Attacks by women on family members have risen twice as fast as those by men, new data show, leading campaigners to call for an overhaul of approaches to domestic violence.

Female perpetrators now account for 28 per cent of cases - compared to 19 per cent a decade ago. Male perpetrators were still identified in the majority of domestic violence incidents.

The number of attacks committed by females has tripled, growing from 27,762 in 2009 to 92,409 in 2018, according to the data obtained by The Sunday Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act. More than 10,000 incidents were identified by police in West Yorkshire alone.

It is thought a significant number of domestic violence incidents still go unreported.

Experts last night called for an overhaul of approaches to abuse, arguing domestic violence cannot be thought of as a male only crime.

Mark Brooks, chairman of the Mankind Initiative, which supports male victims of domestic abuse, said: “These figures are a wake-up call on why, when we think of domestic abuse, although the gender and age of victims is important it should be no more significant than them as an individual.