Dominic Raab urged to guarantee protection for women in family courts

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab is being urged to do more to protect victims of domestic abuse in family court cases in England and Wales.

A law was passed in 2021 to prevent victims from being cross-examined in person by their abusers.

But it only applies to new cases, which means victims already in the system are not being protected, campaigners say.

They want monitoring of whether the rule is being implemented and better legal representation for victims.

Disputes that come before family courts include divorce, adoption, domestic violence injunctions, child custody and child protection.

At some hearings, the parties can be called into the witness box to give evidence to the judge - and be questioned by the other party or their lawyer, known as cross-examination.

Under the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, convicted and alleged perpetrators of abuse are banned from cross-examining their victims in person due to the distress it causes them.

Victims are also prevented from cross-examining their abusers in person, under the new law, which came into effect last July.

Instead, the court can appoint a publicly-funded legal representative, or advocate, to ask questions on their behalf.

But in an open letter to the justice secretary, 28 women's charities, solicitors and abuse survivors say the new law is not protecting women as well as it should.

One of the campaigners, domestic abuse survivor Zoe Dronfield, said: "I was cross-examined by my abuser, and it was worse than the attack by my ex-partner that almost killed me.

"To be branded a bad parent is the worst thing that can happen to a mother. I did not do anything wrong other than find myself a victim of horrific domestic abuse and violence, but I was dragged through the family court and cross examined by him to justify his abuse.

"It is often used as a continuation of abuse right under the nose of a judge, yet victims can be goaded, triggered and further traumatised."

The campaigners claim not enough legal representatives are signing up to act as advocates because the fees offered are not "competitive" and the Ministry of Justice is not monitoring the impact of the ban.

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women's Aid, said: "We urge the Ministry of Justice to establish robust monitoring and evaluation to ensure the legislation is consistently implemented.

"The legislation must be extended to cover all child-contact cases in the system, not only those that have begun since July 2022, and we want assurances that enough qualified legal representatives are taking on this critical work."

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "Victims of domestic abuse should not have to face the ordeal of cross-examination by their abusers in court which is why we changed the law and put a stop to this awful practice."

They added that the department would respond to the charities' letter "in due course".

A proposed law change will put the most dangerous domestic abusers on the violent and sex offender register, ministers said earlier this week.

This will lead to them being monitored more closely by the police, prison and probation services.

Furthermore in March last year, the government announced £440m for victim support services over the next three years. In June this funding was increased to £460m.