Sarah Davidge, Head of Research and Evaluation at Women’s Aid, said:  

“This is a poignant year for crime data as it relates to domestic abuse and wider violence against women and girls (VAWG), as the Government is working towards its pledge of halving VAWG over the next decade, and is due to announce its new VAWG strategy this autumn. 

“Today the ONS has released a new combined measure of the prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The development of this measure provides a snapshot of overall victimisation in crimes heavily experienced by women and girls. It is clearly a step toward a more comprehensive overview of these crimes and reflects the government’s commitment to ending VAWG.

“Although prevalence measures such as these can enable us to better identify the overall proportion of victims, they do not consider the number of times each person was victimised. We know that women encounter higher rates of repeat victimisation, are more likely to be subject to coercive and controlling behaviour and be seriously harmed or killed than male victims. Therefore, prevalence measures can underestimate the gender asymmetry of these crimes.

“It is also important to recognise that aggregating these different experiences of VAWG risks obscuring the full impact of these crimes on women. When presented as a single percentage, the unique prevalence, severity, and patterns of abuse—particularly those disproportionately affecting women—can become less visible. We are concerned that the way in which the questions were asked for the new measure could mask a higher proportion of female victims who experience both domestic abuse and non-domestic abuse related crimes.

“Women’s Aid has been part of a project led by University of Bristol over the past few years to redevelop the questions on domestic abuse in the CSEW, data from these questions will be published in the autumn. The figures released today should be read alongside these abuse profiles, to give a more accurate picture of this awful crime and how it affects women and children.”

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Isabelle Younane, Head of External Affairs at Women’s Aid, said: 

“Last year, the now Labour Government, pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next 10 years if they were elected. This pledge was welcomed by Women’s Aid, as we saw it as an opportunity for tangible action to be taken towards the epidemic of domestic abuse and other forms of gendered abuse across the country.

However, with no explicit mention of violence against women and girls (VAWG) or domestic abuse in the Chancellor’s speech, and a failure to commit to new funding on tackling VAWG, we are concerned about the ability of government to meet its important manifesto commitment. Without adequate investment in the specialist services that support survivors by helping them to rebuild their lives free from abuse, this pledge will be impossible to deliver.

We are also concerned that the only reference in the Autumn Budget to domestic abuse is in the Home Office budget and in the context of criminal justice outcomes. This is despite the fact that only one in five women report abuse to the police, and that we need a whole-system approach to tackling domestic abuse if we are to truly end this national epidemic – as recognised by the National Police Chiefs Council earlier this year

Women’s Aid, alongside 20 other leading VAWG organisations sent a letter to the Chancellor, Deputy Prime Minister, Home Secretary and Justice Secretary last week, which highlighted the urgent need for sustainable funding to specialist services in the Autumn Budget and Spring Spending Review. The tragic reality is that 1 in 4 women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, meaning that there are countless survivors who need support. Without proper funding, life-saving services that support women and children will be unable to meet demands.

Within departmental allocations, we have continued to call for a minimum funding settlement of £516 million per year in England, to ensure that survivors can access early interventions with specialist domestic abuse services. This funding will not only save lives, but also has the potential to save the public purse as much as £23 billion a year if adequately funded – our research with ResPublica in 2022 found a £9 saving to the public purse for every £1 invested.  With our recent Price of Safety report highlighting that it can cost £50,000 for a survivor to flee, we urge the Home Office to guarantee funding of no less than £2 million for the Flexible Fund for 2025/26 and beyond, to ensure that survivors have the access to the resources they need to flee abuse.

While funding is a challenge for the whole of the VAWG sector, specialist ‘by and for’ organisations face additional barriers. This is why we are calling for ring-fenced funding for ‘by and for’ organisations who provide specialist support to Black and minoritised women, migrant women, d/Deaf and disabled women, and the LGBT+ community.

Women’s Aid will need to see the details of the departmental budgets and what this means for VAWG services, but near-absence of VAWG from the budget today is extremely concerning. We already know that the Treasury has reneged on plans to deliver on a new £10m fund for Tackling Economic Impacts of Domestic Abuse (TEIDA). We hope that we will quickly be reassured that this funding has been reallocated to another VAWG project, to avoid a reduction in spend on VAWG compared to the previous government. Otherwise, this would be catastrophic for an already chronically underfunded sector, meaning that women and children would be at even greater risk of being turned away from the lifesaving services they rely on.

Women’s Aid welcomes the increase in funding for social housing, as this will improve housing provision for some survivors of domestic abuse. However, we are clear that this needs to translate into an increase in funding for Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act in order to address unmet need. Looking ahead, we appeal to MoJ and MHCLG to address the funding cliff edge next year for specialist services commissioned under contracts linked to government funding, who are still waiting for allocations from local authority budgets ahead of their contracts expiring on 31st March 2025.

We also welcome the long overdue investment in probation services, especially given the early prisoner release scheme introduced earlier this year, putting even more pressure on already stretched probation services and their ability to ensure adequate safety planning for survivors as part of a multi-agency response. 

If the government are committed to ending VAWG, specialist domestic abuse services must be given the funding they urgently need to support women and children as they flee abuse and rebuild their lives in safety. Women’s Aid will wait for more details to emerge but hope the Government ensures that the funding attached to tackling VAWG matches the level of ambition set out in the Labour Party Manifesto, and to end this national emergency that still sees one woman murdered a week.”

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Isabelle Younane, Head of External Affairs at Women’s Aid, said

“Misogyny, and misogynistic attitudes, are deeply harmful to women and girls, as they are fuelling an epidemic of violence towards them that is plaguing the nation. Women’s Aid is pleased that the government is indicating they will treat misogyny with the seriousness that it deserves and that they are recognising the need to tackle these attitudes in order to overcome violence against women and girls (VAWG).

While it is important that the connection between misogyny and VAWG is recognised, if we are to overcome gender-based abuse, past approaches to de-radicalisation by previous governments have left us cautious and concerned. Tackling violence against women and girls, and the inequalities that cause it, must be a stand-alone priority for the government, rather than getting buried within the highly politicised counter-extremism agenda.

Previous focus on religion and ideology in the context of the government’s approach to counter-extremism has proven particularly harmful for Black and minoritised women, with specialist by and for organisations documenting racism through increased surveillance and over-policing of these communities. It is difficult to see how systems that previously harmed these groups of women may now protect them. The government must clearly set out their plan and work with Women’s Aid and our members if this approach is to work.”

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Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said:

“Whilst we know that overcrowding in prisons is a real and serious issue, and that today’s announcement is underpinned by the new Labour government’s ambition to repair our broken criminal justice system, Women’s Aid, along with sector colleagues, have long cautioned against including domestic abuse perpetrators in early and automatic release schemes.

We strongly urge government to not just consider the highlighted risks to prison officers of violence rising when prisons are overfull, but the significant risk posed to women and children when violent and abusive men are released before the end of their sentence. It is absolutely vital that both the physical and psychological safety of survivors of domestic abuse is considered throughout the government’s work to tackle prison overcrowding.

Under the new scheme, prisoners convicted of sexual and some domestic abuse offences will be exempt from the early release system. Whilst it is good to see the inclusion of domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls explicitly excluded from early release, we are concerned that the scheme focusses on the offence rather than the offender, and that abusers could still be let out earlier than they should be. It is also all too often for perpetrators of abuse to be charged under other offences not noted in this exemption, which means they will fall through the net.

We know from our member organisations across the country what a worrying week this is for survivors of domestic abuse, seeing in the news women killed in their own home and a high-profile case of planned rape and murder, from man with a history of violence against women. When you add to this the early release of offenders it becomes terrifying. This week we are also further reminded of the very real risk posed to women, with three women killed in Hertfordshire, and Gavin Plumb being sentenced for the planned kidnap, rape and murder of television presenter Holly Willoughby

We ask government to centre women and children in their response to the current prison situation, as the early release of perpetrators of domestic abuse has potentially devastating consequences. We must also see appropriate safeguards in place with specialist services being actively involved in safeguarding, and multi-agency meetings. This response will need domestic abuse training for probation services and will require immediate work in partnership with specialist services to ensure women and children aren’t asked to bear the brunt and placed in the direct path of danger.

Women’s Aid is here to support both our member organisations and survivors during a time we know is deeply concerning for many.”

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Sophie Francis-Cansfield, Head of External Affairs at Women’s Aid, comments:

The latest Femicide Census report shows that at least 147 women were killed by 144 men in 2021. This is a staggering number, but sadly not unexpected within our current society, where women’s inequality, sexism and misogyny prevails – all of which devastatingly underpin violence against women and girls. 

We know that over 50% of women killed by men in this period were killed by a current or former intimate partner, demonstrating the sobering consequences of not giving domestic abuse the national prioritisation and funding it deserves and so desperately needs. Ensuring adequate funds go to the specialist services that provide quality care and support, quite literally provides a lifeline for women and child survivors of domestic abuse. 

The report also highlights severe inequalities in data collection, with police forces only responding with information relating to ethnicity for around 40% of victims.  

New data shows that since the Conservative government came to power in May 2010, the lives of almost 2,000 women have been taken by men. In the wake of a new government, we must take this opportunity to stand together in rejecting this heinous epidemic and take urgent action to ensure women and girls are safe. 

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