Eleanor VaughanOne woman is killed by a man in the United Kingdom every three days. On 12 March 2026, Jess Phillips MP stood before Parliament and took seven minutes to read the names of 108 women killed by men in the preceding year — the 11th consecutive year this sombre tradition has been observed. The youngest victim was 17; the eldest, 93. What changed this year was not only the number: for the first time in UK legislative history, the word "femicide" appeared in an official government strategy to tackle men's violence against women and girls. Simultaneously, the Victims and Courts Act 2026 quietly came into force, expanding the rights of bereaved families in ways that most people navigating grief have no idea exist.
Parliament Speaks: 108 Names, One Systemic Crisis
The annual reading of names, carried out in partnership with the Femicide Census and Counting Dead Women, is not ceremonial — it is an act of accountability. According to Femicide Census data, at least 53% of women killed by men in the UK were murdered by a current or former intimate partner. More starkly, at least 40% of those killed had already left, or were actively in the process of leaving, their abuser. That figure dismantles the persistent myth that leaving guarantees safety.
The 2026 reading surfaced another troubling pattern: 19 of the 108 victims were mothers killed where the son was the primary suspect — the highest matricide rate recorded across 16 years of Femicide Census data. These are not anomalies. They are part of a measurable, documented pattern that the UK legal system is only now beginning to formally name. Advocates, including the Femicide Census, have long argued that without legal recognition of femicide as a distinct offence, the data remains fragmented, prosecution priorities go unexamined, and families are left without the statutory framework they deserve.
The Victims and Courts Act 2026: What Has Changed
Passed on 29 April 2026, the Victims and Courts Act 2026 represents the most significant legislative reform for crime victims in a generation. Its provisions directly affect families of femicide victims in three material ways.
Mandatory sentencing attendance. Offenders are now legally required to appear at their own sentencing hearings. Courts have powers to compel attendance and impose sanctions on those who refuse. For years, some killers have declined to enter the dock during the moment a victim's family reads their impact statement — a secondary trauma that the Act has now addressed in statute.
Enhanced victim communication rights. Schedule 2 of the Act strengthens post-conviction communication schemes, giving families a clearer and more enforceable pathway to receive information about offenders — including release arrangements, licence conditions, and parole reviews. Previously, families often reported learning about offender releases through unofficial channels, or not at all.
Expanded Commissioner oversight. The Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses gains strengthened powers to scrutinise how criminal justice agencies respond to victims of serious violence. For families of femicide victims, this creates an accountability mechanism that previously existed only in guidance, not in law.
Legal specialists note that while the Act does not introduce femicide as a distinct criminal offence — a reform that advocacy groups including the Femicide Census continue to press for — it meaningfully shifts the procedural landscape for families navigating the aftermath of gender-based killings. The gap between naming a problem and legislating for it remains. But the 2026 Act is a structural step forward.
Why the Legal Label Still Matters
The absence of "femicide" as a specific criminal category in UK law is not a semantic gap — it is a structural one. A parliamentary petition calling for its legal recognition sets out three consequences of the omission: it obscures the true scale of the crisis, removes any statutory signal that misogynistic murder is treated differently from other homicide, and prevents the kind of targeted, data-driven prevention strategies that a defined category enables.
Without a specific legal category, prosecutions for the killing of women by men proceed under general homicide law — murder or manslaughter — with no statutory recognition of gendered motivation. Compare this to hate crime legislation, where racial or religious motivation can increase a sentence. Misogynistic motivation currently carries no equivalent weight in England and Wales.
For families, this creates a frustration that surfaces consistently in legal consultation. Solicitors specialising in victims' rights increasingly report that bereaved families want to understand why their loved one's killing is treated identically to any other homicide, regardless of documented coercive control, prior abuse, or Non-Molestation Order breaches. That question — why doesn't the law see the pattern? — is one of the most important a family can bring to a specialist legal professional.
See also: UK Stalking Law Review 2026: Legal Protections and Your Rights
A Family's Situation in Practice: What the 2026 Act Actually Delivers
Consider this scenario — composite, but grounded in the patterns the Femicide Census documents year after year. A woman in Birmingham was killed by her former partner in January 2026. She had separated from him eight months earlier and had previously obtained a Non-Molestation Order under the Family Law Act 1996. He violated the order twice before the killing; neither breach resulted in prosecution. Her family — her parents and a teenage sibling — are now navigating the criminal justice system for the first time, with no legal experience and no idea what they are entitled to.
Under the Victims and Courts Act 2026, this family has the following specific entitlements:
Victim Personal Statement (VPS). At sentencing, each family member may submit a VPS detailing the emotional, financial, and psychological impact of the killing. The Act strengthens the framework ensuring these statements are formally considered by the sentencing judge — not merely filed.
Victim Contact Scheme enrolment. Because the offender is likely to receive a determinate sentence of 12 months or more, or an extended sentence under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the family qualifies for automatic referral to the Victim Contact Scheme. This means they will be notified — automatically — of any parole review, release date, or change to licence conditions. For sentences under 12 months, which can apply in manslaughter cases, the family must proactively request contact via the National Probation Service. That single procedural difference — automatic versus opt-in — is something many families never learn until after the relevant window has closed.
Forced courtroom presence. Under the new mandatory attendance provisions, the offender cannot simply decline to appear during sentencing. The judge can compel his presence or impose sanctions. For this family, that means they will not face the additional trauma of reading their impact statements to an empty dock.
The practical gap in this scenario is the two Non-Molestation Order breaches that were not prosecuted. Under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights — the right to life — families may be able to challenge police or CPS decisions where a known, documented threat was not acted upon. That avenue requires specialist legal advice and is highly fact-specific, but it is a route that exists and that far too few families are told about.
Practical Steps for Families Affected by Femicide
If a family member has been killed by a partner, former partner, or male relative, legal specialists advise the following steps:
Engage a victims' rights solicitor early. Ideally before or during trial, not only after sentencing. The window for enrolling in the Victim Contact Scheme and for providing input to the Probation Service is time-limited and can close before families realise it is open.
Request relevant records. Under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, families may be entitled to access police records of prior call-outs, Non-Molestation Order breaches, and risk assessments. These records can be relevant both to civil claims and to any formal complaint about police handling.
Explore civil routes. A criminal conviction does not preclude a separate civil action for damages. In cases where police were aware of a documented threat and failed to act, an Article 2 ECHR challenge may also be viable. These are legally complex routes, but they exist — and they are more accessible now than they were before the 2026 Act expanded victim oversight mechanisms.
Connect with specialist organisations alongside legal advice. The Femicide Census, Refuge, and Women's Aid provide guidance on both legal and non-legal routes for families. For families unsure where to start, they can serve as a point of entry toward specialist legal consultation. Domestic violence legal support is available through specialist solicitors.
The 2026 Act has lowered some procedural barriers. But the gap between legal entitlement and actual enforcement remains substantial — and it is widest for families who do not yet know what to ask for.
This article addresses serious legal matters involving homicide and domestic violence. The information provided is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. If you or your family have been affected by these issues, please consult a qualified solicitor.
