At least 22,000 people in Croydon fall victim to domestic violence each year with nearly 90 per cent of women attacked four times or more, shocking figures have suggested.

Around 13,700 woman and 8,800 men suffer domestic violence or abuse, with the scale of the problem estimated to cost the borough's health services, police and council £64.5m a year. 

Women are far more likely to suffer repeated abuse, according statistics published by Croydon Council this week.

Some 89 per cent of women and 11 per cent of men suffered four or more incidents of abuse during 2011/12, the last period for which full figures are available.

The domestic abuse rate in Croyis seven offences per 1,000 population compared to 5.7 per 1,000 population for similar boroughs and 6.4 per 1,000 population for London as a whole.

This figure means it ranks 19th out of 32 London boroughs for rate of domestic violence offences per 1,000 population.

The true scale of the violence is likely to the higher since many victims do not complain to police.

Financially the council estimates that domestic abuse costs the borough, including the NHS, police and other organisations, £64.5m a year.

The figures were published this week in the council's new domestic violence strategy.

The plans involve the council, police, schools, the NHS and other organisations working closer with each other.

This will include providing more education and domestic abuse and bringing about tougher punishments for perpetrators.

Cabinet member for safety and justice Councillor Mark Watson has held talks with the Home Office about changing the law to create a specific criminal offence of domestic violence.

He said: “We are not just going to be putting sticking plasters on [the problem].

“It’s a very ambitious programme of work and we want to lead the way.

“Over the last 20 or 30 years we have not changed attitudes [to domestic abuse] that much.

“We need to do more as this is a societal problem and we need to change attitudes to domestic abuse.

“Somehow the perpetrators feel it is okay to do it in a domestic setting and I’m sure a lot of neighbours hear fighting and think if it is in a relationship then they don’t feel it is as serious as fighting in the street.

“This strategy is saying where does that attitude come from and why do people think that abusive relationships are okay.”

A big part of the strategy is to get perpetrators to realise what they are doing is wrong before they are charged with a criminal offence.

In the current system attackers rarely get support to help them stop being an abuser until they have been prosecuted for a crime.

Croydon’s strategy wants to tackle the problem and help perpetrators and their victims before it gets to this stage.

Coun Watson added: “We need to get perpetrators to understand their behaviour, and we can change attitudes.

“Some of them might have grown up like that thinking it is okay, it’s about getting them support and help sooner.”

Part of the work in changing the attitudes towards domestic abuse is to teach in schools what a healthy relationship is.

Coun Watson said one in five boys thinks it is okay to hit their girlfriends if they annoy them and he wants to stamp out this attitude.

He added: “I think we need to get into schools and we need to engage all the partners across the borough.”

The strategy document admits that in Croydon there is a need for more independent domestic abuse advisers (IDVAs) to help victims, despite the appointment this autumn of an extra one based at Windmill Road police station and another at Croydon University Hospital.

To rectify this, an online support system is being developed so people can get advice from IDVAs at more convenient times for them without having to meet them in person.

Coun Watson added: “I’m a digital champion in lots of ways and we need to make sure that people access services in the best way they can.

“There’s lots more stuff that we can do like apps and social networking to help people.

“If we can change people’s attitudes to domestic violence in the next few years then that will be a great legacy.”