Thinking about calling the police, or already have, and not sure what happens from here, this covers the real process.
Before you read on: our second guide, Keep A Record, walks you through documenting what’s happening safely, which matters just as much before you report as after.
How you can report
You can call 999 in an emergency, or 101 for something non-urgent. Most police forces also offer a short online reporting form now, usually five to ten minutes, treated with the same priority as a phone call. This can be the safer option if you can’t talk freely. If you’re on a call and can’t speak, pressing 55 on a mobile connects you to a call handler trained specifically for silent calls.
Whichever route you use, the report itself gets logged, even if an officer doesn’t attend. Ask for, or note down, the crime reference number you’re given. That number is what lets you, or a solicitor later, trace the report even if nothing further happened at the time.
If officers do attend, they’ll usually speak to you separately from the other person, take an account of what happened, and may photograph any injuries or damage. This isn’t always straightforward if you’re not ready to say everything out loud yet, and that’s allowed. What you do say still gets recorded.
What happens after
Domestic abuse cases work differently to some other crimes: the police can’t decide to charge on their own, the decision has to go to prosecutors, who apply the same test used for any offence, is there enough evidence for a realistic chance of conviction, and is prosecuting actually the right call in the public interest. Not every report leads to an arrest, and not every arrest leads to a charge. That gap is real, and it isn’t a reflection of whether what happened to you mattered or was believed.
If your situation is assessed as high risk, based on a standard set of risk questions, your case may be referred to a multi-agency meeting where police, housing, health, and other services share information and build a safety plan together. This is reserved for higher-risk cases specifically, not something that automatically happens for every report, so it’s worth asking directly whether this applies to you if you feel your risk is high and it hasn’t been raised.
What you can ask for in court
If your case goes to court, you’re automatically entitled to extra support giving evidence, this changed with a legal update in recent years specifically for domestic abuse cases, so you no longer have to prove you’re frightened enough to qualify. That support can include screens so you don’t have to see the other person, giving evidence by video link, or having wigs and gowns removed to make the room less intimidating. You can also ask about protective orders separately from any police process, since criminal and civil protection are different routes that can run at the same time.
If a previous report didn’t go anywhere
This happens, and it doesn’t mean a new report won’t. Circumstances change, evidence builds up, and a pattern that wasn’t clear from one incident can become clear from several, especially if you’ve been keeping a record in the meantime.
Reporting can feel like stepping into a system that makes no promises, and that’s a fair thing to feel. You’re allowed to take it one step at a time, without needing to understand the whole process before you start.