On 15 September 2026, the Home Office published updated statutory guidance underpinning domestic abuse related death reviews, formerly known as domestic homicide reviews. Provisions in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 also came into force that day, aligning the definition of domestic abuse with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and changing the review name.

The department said the guidance places victims at the heart of reviews, streamlines administrative process and embeds oversight. Under the revised criteria, reviews would be undertaken when a death has, or appears to have, resulted from domestic abuse as defined in section 1 of the 2021 Act.

The guidance is part of wider Home Office reform, which the department listed as including a Quality Assurance Board introduced in 2025, a commitment to develop a new oversight mechanism for review recommendations, and compulsory training for review chairs. The measures sit within a strategy published in December 2025 that set out an aim to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.