Recent figures published by the Ministry of Justice for the period July to September 2019 show that, in comparison to the equivalent period in 2018, there has been a rise of 23% in applications to the court for orders relating to domestic violence and an increase of 18% in the number of orders made.
This is the highest number of domestic violence applications that have been made in a quarter since the Ministry of Justice began providing these figures in 2009. 82% of the applications made between July and September 2019 were for non-molestation orders and 18% were for occupations orders.
The Ministry of Justice links the increase to changes made to Legal Aid eligibility which have increased accessibility to legal aid for victims of domestic abuse. The changes include the introduction of new forms of evidence, expanding the scope of existing forms of evidence and removing the time limits on forms of evidence.