Honour Based Abuse Workshops for Schools, Colleges, Universities and Staff Training

2020 Dreams Honour Based Abuse Workshops help young people and professionals recognise so-called “honour”-based abuse (HBA), understand the many different forms it can take and respond safely when somebody may be at risk from family or community pressure, coercion, violence or harmful practices.

HBA is much broader than a short list of headline crimes. It can involve coercive control, surveillance, threats, isolation, financial abuse, physical or sexual violence, forced marriage, child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), virginity testing, hymenoplasty, immigration abuse, transnational marriage abandonment, dowry abuse, breast flattening, forced travel, confinement, reproductive coercion and other harmful practices where abuse is being used to enforce perceived family or community “honour”, shame or behavioural expectations.

Our Honour Based Abuse Workshops for Schools are safeguarding-led and culturally sensitive without allowing cultural sensitivity to excuse abuse. HBA is not unique to one religion, nationality, ethnicity or community, and no religion requires or excuses abuse. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by many forms of HBA, but men and boys, LGBT+ people, disabled people and adults who may lack capacity can also be victims.

The programme is designed for a wide range of audiences and settings. We deliver tailored Honour Based Abuse Workshops for secondary schools, sixth forms, colleges, universities, SEND and SEMH settings, PRUs and alternative provision, youth organisations, charities, foster and residential settings, safeguarding teams, professional groups, workplaces and organisations. Primary-age work, where appropriate, is substantially adapted and focuses on personal safety, trusted adults, choice, body autonomy, harmful secrecy and recognising unsafe pressure.

Participants are never asked to disclose personal experiences publicly. We use distancing techniques, fictional scenarios and clear safeguarding boundaries. Where a live concern emerges, the workshop does not become an investigation: the setting’s safeguarding procedures must take over.

Core Features of Our Honour Based Abuse Workshops

• What honour-based abuse is – and what it is not
• The new 2026 statutory definition framework for HBA
• Current police-recorded HBA findings
• Coercive and controlling behaviour
• Family and wider-community pressure
• Monitoring, surveillance and restrictions on freedom
• Threats, intimidation, assault and serious violence
• Forced marriage and child marriage
• Forced overseas travel, abduction and being left abroad
• Female genital mutilation (FGM)
• FGM mandatory reporting and FGM Protection Orders
• Virginity testing and hymenoplasty
• Breast flattening / breast ironing
• Dowry-related abuse and economic control
• Immigration abuse and transnational marriage abandonment
• Spiritual, faith-linked or ritual abuse where relevant
• Sexual violence, rape and sexual coercion
• Reproductive coercion, pregnancy-related pressure and forced abortion
• LGBT+ victims, forced marriage and so-called “corrective” abuse
• Men and boys as victims
• Learning disability, mental capacity and forced marriage
• Education, relationships, independence and other perceived “honour” triggers
• Warning signs in children and young people
• The “one chance” safeguarding principle
• Why professionals must not contact family or attempt mediation
• HBA, VAWG, consent and healthy relationships
• KCSIE 2026 and safeguarding responsibilities
• Staff Honour Based Abuse Training

What Is Honour Based Abuse?

Honour-based abuse is not one specific criminal offence. It is an umbrella term describing abusive behaviour motivated wholly or partly by a belief that somebody has brought, is bringing or may bring “shame” or “dishonour” on a family, wider family or community by not following expected rules of behaviour.

The Crown Prosecution Service describes HBA as abuse involving violence, threats, intimidation, coercion or psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional abuse which has or may have been committed to protect or defend perceived “honour”. Different underlying offences are prosecuted according to what actually happened—for example assault, coercive control, threats to kill, harassment, kidnap, rape, forced marriage or murder.

A New 2026 Statutory Definition Framework for Honour Based Abuse

The Crime and Policing Act 2026, which received Royal Assent in April 2026, introduces a statutory framework for honour-based abuse guidance. Section 143 allows the Secretary of State to issue statutory guidance for public authorities, while section 144 provides a definition of HBA for the purposes of that guidance.

In simplified terms, the Act covers abusive behaviour towards a family member or somebody with a relevant connection where the perpetrator acts wholly or partly because they believe the victim has behaved, is behaving or may behave in a way that brings shame or dishonour and does not comply with accepted behavioural norms within the perpetrator’s community.

The definition also recognises that HBA can involve more than one perpetrator. That collective element is important: a victim may face pressure from parents, siblings, cousins, in-laws or others acting together, rather than one isolated abuser.

Latest Honour Based Abuse Statistics

The latest Home Office figures show why HBA needs to be treated as a live safeguarding issue rather than a rare historical practice. In the year ending March 2025, police in England and Wales recorded 2,949 HBA-related offences, up 7% from 2,755 in the previous year.

The police also recorded 2,047 HBA-related incidents, up 13% from the previous year. However, police statistics are not a measure of the true prevalence of HBA. The Home Office explicitly warns that HBA is hidden, victims can be reluctant or unable to report, and the recorded figures are likely to represent only a fraction of the abuse taking place.

Honour Based Abuse Is Much Broader Than the Traditional List

Older awareness material often reduces HBA to acid attacks, forced marriage, FGM and so-called “honour killings”. Those are important issues, but they do not capture the breadth of modern HBA.

HBA can include or overlap with:

• controlling or coercive behaviour
• psychological and emotional abuse
• physical assault and serious violence
• threats to kill
• corrosive substance or acid attacks
• false imprisonment or confinement
• kidnap or abduction
• stalking and harassment
• financial and economic abuse
• forced marriage and child marriage
• female genital mutilation (FGM)
• virginity testing
• hymenoplasty
• breast flattening / breast ironing
• sexual violence and rape
• forced or coerced pregnancy-related decisions
• pressure to terminate or continue a pregnancy
• sex-selective or family-status-related reproductive pressure where linked to honour or shame
• forced travel overseas
• passport confiscation
• being stranded or abandoned abroad
• immigration-related threats and control
• dowry abuse
• domestic servitude
• spiritual or ritual abuse
• forced marriage used to conceal or change LGBT+ identity
• conversion practices or so-called “corrective” sexual violence in an HBA context
• murder committed in the context of perceived honour

Not every harmful practice is automatically HBA. The HBA element depends on the context and motive—particularly whether abuse is being used to enforce perceived family/community honour, shame or behavioural rules.

The HBA Risk Map: CONTROL → COLLECTIVE PRESSURE → CONSEQUENCE → TRAVEL → SECRECY → ESCALATION

There is no single pathway into HBA. The HBA Risk Map is therefore not a prediction tool. It helps young people and professionals recognise patterns that can become especially concerning when several are present together.

Controlling and Coercive Behaviour Within Honour Based Abuse

The latest police figures show that controlling and coercive behaviour made up 22% of recorded HBA-related offences in the year ending March 2025. That makes control—not only physical violence—central to modern HBA education.

Control can include:

• monitoring calls, messages, location or social-media activity
• checking who somebody speaks to at school, college or work
• requiring a sibling or cousin to act as a chaperone
• restricting friendships or romantic relationships
• controlling clothing, socialising or leaving the home
• preventing education, university attendance or employment
• taking wages, benefits or bank cards
• confiscating passports or identity documents
• threatening family rejection, violence or homelessness
• using younger siblings or other relatives to pressure compliance
• monitoring through family networks in the UK or overseas

The key safeguarding question is not whether a family has rules or cultural expectations. It is whether a person is being abused, threatened, controlled or deprived of free choice in order to enforce perceived honour.

Physical Violence, Corrosive Attacks, Confinement and Threats

HBA can involve serious physical violence, including assault, strangulation or suffocation, threats to kill, false imprisonment, abduction and, in extreme cases, murder. A corrosive substance or acid attack can occur in an HBA context, but it is one possible form of violence rather than a defining feature of HBA.

The old phrase “honour killing” can obscure what has happened. A person murdered because a perpetrator claims that family honour has been damaged has been murdered; the “honour” motive does not reduce the seriousness of the crime or create a special defence.

Workshop material remains non-graphic. The learning focus is on recognising escalating risk, understanding control and knowing how to seek help—not on shocking pupils with descriptions of injuries.

Forced Marriage and Child Marriage

Forced marriage is one of the best-known forms of HBA, but it can affect people of any sex, age, ethnicity, nationality, culture or religion. A forced marriage is one in which somebody does not—or, because of lack of capacity, cannot—give free and full consent.

Pressure may be physical, sexual, emotional, psychological or financial. Somebody may initially agree to marry and later change their mind; forcing them to continue is still forced marriage.

Arranged marriage is different. In an arranged marriage involving adults, families may help introduce or select a potential partner, but both people remain free to say yes or no.

Since 27 February 2023, the minimum age for marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales has been 18. It is a criminal offence to carry out conduct intended to cause a child to enter a marriage before their eighteenth birthday, even where violence, threats or coercion are not used. This also covers non-legally-binding religious or traditional ceremonies that would be regarded as marriages by the parties and families.

Forced marriage can result in a prison sentence of up to seven years. Taking somebody overseas for the purpose of forcing them into marriage can also form part of the offence.

For a dedicated programme, see our Forced Marriage Workshop.

Latest Forced Marriage Unit Findings – 2025

The government’s Forced Marriage Unit received 1,295 contacts relating to possible forced marriage and/or FGM in 2025. Of these, 406 cases received tailored assistance and 889 were enquiries requiring information or signposting.

The FMU stresses that its figures are not prevalence estimates. Forced marriage is hidden, and the cases reported to one government unit cannot show the full scale of the abuse.

Forced Travel, Abduction, Being Left Abroad and Transnational Marriage Abandonment

HBA can become particularly dangerous when a person is taken outside the UK. A family holiday, wedding, funeral, illness or celebration may be genuine—or may be used as a reason to take somebody somewhere they have less access to support.

Possible concerns can include:

• unexpected travel plans or a sudden one-way ticket
• pressure to travel when the young person is frightened or reluctant
• passport confiscation
• being prevented from returning to the UK
• being taken abroad for forced marriage or FGM
• abandonment overseas without money or documents
• being told the person is going abroad “to learn a lesson” or restore family reputation

The CPS now expressly includes transnational marriage abandonment within its 2026 harmful-practices guidance. This can involve a spouse being deliberately stranded abroad without resources and prevented from returning to the UK.

“Forced repatriation” is sometimes used in awareness material, but the risk may involve several distinct acts—forced travel, abduction, passport control, abandonment or preventing somebody’s return. The workshop examines the behaviour rather than relying on one label.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Honour Based Abuse

Female genital mutilation refers to procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons. FGM is illegal in the UK and is recognised as child abuse and violence against women and girls.

FGM can occur within an HBA context where family or community pressure links the practice to perceived respectability, marriageability, sexuality, purity or honour. However, professionals should understand the specific FGM safeguarding and legal framework rather than treating it only as a sub-topic of HBA.

For specialist pupil education, see our Female Genital Mutilation [FGM] Workshop.

Latest NHS FGM Findings – April 2024 to March 2025

The latest NHS England FGM Enhanced Dataset reported that 6,980 individual women and girls had an NHS attendance where FGM was identified during April 2024 to March 2025. They accounted for 16,300 attendances.

Across the ten years from April 2015 to March 2025, 41,645 individual women and girls had FGM identified in NHS attendances, accounting for 118,530 total attendances.

The Four WHO Types of FGM

FGM is commonly grouped into four World Health Organization categories. In pupil-facing education we keep descriptions factual and non-graphic:

FGM: What Is Illegal?

The legal framework can cover:

• performing FGM
• assisting or encouraging FGM
• helping a girl perform FGM on herself
• arranging or facilitating FGM overseas in circumstances covered by UK law
• taking or arranging for a girl to be taken abroad for FGM
• failing to protect a girl under 16 from the risk of FGM where the statutory conditions apply

FGM Mandatory Reporting: Known Cases Are Different From Suspected Risk

This is an area where accuracy matters. In England and Wales, regulated health and social care professionals and teachers have a direct legal duty to report known FGM in a girl under 18 to the police when, in the course of professional work:

• the girl tells the professional that FGM has been carried out on her; or
• the professional directly observes physical signs appearing to show that FGM has been carried out and there is no appropriate medical explanation.

The mandatory direct-to-police duty does not apply merely because FGM is suspected or a girl may be at risk. Suspected or at-risk cases still require safeguarding action through the setting’s procedures, DSL and multi-agency pathways.

This distinction is built into our Staff Honour Based Abuse Training because saying “all FGM concerns must be directly reported under the mandatory duty” is legally inaccurate.

FGM Protection Orders

A Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order can be used by the family court to protect a girl or woman at risk. The latest Justice Data shows 107 FGM protection-order cases started in 2025, compared with 60 in 2024. A further estimated 32 cases started in January to March 2026.

In January to March 2026 specifically, there were 32 FGMPO applications and 53 orders made. Court-order figures should not be treated as prevalence statistics; they measure use of a protective legal mechanism.

Virginity Testing and Hymenoplasty

Virginity testing and hymenoplasty are now explicitly included in the CPS’s updated 2026 HBA and harmful-practices guidance.

Virginity testing is an examination carried out for the purpose or purported purpose of determining whether a woman or girl is a virgin. The CPS emphasises that virginity testing has no scientific merit: there is no examination that can prove whether somebody has previously had vaginal intercourse.

Carrying out virginity testing is a specific offence under the Health and Care Act 2022, with a maximum sentence of five years. Offering or aiding the procedure can also be offences.

Hymenoplasty is also a specific offence under the Health and Care Act 2022. Offering or helping to carry it out can likewise be criminal offences.

In an HBA context, these practices may be connected with family expectations about premarital sex, “purity”, marriageability or proof of virginity. Workshops challenge the underlying myth that somebody’s worth or family honour can be measured through sexual history or anatomy.

Breast Flattening / Breast Ironing

The CPS’s 2026 harmful-practices guidance also addresses breast flattening. This is a harmful practice intended to suppress or reverse breast development, sometimes rationalised as a way to reduce sexual attention, prevent pregnancy or relationships outside marriage, or prevent perceived dishonour.

It can amount to child abuse and offences against the person. The workshop approaches the subject without graphic descriptions and focuses on bodily autonomy, safeguarding, harmful justification and routes to support.

Dowry Abuse and Economic Control

Dowry itself has different meanings and traditions across communities and is not automatically abuse. Dowry abuse arises where financial demands, property, jewellery, gifts or expectations are used as part of coercion, exploitation or violence.

The CPS’s revised 2026 guidance identifies forms including:

• financial demands and extortion
• control over money, property, jewellery or gifts
• isolation
• threats and coercion
• domestic servitude
• physical, emotional or sexual abuse

There is no standalone criminal offence called “dowry abuse”; the relevant offences depend on the behaviour involved.

Immigration Abuse and Transnational Marriage Abandonment

Immigration status can be used as a powerful tool of control. The CPS added immigration abuse explicitly to its HBA and harmful-practices guidance in 2026.

Examples can include:

• withholding passports or immigration documents
• threatening deportation or removal
• threatening to report somebody to the Home Office or police
• controlling visa renewal or access to status
• using lack of status to prevent access to services
• threatening homelessness or destitution
• financial control
• abandoning or stranding a spouse overseas without resources
• preventing a spouse from returning to the UK

Victims may be especially reluctant to seek help if they have been falsely told that authorities will automatically deport them or take away their children.

Spiritual, Faith-Linked and Ritual Abuse

The CPS’s 2026 guidance also includes abuse linked to faith, belief or ritual. This is another area requiring careful language: religious belief itself is not abuse. The safeguarding concern is harmful behaviour carried out or justified through a belief framework.

Examples can include accusations of possession or witchcraft, scapegoating, harmful rituals, extreme fasting, physical violence, sexual abuse, neglect, financial abuse or other acts causing harm.

Some cases may overlap with HBA where a person is blamed for bringing shame, spiritual danger or misfortune on a family or community. Others will be faith-linked abuse without an HBA motive. Context matters.

Sexual Violence, Rape and Sexual Coercion Within HBA

HBA can include sexual violence. A person may be pressured or forced into sex, threatened with sexual harm, sexually assaulted within a forced marriage, punished for a relationship or subjected to abuse intended to control sexuality.

Marriage never creates automatic consent to sex. Consent must be freely given and can be withdrawn. Where sexual harassment or sexual violence is the main educational focus, settings can use our dedicated Sexual Harassment Workshops and Consent Workshops.

Reproductive Coercion, Pregnancy and Abortion Pressure

Reproductive abuse can intersect with HBA when pregnancy, contraception, fertility or abortion become tools for enforcing family or community expectations.

Examples may include:

• forcing or pressuring somebody to continue a pregnancy
• forcing or pressuring somebody to terminate a pregnancy
• controlling contraception
• punishing somebody for becoming pregnant outside marriage
• coercion connected with the sex of a pregnancy or family expectations
• using pregnancy as evidence of alleged “dishonour”
• threats linked to infertility, fertility or failure to produce children

The phrase “selective abortion” should therefore not be used as if it is one universal form of HBA. Reproductive coercion becomes relevant to HBA when the pressure or abuse is linked to perceived honour, shame or expected behaviour. The individual circumstances and safeguarding risk are what matter.

LGBT+ Victims and Honour Based Abuse

LGBT+ people can face HBA when sexual orientation, gender identity, relationships or refusal to conform to expected gender roles are treated as bringing shame on a family.

The government’s domestic-abuse guidance recognises that forced marriage, conversion practices and so-called “corrective” rape may form part of HBA affecting LGBT+ victims.

The Forced Marriage Unit recorded five 2025 tailored-assistance cases in which the victim voluntarily identified as LGBT+ and LGBT+ identity was a driving factor in the forced marriage. The FMU itself cautions that this is likely to undercount the true number because it does not systematically collect this information in every case.

Workshop delivery makes clear that being LGBT+ is not a problem to be “corrected”, concealed or punished.

Men and Boys Can Be Victims of Honour Based Abuse

HBA and forced marriage disproportionately affect women and girls in many contexts, but men and boys can also be victims.

In the Forced Marriage Unit’s 2025 tailored-assistance cases, 26% involved male victims. Men were particularly represented among cases involving mental-capacity concerns.

Boys and men may experience forced marriage, threats over relationships or sexuality, pressure to control female relatives, violence for refusing family expectations or abuse connected with disability and marriage.

Teaching should therefore recognise the gendered nature of HBA without erasing male victims.

Learning Disability, Mental Capacity and Forced Marriage

A person must have capacity to consent to marriage. Where an adult lacks the relevant mental capacity, causing them to marry can constitute forced marriage even if threats or physical force are not used.

In 2025, 75 Forced Marriage Unit cases—18% of all tailored-assistance cases—involved mental-capacity concerns. Among those cases, male victims were particularly represented.

Possible vulnerabilities can include dependence on family for communication, transport, finances or care, difficulty recognising coercion, fear of losing support or limited opportunity to speak privately with professionals.

Learning disability or autism does not cause HBA and should never be treated as a risk marker by itself. The safeguarding focus is on actual behaviour, capacity, coercion and the person’s circumstances.

What Can Trigger Honour Based Abuse?

The old page described particular activities—such as university, driving or going out—as “dishonourable behaviour”. That wording risks presenting an abuser’s rules as legitimate cultural norms. The new approach is different.

HBA may be triggered by a perpetrator’s perception that somebody has breached or may breach expected behaviour. Examples can include:

• choosing a partner the family disapproves of
• refusing an arranged or proposed marriage
• ending a relationship or seeking divorce
• having sex or being believed to have had sex
• pregnancy outside expected circumstances
• coming out as LGBT+
• challenging gender expectations
• wanting greater independence
• going to university or moving away from home
• choosing employment or a career against family wishes
• socialising or friendships the family disapproves of
• clothing or appearance
• religious or cultural choices
• using social media or communicating privately
• reporting abuse to professionals
• supporting another family member who is resisting abuse

None of these behaviours creates dishonour. The safeguarding issue is the perpetrator’s decision to use abuse to enforce control.

Warning Signs of Honour Based Abuse in Young People

No single warning sign proves that HBA is taking place. Professionals should look at the wider context, patterns, changes and what the young person says.

Possible indicators can include:

• sudden or unexplained absence from school or college
• an unexpected drop in attendance before or after a holiday
• fear or distress about an upcoming overseas trip
• an unexplained announcement of engagement or marriage
• talk about being expected to marry
• family opposition to further education or employment
• constant monitoring by siblings or relatives
• being collected from school or college unexpectedly
• restrictions on friendships, phone use or movement
• fear that family will discover a relationship or sexuality
• passport or travel documents being controlled by somebody else
• running away or saying they cannot safely go home
• self-harm, low mood, anxiety or isolation
• threats of violence, abduction or being killed
• disclosure of FGM, forced marriage, virginity testing or another harmful practice
• being taken or left abroad for an extended period

Warning signs should prompt professional curiosity and safeguarding action—not stereotyping based on ethnicity, faith or family background.

The “One Chance” Rule: Safeguarding Honour Based Abuse Safely

Government forced-marriage guidance uses the “one chance” rule: a professional may only have one opportunity to speak privately with somebody at risk, and that conversation may be the only opportunity to prevent serious harm.

One Chance Safeguarding Check: LISTEN → PRIVATE → DO NOT CONTACT FAMILY → RECORD → ESCALATE → SPECIALIST ADVICE

What Professionals Must Not Do in a Suspected HBA or Forced Marriage Case

Some ordinary safeguarding instincts can become dangerous in an HBA case. Government guidance specifically warns against approaches that may alert perpetrators or increase risk.

• Do not contact the family to ask whether the allegation is true.
• Do not attempt family mediation, reconciliation or counselling.
• Do not ask community leaders to negotiate.
• Do not use relatives, family friends or community members as interpreters.
• Do not share the victim’s location or contact details.
• Do not assume a promise from the family makes the situation safe.
• Do not leave the person to manage serious risk alone. Use the appropriate safeguarding and specialist pathways.

Government guidance notes that victims have been murdered during or after mediation attempts. This is why HBA requires specialist, risk-led safeguarding rather than informal family problem-solving.

Forced Marriage Protection Orders

A Forced Marriage Protection Order (FMPO) is a civil family-court order designed to protect somebody from being forced into marriage or to help somebody already in a forced marriage.

Orders can include restrictions or requirements designed around the individual case. Breaching an FMPO can be a criminal offence.

Justice Data records 349 forced-marriage-protection cases starting in 2025. In January to March 2026, a further 120 estimated cases started. Separate Ministry of Justice statistics show 120 FMPO applications and 191 orders made in that first quarter of 2026.

Court figures measure use of legal protection and should not be interpreted as the number of forced marriages occurring in the population.

Honour Based Abuse, VAWG and Gender-Based Harm

HBA sits within the wider Violence Against Women and Girls landscape because many forms are rooted in gender inequality, patriarchal expectations, control of sexuality and restrictions on women’s and girls’ autonomy.

However, a good Honour Based Abuse Workshop must hold two truths at the same time: women and girls are disproportionately affected by many HBA practices, and victims can also be male, LGBT+, disabled or otherwise outside stereotypical profiles.

For broader work on misogyny, coercive control, sexual violence, stalking and gender-based abuse, settings can combine HBA education with our VAWG Workshops.

Healthy Relationships, Consent and Family Relationships

HBA prevention should not only teach warning signs. Young people also need a positive model of relationships based on dignity, consent, communication and individual choice.

Healthy family and intimate relationships should not require a person to surrender their:

• right to education
• right to choose whether or whom to marry
• right to leave a relationship
• right to bodily autonomy
• right to sexual consent
• right to privacy
• right to lawful friendships and relationships
• right to seek help

For deeper relationship education, see our Healthy Relationships Workshops and Consent Workshops.

Honour Based Abuse and KCSIE 2026

KCSIE 2025 remains in force until 31 August 2026. KCSIE 2026 comes into force on 1 September 2026. Keeping Children Safe in Education places so-called honour-based abuse—including FGM and forced marriage—within the safeguarding responsibilities of schools and colleges.

Staff should speak to the designated safeguarding lead or deputy when concerned. Known FGM in an under-18 may additionally trigger the separate mandatory direct-to-police reporting duty for relevant regulated professionals and teachers.

A workshop can strengthen awareness, recognition and confidence, but it does not replace the DSL, local safeguarding procedures, children’s social care, police, the Forced Marriage Unit or specialist HBA/FGM services.

Honour Based Abuse Workshop Overview

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Primary and Upper KS2 Foundations

Primary-age delivery must be substantially different from secondary or professional HBA training. It should not introduce graphic violence, adult sexual content or detailed criminal case studies.

Where a school requires age-appropriate foundations, content can focus on:

• body autonomy and personal boundaries
• the right to say no to unsafe behaviour
• trusted adults
• safe and unsafe secrets
• healthy family relationships
• choice and respect
• knowing that nobody should hurt them to enforce a family rule
• basic awareness that harmful procedures such as FGM are not a child’s responsibility
• knowing how to seek help if an adult has made them frightened about travel, marriage or a procedure

Honour Based Abuse Workshops for Secondary Schools

Honour Based Abuse Workshops for Secondary Schools can explore coercive control, family pressure, forced marriage, FGM, travel risk, sexual autonomy, relationships, warning signs, online monitoring and safe help-seeking.

The workshop should not put pupils from particular communities under a spotlight or ask them to explain their culture. Scenarios are fictional and broad enough to develop safeguarding understanding without racial or religious profiling.

Honour Based Abuse Workshops for Sixth Forms, Colleges and Universities

Post-16 learners may face pressures connected with relationships, moving away from home, university choice, employment, marriage, sexuality, pregnancy, divorce or greater independence.

Sessions can therefore explore adult forced marriage, coercive control, immigration abuse, transnational abandonment, sexual violence, reproductive coercion, LGBT+ risk, bystander responsibility, supporting friends and specialist support routes in greater depth.

Honour Based Abuse Workshops for SEND, SEMH, PRUs and Alternative Provision

Honour Based Abuse Workshops can be adapted through clearer language, shorter scenarios, repetition, visual prompts, smaller groups and additional processing time.

For learners with a learning disability, particular care can be taken around the meaning of consent to marriage, family pressure, ability to make an independent decision, trusted adults and how to communicate concern.

Adaptation is based on the actual learner group and does not assume that disability, ethnicity or religion makes somebody an HBA victim.

Staff Honour Based Abuse Training

Staff Honour Based Abuse Training is available for teachers, DSLs, pastoral teams, senior leaders, college and university staff, youth workers, social-care and safeguarding professionals, charities and professional teams.

Staff training can cover:

• the 2026 statutory HBA definition framework
• current police HBA statistics
• coercive control and collective perpetration
• forced marriage law and child marriage
• latest Forced Marriage Unit findings
• forced overseas travel and transnational abandonment
• FGM law and NHS findings
• the FGM mandatory reporting duty
• FGM Protection Orders
• virginity testing and hymenoplasty
• breast flattening
• dowry and immigration abuse
• spiritual abuse
• LGBT+ and male victims
• mental capacity
• the one-chance rule
• why family mediation is unsafe
• recording and information sharing
• KCSIE 2026
• working with the Forced Marriage Unit and specialist agencies

For bespoke CPD and INSET delivery, see our Staff Honour Based Abuse Training.

How We Deliver Honour Based Abuse Workshops

Intended Outcomes of Honour Based Abuse Workshops

Publications

To support our work in raising awareness we have produced a number of books.

Topics include RSE, Knife Crime, Gang Prevention, Mental Health & more.

Our publications are suitable for both parents & teachers.

View all

Handbook of Youth Sex in the 21st Century

£12.99

Getting a Grasp On Youth Mental Health

£12.99

The Rise of the Girl Gang (and Girls in Gangs)

£12.99

Getting to Grips with Gangs

£12.99

Getting Real with Guns and Knives

£12.99

Grooming in the 21st Century

£12.99

Related Honour Based Abuse, FGM, Forced Marriage and VAWG Workshops

Schools, colleges, universities and organisations can combine Honour Based Abuse Workshops with related specialist programmes where one area needs greater depth.

Honour Based Abuse Workshops FAQ

Honour Based Abuse, Forced Marriage and FGM References

Our Honour Based Abuse Workshops draw on current law, statutory guidance and official statistics:

• Home Office – So-called “Honour-Based” Abuse Offences, Year Ending March 2025
• Crime and Policing Act 2026 – Sections 143 and 144 Explanatory Notes
• Crown Prosecution Service – Honour-Based Abuse, Forced Marriage and Harmful Practices Guidance, revised February 2026
• Forced Marriage Unit – Statistics 2025
• Home Office / FCDO – The Right to Choose: Forced Marriage Multi-Agency Guidance
• GOV.UK – Forced Marriage and the Forced Marriage Unit
• NHS England – Female Genital Mutilation Annual Report, April 2024 to March 2025
• Home Office / DfE – FGM Mandatory Reporting: Procedural Information
• HM Government – Multi-Agency Statutory Guidance on FGM
• Ministry of Justice – Family Court Data: Forced Marriage and FGM Protection
• Home Office – Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance
• Department for Education – Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025 / 2026