Women’s Aid launch What Works Fund impact report

Today we are proud to launch our What Works Fund impact report: What works to prevent violence against women and girls? This short report brings together the impact of the work Women’s Aid carried out through the ‘What Works’ Fund (WWF) provided by the Home Office between 2022 and 2025. It summarises the contribution of the following projects in our mission to end violence against women and girls: 

• Influencers and Attitudes (2023) – this report was based on research on children and young people’s understanding of and attitudes towards healthy relationships. This report was referenced in the recently published Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) government strategy.  

• Expect Respect – a school-based educational programme about unhealthy relationships and the gender stereotypes that underpin them. Our independent evaluation, also published today, showed us that after our training, children and young people aged 11 to 18 were 2.5 times more likely to say they knew who they could talk to if they were concerned about a relationship. 

• Training bursaries for domestic abuse professionals: We provided 134 bursaries to train staff working with children and young people CYP in the domestic abuse sector. We also worked with HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to deliver training to probation staff. 

• Love Respect – thanks to the What Works Fund, we were able to further develop our website for young people aged 14 to 24. We listened to the voices of children and young people and made changes to our Love Respect website, we increased the number of monthly users by more than 450%, allowing more young people to learn about and be supported with domestic abuse.  

• Activity packs to support children and young people during their time in refuges. Our activity packs are designed to help children communicate their likes and needs, to explore and express their feelings, to find comfort in their creativity, and to understand key topics including safety and trust. The packs have been downloaded at least 72 times and have likely helped even more children and young people in refuges.  

 “The importance of the work undertaken as part of the What Works Fund cannot be underestimated. Each project has a tangible and meaningful impact when it comes to addressing domestic abuse and the toxic beliefs and systems that underpin it”
Nikki Bradley, Director of Delivery at Women’s Aid 

To read our What Works Fund impact report please visit: What works to prevent violence against women & girls?