Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Parental conflict or domestic abuse

Parental conflict and domestic abuse are two separate things, but it can sometimes be difficult to work out if your relationship is abusive or just in a bad place.

There are things you can do that will help you feel stronger and ready to deal with disagreements and arguments - see our Top tips to help you stay calm during disagreements or arguments page.

As a general guide, if your relationship with your partner, ex-partner or a member of your family is abusive:

they will want to hold all the power and control
you might be fearful of them
their abuse will have happened more than once, or you will notice patterns

Helpful websites

Harbour

Harbour is a specialist domestic abuse service that helps people living in County Durham.

Victim Support

Victim Support is a national website with information about categories of domestic abuse.

Galop (LGBT+)

Galop UK is an anti-violence charity, making life safe, just and fair for LGBT+ people.

NSPCC

NSPCC: domestic abuse tells you how you can support for you and your child if you are experiencing domestic abuse.