[Kizzy]

''The figures reveal that 13,500 people – 80% of them women – reported domestic violence to Citizens Advice last year. There were 3,300 reported incidents between October and December 2012, an 11% increase on the same period the previous year. Although the figures should be treated with a degree of caution – a spike in reports of domestic violence, often considered to be a hidden crime, can arise as women feel more able to report it – Citizens Advice is sufficiently concerned to open specialist services for victims in 10 of its UK offices.

"These figures for domestic violence cases show it is disturbingly high and afflicts all levels of society – it haunts the lives of too many women and children," said Gillian Guy, Citizens Advice chief executive.

Calling on the prime minister to honour a promise made on International Women's Day to tackle the problem, she added: "As the scale of government cuts start to bite, we are concerned that our trend highlights how levels of domestic violence could get even worse. We need to see the government doing everything it can to deal with the problems of violence against women in our society and ensure they get the support they need."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...itizens-advice