What Is Coercive Control? Signs, Law and What to Do

Coercive control is a pattern of behaviour used to dominate another person: isolating them, monitoring them, controlling their money and daily life, threatening and humiliating them, until they become dependent and lose their freedom. In England and Wales, controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship is a criminal offence under section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015, with a maximum of five years in prison. Since 5 April 2023 it also covers ex-partners and family members who no longer live together. It does not need physical violence, and it can happen at any age.

At a glance: Nexis CPD offers a £9 CPD-accredited online Safeguarding Adults (Advanced) Level 2 course — 100% online, with an instantly emailed, employer-verifiable certificate. Any three courses cost £18, and teams of 5 or more pay £6 a course place.

This guide is for care workers, managers and colleagues. For the basics of adult safeguarding, see our guide to safeguarding adults. It follows the law in England and Wales, with notes on Scotland and Northern Ireland. General information, not legal advice. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999.

What is coercive control?

Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021, section 1, defines domestic abuse as abusive behaviour between two people aged 16 or over who are “personally connected”, and lists five kinds of abusive behaviour: physical or sexual abuse; violent or threatening behaviour; controlling or coercive behaviour; economic abuse; and psychological, emotional or other abuse. It adds that “it does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct”.

The Home Office’s Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance Framework (April 2023) opens by saying that coercive control “creates invisible chains and a sense of fear that pervades all elements of a victim’s life”. It describes an intentional pattern of behaviour used to “hurt, humiliate, intimidate, exploit, isolate and dominate”.

It is hard to spot because each act can look minor on its own: a text asking where you are, a comment about your clothes, a partner who “handles the money”. The harm is in the pattern. The guidance notes that victims “may not be aware of, be ready to acknowledge, or be able to communicate” that this is abuse, especially when it builds gradually.

The law does not define “controlling” or “coercive” separately. Broadly, controlling behaviour restricts someone’s money, movements, contacts and choices, while coercive behaviour uses threats, humiliation or punishment to make them comply.

What are examples of coercive control?

The statutory guidance gives a long list of behaviours “within the range of controlling or coercive behaviour”. Grouped into plain categories, they include:

Isolation: cutting the person off from family, friends, colleagues and professionals; intercepting messages or calls; stopping leisure activities.
Monitoring, including through technology: making them account for their time; checking their phone; demanding passwords; using location tracking on devices; controlling their post; turning up unexpectedly at work or where they meet friends.
Economic control: controlling bank accounts, spending or benefit payments; coerced debt; stopping them working. The 2021 Act defines economic abuse as behaviour with a “substantial adverse effect” on a person’s ability to acquire, use or maintain money or property, or obtain goods or services; see our guide to financial abuse of adults at risk.
Controlling daily life: dictating what they wear, what and when they eat, when and where they sleep, who they talk to and where they work; making rules and punishing them for breaking them.
Threats: threats of violence; threats to expose private information or make false allegations; threats to report them to the police or immigration authorities; and, particularly for older or disabled people, threats to have them placed in a care home or other institution against their will.
Degradation: constant criticism, verbal abuse, humiliation and deliberately undermining their confidence. The government’s domestic abuse help page also names “gaslighting”.
Using children and pets: threatening to take the children away or harm them, using child arrangements to control, or harming, threatening or giving away pets.
Health and care: preventing them taking medication or over-medicating them, restricting access to health and social care appointments, refusing to let them attend appointments alone, or hindering communication support.

Violence can be part of the pattern, but the guidance says it does “not need to be present”.

What are the signs of coercive control?

The statutory guidance lists examples of the “serious effect” coercive control can have, and these are often what other people notice first:

becoming isolated, or giving up activities and friends they used to enjoy
changes to work patterns, employment or their route to work
being monitored by, and needing to report back to, the other person
having their money restricted, or being deprived of medication, a phone or the internet
deteriorating physical or mental health, including anxiety and depression
following rules and living in fear of punishment

You might notice that a person seems to need permission for everything, is called constantly, never has money of their own, or says things like “he’ll go mad if I’m late”. Their partner or relative may answer for them or insist on being present.

Signs are indicators, not proof. The guidance warns that a perpetrator “may seem calm and measured whilst a victim could appear distressed or aggressive”. Notice patterns, write down what you see, and pass it on.

A support worker listening kindly to an older woman as they talk over mugs of tea at her kitchen table — A quiet conversation in a safe moment, away from anyone the person may be afraid of, is often where concerns first come to light.

How does coercive control affect older people and adults with care needs?

Coercive control happens at every age. The Home Office’s Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance (paragraph 154) says older people can be abused by partners or by family members “including adult children”, and that this may include controlling or coercive behaviour. It also warns (paragraph 156) that injuries or mental health problems may be put down to a person’s care needs “without enquiries being made around domestic abuse”.

In care and support work, watch for:

An adult child controlling an older parent: taking over their bank card, deciding who may visit, or threatening a care home if they do not comply.
A partner of a person with care needs: for example withholding medication, mobility aids or help with personal care, or making support conditional. Paragraph 162 includes “using the person’s disability to control them”.
A family carer who is also the abuser: dependence on them for daily care makes speaking up feel impossible.

Paragraph 166 of the same guidance says professionals should “seek to engage with the victim privately, without a carer or other family member”. If you only ever see someone with their relative in the room, that is worth raising with your safeguarding lead.

Under the Care Act 2014, domestic violence and abuse is one of the categories of abuse covered by adult safeguarding, and “controlling”, “coercion” and “isolation” appear in the guidance’s list for psychological abuse (paragraph 14.17). Note that the domestic abuse section of the Care and Support Statutory Guidance (paragraphs 14.20 to 14.23) has not been updated for the Domestic Abuse Act 2021: it still describes the older definition and the offence before the 2023 change. Use the 2021 Act definition alongside it.

What about paid care workers? The criminal offence only applies between people who are “personally connected” (partners, ex-partners and relatives), so it does not cover a paid carer who is not a relative. Controlling behaviour by paid staff is still abuse, must be reported, and may be a crime under other laws, such as the care worker ill-treatment or wilful neglect offence in section 20 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. Where controlling practices run through a whole service, see our guide to organisational abuse.

Is coercive control the same as a lack of mental capacity?

No, and confusing the two is a common mistake. Someone can have full mental capacity and still be unable to make free choices because they are frightened or controlled. The Controlling or Coercive Behaviour guidance says: “While they may have capacity, controlling or coercive behaviour can impact a victim’s ability to make decisions freely.” It also warns that perpetrators may try to persuade professionals that a person has capacity when they do not, or lacks capacity when they do.

The Care and Support Statutory Guidance makes the same link. Paragraph 14.108 says “undue influence” will need to be considered, and “if the adult is thought to be refusing intervention on the grounds of duress then action must be taken”.

Capacity is presumed and decision-specific under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, explained in our Mental Capacity Act guide, but a person who says “leave it, I’m fine” may not be choosing freely. Our guide to Making Safeguarding Personal explains how to keep the person at the centre of decisions, and when staff must still act if someone declines help, including where coercion, risk to others or children, or a possible crime is involved.

Is coercive control a crime in the UK?

Yes, in all three UK legal systems, though the law is worded differently in each.

England and Wales: section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015

Under section 76, in force since 29 December 2015, a person (A) commits an offence if all four of these are true:

A “repeatedly or continuously” engages in behaviour towards another person (B) that is controlling or coercive
at the time, A and B are “personally connected”
the behaviour has a “serious effect” on B
A knows or “ought to know” it will have a serious effect on B (meaning a reasonable person with the same information would know)

A “serious effect” means the behaviour causes B to fear, “on at least two occasions”, that violence will be used against them, or causes “serious alarm or distress which has a substantial adverse effect on B’s usual day-to-day activities”. The guidance explains that “repeatedly” means two or more occasions, and that there is no fixed timeframe between incidents.

“Personally connected” covers current and former spouses, civil partners, fiancés and intimate partners, people who share a parental relationship to the same child, and relatives. “Relative” uses the wide Family Law Act 1996 definition, which includes parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles and in-laws.

There is a defence if A believed they were acting in B’s best interests and the behaviour was reasonable in all the circumstances, but it is not available where the behaviour causes B to fear violence. The offence does not apply where A has responsibility for a child under 16, because child cruelty law covers that. The maximum sentence is five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.

What changed in April 2023?

When the offence started, it covered current partners whether or not they lived together, but ex-partners and family members only if they lived together. Section 68 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 removed the “living together” requirement, so the offence now applies to partners, ex-partners and family members wherever they live. It came into force on 5 April 2023 and is not retrospective: the guidance says charges cannot be brought for post-separation abuse that happened before that date.

Police in England and Wales recorded 57,953 controlling and coercive behaviour offences in the year ending June 2026, up from 52,385 the year before, according to the Office for National Statistics’ Crime in England and Wales appendix tables (Table A5a, published 22 October 2026). Recorded crime reflects what is reported and how police record it, so these figures do not show how common coercive control actually is.

Scotland

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, in force since 1 April 2019, makes it an offence to engage in a course of behaviour that is abusive of a partner or ex-partner and likely to cause physical or psychological harm. Abusive behaviour includes behaviour intended or likely to make the person dependent, isolate them, control or monitor their daily activities, or frighten, humiliate or degrade them. The maximum penalty on indictment is 14 years. It covers partners and ex-partners only, not other family members.

Northern Ireland

The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 created “the domestic abuse offence”, in operation since 21 February 2022. It works in a similar way to the Scottish law but also covers close family members. The maximum penalty on indictment is also 14 years.

What should you do if you think someone is being coercively controlled?

Your role is to notice, listen, record and report, not to investigate:

If anyone is in immediate danger, call 999. If someone cannot speak on a mobile, they can listen to the operator, cough or tap if possible, and press 55 when prompted. The Independent Office for Police Conduct’s Silent Solution guidance is clear that a silent call alone will not automatically bring help. Pressing 55 does not tell the police where the caller is.
Find a safe, private moment. Speak to the person alone, and do not leave leaflets or send messages that could be seen.
Listen and believe. Ask open questions such as “How are things at home?” and tell them it is not their fault.
Do not confront the person you suspect. It can increase the risk.
Do not promise secrecy. Explain who you will tell and why.
Record facts: what you saw and heard, with dates and the person’s own words.
Report the same day to your manager or safeguarding lead, following your organisation’s procedures.

Managers and safeguarding leads decide the next steps: usually, for an adult with care and support needs, a referral to the local authority (which must make enquiries under section 42 of the Care Act 2014), and to the police where a crime may have been committed. If children are affected, follow children’s safeguarding procedures: section 3 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 recognises children who see, hear or experience the effects of domestic abuse as victims in their own right.

You may hear two specialist terms. The Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment (DASH) risk assessment is a tool trained professionals use to help identify the level of risk; the statutory guidance says it “is not a definitive assessment of risk”. A Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) is a non-statutory meeting where agencies such as the police, Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs), housing, health and adult social care plan support for victims at high risk of serious harm or homicide. Your records may feed into both.

A Safeguarding Adults (Advanced) Level 2 course covers recognising abuse and neglect, mental capacity and consent, and working with the local authority. If your concerns are ignored, see our guide to whether whistleblowing is protected by law.

A care worker explaining a concern to his care manager, who is taking notes at a desk in a quiet office — Report concerns to your manager or safeguarding lead the same day, with dates and the person’s own words.

Who should you tell about coercive control?

Your concern	Who to tell
Someone is in immediate danger	Call 999. On a mobile, press 55 when prompted if you cannot speak.
An adult you support may be controlled by a partner or relative	Your manager or safeguarding lead, the same day. They decide on a referral to local authority adult safeguarding and the police.
A child lives in the household or is affected	Your safeguarding lead, using children’s safeguarding procedures (children’s social care, or the police if urgent).
A paid carer or colleague is controlling someone you support	Your manager or safeguarding lead. If they are involved or do nothing, the local authority, and the Care Quality Commission for regulated services.
A colleague tells you they are being controlled at home	Listen, and share helpline details. Involve your manager or HR with their agreement, unless someone is in immediate danger or a child is at risk.
You want advice about someone you are worried about	The National Domestic Abuse Helpline (0808 2000 247) also takes calls from friends, family and professionals.
Someone is worried about their own behaviour	The Respect Phoneline (0808 802 4040), an anonymous helpline for people who are abusive towards partners or family.

How should employers support staff experiencing coercive control?

Coercive control often reaches into work. The guidance’s examples include perpetrators denying access to work, dictating where someone works, turning up at the workplace, and controlling the victim’s income. The Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance (paragraph 402) notes that “for those experiencing abuse, the workplace can often offer a safe space and a respite away from the perpetrator”, and that colleagues and managers “can often be the only people outside the home that victims talk to each day”.

The guidance says employers should consider the impact of domestic abuse as part of their duty of care. As best practice (paragraph 407), it suggests a domestic abuse policy covering signposting, roles, training and practical support, which might include paid leave or flexible working for appointments or finding safe accommodation. Practical steps can also include agreeing safe ways to stay in contact, changing rotas or desk locations if the abuser turns up or calls repeatedly, and briefing reception staff.

The government’s help page points employers to Hestia’s free Respond to Abuse advice line (020 3879 3695, weekdays 9am to 5pm). For bullying between colleagues, see our guide to whether bullying is illegal at work.

Two colleagues talking quietly over mugs of tea in a bright staff kitchen — Colleagues can be the only people outside the home a victim talks to each day, so a quiet, caring word can matter.

Where can someone get help with coercive control?

These numbers were checked on official pages in October 2026. Anyone whose phone or computer may be monitored should contact services from a safe device.

Emergency: 999 (press 55 on a mobile if you cannot speak).
England: Refuge’s 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline, 0808 2000 247.
Men: the Men’s Advice Line, run by Respect, 0808 801 0327.
Wales: Live Fear Free, 0808 80 10 800.
Scotland: Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline, 0800 027 1234.
Northern Ireland: Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline, 0808 802 1414.
Any crime: Victim Support’s 24/7 Supportline, 08 08 16 89 111.

Under Clare’s Law, people can ask the police whether a partner has an abusive past.

What should a coercive control checklist include?

For anyone who has a concern:

Is anyone in immediate danger? If so, call 999 first.
Have I seen a pattern, rather than a single incident, and written down what I saw, with dates?
Have I spoken to the person alone and safely, away from the person I am worried about?
Have I recorded their words exactly and told them what I will do next?
Have I reported to my manager or safeguarding lead the same day?
Are children in the household, or are other adults at risk?
Could control or fear be behind the person saying “no” to help?
Does the person have care and support needs, so the local authority should be told?

What training covers coercive control?

CQC-registered care providers must protect people from abuse and give staff the training their role needs; our guide to safeguarding training requirements explains the levels. Three Nexis CPD courses fit this topic closely:

Safeguarding Adults (Advanced) Level 2: what safeguarding adults means and the law, identifying abuse and neglect, mental capacity and consent, and multi-agency working with the local authority; 1.5 CPD hours
Domestic Abuse Awareness: what domestic abuse is, coercive control and its signs and impact, responding to a disclosure, and reporting, safeguarding and support; 2 CPD hours
Mental Capacity Act: the five principles, the two-stage capacity test, best interests, advocacy and DoLS; 2 CPD hours

Together they cost £18 rather than £27 under the pay-for-2-get-3 offer, and employers training 5 or more staff pay £6 a course place on our team plan. These are awareness-level CPD courses and do not replace your employer’s own procedures. If you take one, start with Safeguarding Adults (Advanced) Level 2: 15 questions, 80% to pass, and an instant certificate.

£9 per course. CPD accredited, 100% online, verifiable e-certificate. Pay for 2, get 3 — any 3 courses for £18.

Frequently asked questions

What is coercive control in simple terms?

It is a pattern of behaviour one person uses to control another, such as isolating them, monitoring them, controlling their money and threatening or humiliating them, until they lose their independence. It does not have to involve violence.

Is coercive control illegal in the UK?

Yes. In England and Wales it is an offence under section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015, with a maximum of five years in prison. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own domestic abuse offences, each with a maximum of 14 years on indictment.

Does coercive control apply to ex-partners and family members?

Yes. Since 5 April 2023, the offence in England and Wales covers partners, ex-partners and relatives whether or not they live together. The change is not retrospective, so it does not apply to behaviour before that date.

Can coercive control happen to older people?

Yes. Older people can be controlled by partners, adult children or other relatives, for example through their money, medication, visitors or threats of a care home. Guidance says professionals should try to speak to them privately.

What should a care worker do if they suspect coercive control?

Call 999 if anyone is in immediate danger. Otherwise, speak to the person alone if it is safe, do not confront the suspected abuser or promise secrecy, record what you saw and heard, and report it to your manager or safeguarding lead the same day.

Can a person with mental capacity be coercively controlled?

Yes. Having capacity does not mean a person is free to choose. Statutory guidance says controlling or coercive behaviour can affect a victim’s ability to make decisions freely, and the Care Act guidance says action must be taken if an adult is refusing help because of duress.

General information, not legal advice. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999. This guide summarises the law and official guidance for England and Wales, with notes on Scotland and Northern Ireland, as checked on 23 October 2026. Helpline details can change, so check the organisation’s own website. Nexis CPD courses are CPD-accredited awareness training: they do not make anyone a safeguarding lead, an IDVA or a domestic abuse specialist, and they do not replace employer safeguarding training or local procedures.

What Is Coercive Control? Signs, the Law and What to Do