On 4 March 2026, the House of Lords approved an amendment (339) to the Crime and Policing Bill which gives the Secretary of State power to issue guidance on honour-based abuse, and mandates that the Secretary of State publish such guidance.
The House of Lords also approved an amendment to the same Bill (340), giving the meaning of honour-based abuse as follows:
(1) … “honour-based abuse” occurs where—
(a) a person (“A”) engages in abusive behaviour towards another person (“B”) who is a member of A’s family or is a relevant connection of A, and
(b) A is motivated wholly or partly by A’s perception that B has behaved, is behaving or may behave in a way which—
(i) shames or dishonours A, B, A’s family, B’s family or A’s community, and
(ii) does not comply with the accepted norms of behaviour in A’s community.
(2) The reference to A engaging in abusive behaviour towards B includes A causing another person to engage in abusive behaviour towards B.
(3) A person’s behaviour may be behaviour “towards” B despite the fact that it consists of conduct directed at another person (for example, B’s child).
(4) Behaviour is “abusive” if it consists of—
(a) physical or sexual abuse,
(b) violent or threatening behaviour,
(c) controlling or coercive behaviour,
(d) economic abuse (see subsection (5)),
(e) spiritual abuse,
(f) psychological or emotional abuse, or
(g) other abuse,
and it does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct.
(5) “Economic abuse” means any behaviour that has a substantial adverse effect on B’s ability to—
(a) acquire, use or maintain money or other property, or
(b) obtain goods or services.
(6) A person is a member of another person’s family if any of the following applies—
(a) they are relatives,
(b) they are, or have been, married to each other,
(c) they are, or have been, civil partners of each other,
(d) they have agreed to marry one another (whether or not the agreement has been terminated),
(e) they have entered into a civil partnership agreement (whether or not the agreement has been terminated),
(f) they are, or have been, in an intimate relationship with each other, or
(g) they each have, or there has been a time when they each have had, a parental relationship in relation to the same child,
(and references to a person’s family are to be read accordingly).
(7) A person is a relevant connection of another person if they are friends or acquaintances who are known to each other in person.
(8) For the purposes of subsection (6)(g) a person has a parental relationship in relation to a child if—
(a) the person is a parent of the child, or
(b) the person has parental responsibility for the child.
(9)
In this section—
“child” means a person under the age of 18 years;
“civil partnership agreement” has the meaning given by section 73 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004;
“parental responsibility” has the same meaning as in the Children Act 1989 (see section 3 of that Act);
“relative” has the meaning given by section 63(1) of the Family Law Act 1996.”
Forced Marriage Research 