Domestic abuse during pregnancy affects 30% of women who experience abuse. Evidence clearly shows that pregnancy often acts as a trigger for this devastating cycle. Your role as an employer proves essential in identifying and supporting staff who face these difficult circumstances.
Domestic abuse creates significant workplace consequences beyond personal trauma. One in five victims require time away from work due to abuse situations. UK businesses lose £316 million in economic output yearly from related absences. Research further shows that each female victim potentially loses £5,800 annually in earnings. These facts demonstrate why workplace support represents a compassionate approach and sound business practice.
Our team at Domestic Abuse Education proudly offers the Protecting Every Future campaign and downloadable guide, created in collaboration with Domestic Abuse Alliance and The HR Dept. This practical resource helps you build a supportive workplace for staff experiencing domestic abuse during pregnancy. The guide complements Sharon’s Policy, our ready-to-use domestic abuse policy template, with guidance notes available for download. These tools provide everything needed to spot warning signs and deliver appropriate support during this vulnerable time.
Understanding Domestic Abuse in Pregnancy
“More than 320,000 women are abused by their partners during pregnancy each year.”
March of Dimes Medical Advisory Board, Leading nonprofit organisation for maternal and infant health
Pregnancy creates a period of heightened vulnerability to domestic abuse. Studies show that nearly one in three women experience domestic abuse during their lifetime, with roughly 30% of cases starting during pregnancy. For women already suffering abuse, pregnancy typically causes violence to worsen in both intensity and frequency.
Domestic abuse takes many forms, each designed to establish power and control. Physical violence often targets the abdomen specifically, while emotional abuse includes manipulation, persistent criticism, and undermining a woman’s confidence in her parenting abilities. Financial control serves as another common tactic, with abusers limiting access to money or disrupting employment to force dependency.
Reproductive control stands out as particularly concerning. Abusers may interfere with contraception or block access to family planning, weaponising pregnancy to increase a woman’s dependence. This practice helps explain the higher rates of unplanned pregnancy among women experiencing domestic abuse.
The health impacts harm both mother and baby significantly. Physical dangers include higher risks of miscarriage, infection, premature delivery, and direct harm to the foetus. This reality has pushed domestic violence ahead of gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia as the primary cause of foetal death in the UK. Worryingly, pregnant women experiencing abuse are three times more likely to suffer perinatal death compared to those in safe environments.
Mental health consequences prove equally serious. Women facing domestic abuse face twice the risk of developing depression, along with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder – conditions that can directly affect their baby’s development.
Our Protecting Every Future campaign tackles these crucial issues head-on. We recognise that many women struggle to disclose abuse due to fear, shame, and worry about losing custody of their children. This reality drives our downloadable guide and Sharon’s Policy, giving employers practical tools to build workplaces where pregnant staff feel secure enough to ask for help.
Recognising the Signs in the Workplace
The workplace presents a unique opportunity to identify domestic abuse during pregnancy. Domestic abuse directly impacts employees, through a variety of ways, making early identification of warning signs crucial for timely support.
Attendance pattern changes typically appear first. Staff experiencing abuse often show increased absences with unusual explanations. They might wear excessive clothing regardless of weather and display unexplained injuries or bruising. They may appear visibly nervous when arriving or leaving work or reluctant to leave at day’s end.
Work performance suffers noticeably. Affected colleagues frequently become uncharacteristically anxious, distracted, or show decreased self-confidence. Their concentration may falter, with unexplained drops in work quality. Social withdrawal becomes common – they avoid lunch breaks and limit interactions outside work hours.
Financial indicators deserve special attention. Economic abuse during pregnancy reveals itself through specific workplace behaviours:
- Requests for wage advances or struggles with necessities
- Plans to work until due date despite earlier intentions
- Minimal maternity leave when more extended periods were initially planned
- Unusual concerns about affording the baby’s arrival
- Uncertainty about whether wages have been received
- Mentions of surrendering wages to their partner
Pregnancy and maternity leave, unfortunately, provide abusers with additional isolation tools. Watch for employees who become unreachable during leave periods or never speak freely. Some mention partners creating work barriers by restricting transport access or work equipment use.
The Protecting Every Future campaign provides practical guidance to strengthen maternity and family-friendly workplace policies. It encourages employers to embed clear signposting to support services, conduct in-person risk assessments, and sensitively ask about abuse, both during pregnancy and at return-to-work interviews. When used alongside Sharon’s Policy, the downloadable guide helps build safer, more supportive environments where pregnant employees feel heard, protected, and empowered to speak up.
Early recognition enables prompt support, potentially reducing abuse severity and creating better outcomes for both mother and child.
How Employers Can Offer Support
“It is vital we take the onus off victims and survivors, and that we consider what more needs to be done so they can get the support they need at work and focus on rebuilding their lives.”
Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, Former Home Secretary, United Kingdom
Your workplace support makes a vital difference for employees facing domestic abuse during pregnancy. Employment provides the financial independence crucial for abuse survivors. Many victims consider work their only safe space where they feel comfortable discussing their situation openly.
Implementing a structured domestic abuse policy forms the backbone of effective support. Our free Sharon’s Policy template offers a ready-to-use framework outlining abuse indicators, staff responsibilities, and practical support measures. This resource works perfectly alongside our Protecting Every Future campaign, specifically targeting pregnancy-related abuse situations.
Practical assistance should include several key elements:
- Financial support: Arrange salary payments into separate accounts and provide salary advances when necessary
- Flexible arrangements: Offer adjustable working hours to help manage abuse consequences
- Paid leave: Provide up to 10 days of domestic abuse leave, following UN Women recommendations
- Safe space: Allocate time and private areas for making necessary calls and arrangements
- Confidentiality: Protect all shared information appropriately
Proper contact during maternity leave matters equally. Establish communication preferences before leave begins. Send updates about significant workplace changes, promotion opportunities, and vacancies throughout the leave period. Always ensure your contact remains appropriate to their specific circumstances.
Managers may feel unsure about handling domestic abuse disclosures. Targeted training helps them recognise warning signs, respond effectively, and direct staff to specialist services. Your goal should focus on creating a workplace where employees feel believed and supported without judgment.
For businesses committed to staff wellbeing, our Protecting Every Future guide delivers practical advice on adapting family-friendly policies to support better those experiencing domestic abuse during pregnancy or maternity leave.
Conclusion
Supporting pregnant employees facing domestic abuse saves lives. Our guide highlights how pregnancy often triggers or intensifies abuse, creating severe consequences for both mother and baby. The workplace is a vital haven where victims can find crucial support during this vulnerable period.
Early recognition of warning signs enables timely intervention. Changes in attendance, work performance fluctuations, and financial distress signals provide key indicators that something might be wrong. Your appropriate response can make a real difference to staff safety and wellbeing.
Financial independence proves essential for abuse survivors. Practical workplace measures like flexible hours, separate salary accounts, and paid domestic abuse leave offer critical lifelines for pregnant employees in abusive relationships. Maternity leave contact requires thoughtful planning to keep staff connected without increasing risk.
Proactive employers gain benefits beyond supporting individual staff members. Lower absenteeism, better staff retention, and stronger workplace morale contribute directly to business success. Your active stance on domestic abuse during pregnancy demonstrates a genuine commitment to equality and wellbeing.
Download our Protecting Every Future guide and Sharon’s Policy on our website to access practical resources explicitly designed for workplace implementation. These tools help you build an environment where pregnant employees experiencing abuse feel believed, supported, and empowered.
