Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 provides for the offence of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or familial relationship. The offence was created to close a gap in the law around patterns of controlling or coercive behaviour during a relationship where person A and person B are "personally connected", as defined in section 76(2) and (6), as intimate partners; former partners who still live together; or family members who live together.
	Section 68 amends the definition of "personally connected" in section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 to align it with that in section 2 of the Domestic Abuse Act. This removes the current requirement for A and B to live together if they are former intimate partners or family members in order to be "personally connected", so that the offence would apply regardless of whether persons A and B live together in the same household. It is therefore no longer a requirement of the section 76 offence for ex- intimate partners or family members to live together in order to be considered "personally connected", thereby bringing within the ambit of the offence controlling or coercive behaviour by a former intimate partner that takes place post-separation or by a family member who does not live with the victim.
Part 6: Offences involving violent or abusive behaviour Section 68: Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship