The university worked alongside Lancashire Police and Lancashire Violence Reduction Network on the project, funded by the Home Office.

The full report can be read here – but we’ve also gone through and summarised some of the main findings below.

*Do be aware the report features details of serious CPA incidents and parricides, so please only read its contents if you feel emotionally comfortable to do so.*

• There were 66,973 domestic abuse incidents in Lancashire in the date range studied as part of the project (27^th November 2018 to 28^th February 2021) – of which 7,171 were incidents where a parental figure was the victim. (It’s important to note due to the legal definition of domestic abuse being behaviours displayed by a person aged 16 or over, the research only covers CPA incidents where the child is 16 or over).

• In 69% of cases, the person being reported was the son of the victim – in 19% of cases it was the daughter, and the rest of the cases were grandchildren or other relatives.

• 44% of incidents involved violence towards a person, 34% were domestic abuse incidents which the police were called to, but which were classified as non-criminal offences, 12% involved arson or criminal damage and 0.7% were sexual offences.

• There was an increase of 37% during Christmas and 41% over New Year.

• The oldest person reported for CPA was 74, and the average age was just under 27 (again, worth noting all incidents recorded were where the person being abusive or violent was 16 or over).

• 27% had previously been investigated for domestic abuse – with a small proportion having been investigated up to 21 times during the timeframe of the study.

• And 24% had been classified as the victim in a previous domestic abuse investigation, some up to 18 times.

• The average age of the victim was 54, and the oldest victim was 98.

• In the majority of cases, the victim did not support or withdrew their support for further police action – in a small number of cases, there was difficulty getting enough evidence to take the case forward.

• There were charges or summons issues in around 8% of the cases which had been classified as a crime.

PEGS welcomes this research, and the awareness being raised of CPA as a result – it’s important to recognise the numbers of parents needing to call police because of abuse they are experiencing from their children, and what can be done collectively to reduce the impact of CPA. Research like this report is essential in furthering our understanding and evidencing the need for better support.