Your personal safety

Domestic abuse is a crime under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and can affect people from all walks of life.

Domestic abuse is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over, who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This includes forced marriage, ‘so-called’ honour based abuse, female genital mutilation and abuse relating to gender identity or sexuality.

Domestic abuse isn’t always between partners - abuse can be perpetrated by partners, ex-partners and family members, including children under the age of 18, adult children or siblings. Both men and women can be victimised through domestic abuse.

A new domestic abuse support service has been launched for people in Lancashire who are currently experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse, including specialist support for children and young people.

The Domestic Abuse Support Service Lancashire (DASSL) offers support in safe accommodation and outreach services for adults and children. The service is a partnership between a number of specialist domestic abuse services in Lancashire: ·

• The Liberty Centre – West Lancashire

• HARV – Hyndburn and Ribble Valley

• Safenet – Preston , Burnley and Lancaster

• Fylde Coast Women's Aid – Fylde and Wyre

• Key – Chorley and South Ribble

• Be Free – Pendle and Rossendale

• Emily Davison Centre – Loving Me – Lancashire Wide

You can access information and support for victims of domestic abuse via the 24 hour Helpline and by Live Chat.

Lancashire County Councils domestic abuse webpage has been updated with these details. A QUICK EXIT button has been added to the webpage which when pressed will take you back to Google.

If you have any queries please get in touch with the local provider or you can email the team any questions. There is further support available from the following services:

• Lancashire Victims Services, telephone: 0300 323 0085

• The Wish Centre – for victims, perpetrators and children, telephone: 0300 561 0440

• Humraaz - Support for Black and Minority Women and Girls, telephone: 01254 695 800

• Nest Lancashire - telephone: 0300 111 0323 or text 60777

• The Emily Davison Centre, telephone: 0330 1343 434

• Lancashire Refuges, telephone: 0300 3033 581

• Galop - LGBTQ+ support, telephone: 0800 999 5428

• Karma Nirvana - Honour Based Violence support, telephone: 0800 5999 247

• Mankind - Services for Men, telephone: 01823 334 244