Is emotional abuse a crime in the UK?

It can be. No law in the UK uses the phrase "emotional abuse", but every part of the UK now has a criminal offence that covers a pattern of behaviour designed to control, frighten, isolate or degrade a partner, with or without violence. Whether what you are living with meets the legal test depends on the pattern and its effect on you, and that is something the police and prosecutors assess, not something you have to be certain of before you ask for help.

England and Wales

The offence is controlling or coercive behaviour, under section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015, in force since December 2015. It requires behaviour that is repeated or continuous, between people who are personally connected, and that has a serious effect: either making the person fear violence on at least two occasions, or causing serious alarm or distress that has a substantial effect on their day-to-day life. Since 2023, following the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, it applies whether or not you still live together. The maximum sentence is five years.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 also gave the UK its first legal definition of domestic abuse, which includes emotional, psychological and economic abuse. The definition is not itself an offence, but it shapes how police, courts and councils respond.

Other offences can apply too: harassment and stalking under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, threats to kill, and criminal damage.

Scotland

Scotland went further. The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 created an offence of engaging in a course of abusive behaviour towards a partner or ex-partner. The Act lists psychological harm plainly: making someone dependent or subordinate, isolating them, controlling or monitoring them, frightening, humiliating or punishing them. No violence is needed. The maximum sentence is 14 years, and the court can add a non-harassment order.

Northern Ireland

The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 created a similar offence, in force since 2022.

What the law does not do

It does not make a single cruel remark a crime. It does not require you to report. And a conviction is not the measure of whether what is happening to you is serious. Most controlling behaviour is never prosecuted, and the people who work in this field will tell you that the legal threshold and the point at which you should take it seriously are far apart. The second comes long before the first.

If reading the list of behaviours made you think of your own conduct rather than your partner's, that is worth acting on. The Respect Phoneline (0808 8024 040, weekdays, free) talks to people who want to change how they treat a partner.

What this might mean for you

Whether or not you ever involve the police, it helps to know that the behaviour has a name in law, because it is harder to be told you are imagining it. The member module When the problem is control goes through the pattern in detail, with a private place to record what has happened. If any of it has frightened you, start with the free module Is this danger? or the assessment, which begins with eight safety questions.

This is general information, not legal advice. To talk to someone trained for this: National Domestic Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247 (24 hours, free), Men's Advice Line 0808 801 0327, Galop (LGBT+) 0800 999 5428. In an emergency, 999, and press 55 if you cannot speak. Pressing Escape twice leaves this site at once.