PART 3

Powers for dealing with domestic abuse

Notifying schools etc if child is suspected victim of domestic abuse

Arrangements to notify schools etc
49A
1
A chief officer of police of a police force maintained for a police area must ensure that arrangements are in place to secure the objective in subsection (2).
2
The objective is that, if a member of the force has reasonable grounds to believe that a child who resides in the police area may be a victim of domestic abuse, any relevant educational establishment is notified as soon as is reasonably practicable except in such circumstances as may be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State.
3
For the purposes of this section, each of the following is a relevant educational establishment in relation to a child—
a
a school at which the child is a registered pupil;
b
if the child is not a registered pupil at a school—
i
if the child is receiving education at only one educational establishment, that establishment;
ii
if the child is receiving education at more than one educational establishment, such one or more of those establishments as is determined in accordance with the arrangements in place under subsection (1) for the police area in which the child resides.
4
In this section—
- “
child
” means a person under the age of 18 years;
- “
educational establishment
” means—
  1. a school in England or Wales;
  2. an institution within the further education sector, within the meaning given by section 91(3) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992;
  3. in relation to England, a 16 to 19 Academy, within the meaning given by section 1B of the Academies Act 2010;
- “
registered pupil
”, in relation to a school, has the meaning given by section 434 of the Education Act 1996;
- “
school
” has the meaning given by section 4 of the Education Act 1996.
Ss. 49A, 49B and cross-heading inserted (7.11.2025 for the insertion of s. 49A, otherwise prosp.) by Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (c. 21), ss. 20(2), 81(2) (with s. 32); S.I. 2025/1168, reg. 2