services working with children. 

This will combine lived-experience, police data, practitioner insight and advanced data science techniques to identify risk and protective factors, and improve understanding of how teenage relationship abuse manifests, to assist with prevention. 

The project is designed so that the guidance can be rolled out across police forces nationally.

Dr Ruth Weir said: "We want to give those working with young people something they currently don't have: a clear picture of what risk and harm looks like in teenage relationships.

"We cannot assume that the risks and harms of domestic abuse are the same in teenage relationships as in adult relationships.

"If we don't understand what risk looks like for young people, we can't respond to it appropriately, and young victims fall through the cracks of systems designed for adults.

"Intervening can change the trajectory of someone's life.

"We are working with SafeLives Changemakers to uncover cases of teenage relationship abuse that would otherwise stay invisible."

As part of the work on teenage relationship abuse, a round table was hosted in the county last year with subject matter experts, and a working group takes place with representatives from multiple local support services in attendance. 

This reports into the Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board to contribute to the delivery of the County Tackling Domestic Abuse Strategy.