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Women’s Aid shares findings on the impact of the Emergency Fund 2023

Chloe Browning — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 13:15:46 +0000

Women’s Aid shares findings on the impact of the Emergency Fund 2023

As Home Office and Women’s Aid look to launch a Flexible Fund at the end of January 2024, Women’s Aid shares findings on the impact the Emergency Fund 2023 had on survivors who received funding from the Emergency Fund.

On the 10th of May 2023, Women’s Aid launched an Emergency Fund to support survivors of domestic abuse with offered one-off payments. The fund allowed support workers to apply for either £250, for a single survivor, or £500, for those who had children or were pregnant on behalf of the survivors they support. The Home Office awarded a fund of £300,000 to deliver flexible grants for survivors of domestic abuse as part of the previously announced Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan.

Survivors accessing the fund were receiving support from Women’s Aid’s and Welsh Women’s Aid member services who understood their needs and the financial barriers to fleeing abuse which they experienced. The funding was used for a range of purposes such as replacing or purchasing essential goods for survivors or their children, to meet debt repayments, meet housing cost/rent payments whilst in refuge, aiding in accessing appropriate housing or to alleviate financial dependency on a partner or family member.

Today we share the findings from our evaluation activities, evidencing and understanding the impact of the fund on survivors. We know that survivors often leave an abuser with nothing and can present to services with little in the way of essential goods such as food and clothing. We know from our previous research that this creates a financial barrier to survivors escaping abuse and these financial struggles further continue to act as a barrier when survivors move on from support services. Whilst talking to support workers, and reading their responses to our survey, we were again struck by the significant impact a relatively small amount of money can have on a survivors’ journey.

There were many examples of this in our evaluation including a woman who had fled an abuser whilst pregnant. As she was a student at the time she was financially depended on her abuser, he had control of money, tenancy and bank account. Shortly before the fund opening up, she had spoken with her support worker and expressed fear that she didn’t “want to go back because I can’t afford to raise the baby on my own”. The support worker was able to apply for a £500 grant on her behalf to support her independence. The support worker told us “she got given 500 pounds and from that she actually managed to set up her entire nursery, get all her bottles and get clothes for the first couple of months.”

The impact of this for the survivor went beyond the acquisition of goods, it enabled her to escape the fear of returning to her perpetrator or having ongoing contact with him over the baby’s needs. The funding gave her the assurance and financial security which meant she did not need him. The support worker told us that “[the grant] has just changed things massively for her… everything’s set up. She didn’t feel like she needed any money. She didn’t feel like she needed to contact him for any money“.

Our evaluation was able to evidence the many different ways in which the fund made a difference to the lives of survivors including profound effect on the wellbeing of survivors and their children. We spoke to caseworkers who were able to share the difference the funding made to the survivors they supported with the funding:

This fund really has been a break in the clouds [for the clients we referred]. They are beyond grateful, when they received the funds they got in touch with their support workers, overjoyed. For some, they could clear debts, others could cover the food shopping and bills and one client was going to buy her daughter a laptop, as with so much homework being managed online via learning portals, she was the only child in her class that didn’t have IT access at home to prepare for her GCSEs. [Women’s Aid Federation of England ‘by and for’ member]

And she’s also got quite a lot of debt and hadn’t been able to pay her rent so that … every time I would see her, she’d be so upset to the point of crying. And when she received this, it was like it was a shock to her. And the pressure it took off her for the next time when I actually saw her face to face, she wasn’t crying. So, the mental health side of it and the stress side of it and the anxiety that she had over these things, it basically has eradicated a lot of that. [Welsh Women’s Aid member service]

Our evaluation was able to demonstrate the immense need and demand of funding like the Emergency Fund. As a result, we recommend a continuation of a financial hardship fund for survivors of domestic abuse using the model piloted.

Farah Nazeer, chief executive at Women’s Aid, comments:

Domestic abuse affects a huge number of people, many of whom face additional challenges when it comes to receiving the life-changing support that they need. We saw immediately the impact this fund had on survivors after they had fled their abuser with nothing to their name. I’m really proud of the life-changing improvements it had to the lives of adult and child survivors.

You can read the full report here.

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Women’s Aid responds to recent High Court ruling on the Child Maintenance Service

Viktoriya Maclugash — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 15:52:21 +0000

Women’s Aid responds to recent High Court ruling on the Child Maintenance Service

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, comments:

“We are incredibly disappointed in the recent decision by the High Court in relation to the Child Maintenance Service and its suitability for survivors of domestic abuse, especially as half of receiving parents in the CMS are survivors.

“We know from working with survivors of abuse that perpetrators often escalate abuse after the end of the relationship, in many cases using the CMS as a tool to inflict financial instability to prevent the survivor and her children from rebuilding their lives.

“In our statement to the court, we made clear that CMS fails to identify and interrupt perpetrators’ tactics of abuse. As a result, thousands of survivors and their children are deprived of money they are rightfully owed, with many pushed into poverty.

“The judgement confirms that the CMS has a ‘positive duty’ to protect survivors from economic abuse and we urge the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure the CMS fulfil this duty – for the sake of the survivors and the children who are currently being failed and facing increased hardship and suffering as a consequence.”

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Women’s Aid welcomes the Mayor of London’s violence against women and girls Cost of Living fund announcement

Alicia Brooks — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 14:05:57 +0000

Women’s Aid welcomes the Mayor of London’s violence against women and girls Cost of Living fund announcement

Lizzy Dobres, policy and practice manager, at Women’s Aid said:

“We welcome the Mayor of London’s £1 million violence against women and girls Cost of Living fund announced today. Current economic pressures have had a detrimental impact on survivors of domestic abuse and specialist domestic abuse services; this Fund could be a lifeline.

67% of Women’s Aid members said if the cost-of-living crisis continues without intervention, services would have to stop supporting survivors, rising to 85% of services run by and for Black and minoritised women. Society cannot afford to leave women and children behind. They must be supported with wrap-around trauma-informed domestic abuse services.

Women’s Aid has been calling for a ‘Help to Flee’ Fund to help women and children leave unsafe environments. Unfortunately, this Fund is only for London and we continue to call for a Help to Flee Fund to help survivors across England to escape domestic abuse.

We look forward to continuing our work to ensure financial hardship doesn’t put women’s lives at risk.”

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Women’s Aid welcomes Mayor of London’s investment in women and girls impacted by violence

Angharad — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 16:28:50 +0000

Women’s Aid welcomes Mayor of London’s investment in women and girls impacted by violence

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said:

“Economic abuse and domestic abuse go hand in hand. Almost three quarters of (73%) of women sharing housing and finances with their abusers have told us that the increased cost of living has either prevented them from leaving or made it harder for them to leave an abusive home. Women’s Aid has been calling for a ‘Help to Flee’ fund to help women and children leave unsafe environments. While more funding and support are needed, the Mayor of London’s investment is a step in the right direction, and a signal to survivors everywhere that they are seen.

“Nobody should feel forgotten or like their life is worth less – society cannot afford to leave these families behind. We look forward to continuing our work with decision makers to ensure financial hardship doesn’t risk women’s lives.”

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Evidence Hub: Experiences of financial hardship whilst seeking a refuge space

Chloe Browning — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 14:30:23 +0000

Experiences of financial hardship whilst seeking a refuge space

This publication was developed using the findings from the No Woman Turned Away (NWTA) project.

This report explores how survivors navigate structural inequalities in a context of financial hardship, whilst seeking a refuge space.

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Research and Reports

mcadmin — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 10:31:53 +0000

Research and Reports

All of our work is underpinned by a solid evidence base. Throughout the year we conduct research projects, support research in universities and publish data on key issues to ensure that we are leading the way in evidence and data on domestic abuse. Below are our most recent research reports.

For resources, leaflets, posters and t-shirts, visit the resource centre.

first instance

Suggested search terms

Domestic abuse reports

The Domestic Abuse Report is a series published by Women’s Aid that brings together the most comprehensive set of data on domestic abuse in the country.

Nowhere to turn reports

Our Nowhere to Turn series draws on findings from Women’s Aid’s No Woman Turned Away (NWTA) project. The NWTA has been funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) since 2016, and supports survivors who face barriers and structural inequalities when searching for a refuge space.

Change that lasts impact briefings

Change That Lasts Reports detail the awareness raising activities and support provided by ambassadors and professionals.

The Connect Centre for International Research on Interpersonal Violence and Harm have produced this briefing paper for survivors of domestic abuse from the evaluation of the Roadmap Programme for system change. It reports key messages from the evaluation for domestic abuse services and for those who use them.

Our impact

With the help of our dedicated supporters we have achieved so much. Find out more in our Impact Reports.

Connect Centre briefings

Economic abuse and the economic impact of abuse

Economic abuse is often misunderstood but it is a key tactic used by perpetrators of domestic abuse to control their partner and stop her from leaving.

Funding and commissioning

Funding life-saving specialist domestic abuse support services, will cost £393 million per year. This investment would be a fraction of the estimated £66 billion annual cost to society. Women’s Aid examines the cost of fulfilling the commitment to delivering a Statutory Duty on local authorities to fund refuge services and sustainable funding for wider specialist domestic abuse services.

Child first

Since our campaign began in 2016 we have been calling on the government, all family courts professionals, and involved agencies to make the family court process safer for women and children survivors of domestic abuse. We wanted an end to avoidable child deaths as a result of unsafe child contact with dangerous perpetrators of domestic violence, and to ensure that children are always put at the heart of contact decisions made by the family courts.

Children and young people

Covid-19

Women’s Aid have produced a number of short reports based on our surveys of survivors and services during the Covid-19 pandemic. These include our 2020 initial surveys looking at the impact of the first lockdown, and a series of briefings which look at the lasting impact of the pandemic.

Deserve to be heard

This campaign is calling for greater recognition of the impact that domestic abuse has on the mental health of women and their children, and the importance of providing support that meets their needs. Research was conducted with a view to understanding what domestic abuse survivors want from mental health support, and what an effective response looks like.

Sexism/misogyny and attitudes to domestic abuse

Woman’s Aid have conducted research into UK adults’ attitudes to domestic abuse in order to better understand where and why domestic abuse is ‘tolerated’ in our society. Themes surrounding gendered experiences of justice and domestic abuse have been explored in relation to household roles, sexuality and intimate partner relationships and mental health. Our research adds to a wide body of literature on how sexism and misogyny set the scene for male violence against women.

Access to support and justice

Woman’s Aid has published key findings on domestic abuse services and the women and children they support. Themes surround access to support in relation to Covid-19, travel, refuges with information drawn from Routes to Support, the UK violence against women and girls service directory, and from On Track, which is Women’s Aid’s case management and outcomes monitoring system.

Technology and domestic abuse

The violence women experience from online abuse, stalking and harassment is completely unacceptable; the impact that this online abuse has on women’s lives has been underestimated by all statutory services. Women’s Aid believes that the responses that women victims of online abuse, harassment and stalking receive from the police, criminal justice system and social media providers are currently inadequate.

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Domestic Violence and Abuse

The APPG on Domestic Violence and Abuse conducts in-depth inquiries into key issues raised through APPG meetings. The inquiries include evidence submissions from survivors of domestic violence, domestic violence professionals, academics, politicians and charities.

Cost of Living

As the cost of living crisis in the UK dominates political and media agendas, Women’s Aid needs to respond and influence from a position informed by the voices and experiences of survivors and members.

Impact of our work

Refuge services in London

On Track briefings

Resources for commissioners

Measuring Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)

This briefing is to start a conversation with policy makers and experts on the different considerations when measuring VAWG, and limitations to current metrics. We welcome the government’s commitment to halve VAWG in a decade.

We believe this is an ambitious mission which requires dedicated leadership and investment. We re-assert the VAWG sector manifesto call for a comprehensive, whole-society approach to tackling VAWG that looks beyond the criminal justice system and centres those who face the greatest barriers to support and protection.

This briefing has been endorsed by over 80 leading organisations and experts in the VAWG sector.

Live Data

Explore service provision across England with our new live data dashboards.

Click on the links below to view our live data dashboards:

Domestic abuse provision: referrals to services

Information on referrals to local services and the challenges they faced from the Women’s Aid Annual Surveys (2017 to 2019).

Domestic abuse provision: Routes to Support

Information on service types and refuge spaces from snapshots taken from Routes to Support in May each year (from 2010).

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The cost of living crisis is pushing domestic abuse services to breaking point

Chloe Browning — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 09:07:57 +0000

The cost of living crisis is pushing domestic abuse services to breaking point

Women’s Aid and ITV have highlighted this week that the cost of living crisis is having a significant effect on specialist support services working with survivors of domestic abuse. New research from Women’s Aid has revealed the impact of the crisis on services and some of our members have shared their experiences with ITV.

You can watch the ITV piece here.

Nearly every member (96%) said they were experiencing at least one of the following financial issues: increased rent for premises, other increased costs (e.g. food or supplies), funding not rising in line with costs or another financial issue.
More than half of Women’s Aid members (59%) told us they were using their charitable reserves to cope with the crisis.
Almost three-quarters (73%) said they had staff who were experiencing financial hardship, with one in five (20%) saying they had staff who were using foodbanks.
Only five members (10%) had been able to access help with their refuge energy bills.
The majority of members are experiencing staffing issues, with 80% struggling to recruit for vacant roles at the salaries they can pay.
Shockingly, many members (67%) said if this crisis continues without intervention, it would stop them from supporting survivors – either turning them away from existing support, reducing the support available or closing all together in 5 cases. This rose to 85% of services run by and for Black and minoritised women.

Specialist domestic abuse services such as Women’s Aid members are a vital lifeline for survivors, providing safety and support for women to recover and rebuild their lives after their experiences of abuse. In summer 2022, our survey of domestic abuse survivors found that the cost of living crisis was making it even harder for women to escape domestic abuse. At a time when their life saving specialist services were especially needed, our members told us they were also feeling a severe impact from the rising cost of living.

We know, and Women’s Aid research has found, that the domestic abuse support sector is facing an ongoing funding crisis. The recent Covid-19 pandemic presented huge challenges to domestic abuse services and as the cost of living crisis has intensified this winter, it has added to the pressures on these already stretched services. To understand members’ experiences of this further crisis and to find out what impact it is having on their capacity to support survivors, the Women’s Aid research team issued a survey in November 2022. The full results of our survey can be seen in this document.

Local support services are facing financial challenges due to the crisis

Nearly all of the specialist frontline services who responded to the survey (96%) told us they were facing a financial issue related to the crisis. With the majority (78%) reporting that their funding was not rising in line with the increased costs they are seeing, member services were looking for ways to cut costs and having to scale back on the extra ‘added value’ support they deliver alongside their core services, such as care packages for survivors or peer group work programmes. Over half (59%) were having to use their charitable reserves to cope, which is not sustainable in the long-term.

“Our reserves can only be spent once, when they’re gone that will be the end of any support we can give to staff and survivors…”

Staff are struggling with the crisis, creating additional challenges for services in delivering support to survivors

Local authority funding contracts for domestic abuse support does not always cover the full cost of delivering the service. Often services rely on unsustainable and short-term funding pots to support their work, leaving domestic abuse services under-resourced and restricted in what they can pay their staff. With low salaries in the sector and the cost of living soaring, almost three-quarters of the specialist support services responding (73%) said they had staff who are experiencing financial hardship. One in five (20%) had staff who were using foodbanks.

Low salaries mean passionate and experienced staff are making the difficult choice to leave for higher paid roles elsewhere in order to support themselves and their families. The majority of the specialist domestic abuse support services responding (80%) were struggling to recruit for vacant roles at the salaries they can pay. Member services told us they were concerned these issues were affecting the quality of the services they could deliver to survivors, with short-staffed services and heavy workloads leading to burnout and affecting the wellbeing of existing staff.

“We cannot keep up with increasing demand and staff are working non-stop and beyond working hours to support women. This is leading to burnout. Staff vacancies means that staff are doing more for longer”

Domestic abuse support services are feeling the impact of pressures on public services

The impacts of the cost of living crisis are far-reaching and services in other public services are also feeling the effects. The vast majority of Women’s Aid member services responding (92%) said they were seeing an increase in delays or difficulties accessing services in at least one other sector. This is leading to longer stays in refuge as survivors struggle to secure move-on housing or require support over longer periods of time, adding to demands on services and reducing the number of refuge places they can make available.

“It’s prolonging progress, positive outcomes and recovery, lives are on hold.”

Support services have not been widely able to access support around the crisis

The majority of specialist support services responding have not been able to access government support schemes to help with their refuge energy bills. These schemes are not straightforward to access for communal buildings, which is how utilities in refuge services are often managed. Just five (10%) of the services responding to our survey, said they had successfully been able to access energy support for their refuge and some were unaware that support was even available to them.

“Our bills are set to soar and the additional cost of funding these bills takes away money from other areas such as staff.”

Specialist services for Black and minoritised women are particularly feeling the impact of the crisis

The survey showed these challenges were having a disproportionate effect on specialist services run ‘by and for’ Black and minoritised women. For example, specialist services for Black and minoritised women were more likely to report issues recruiting staff and more than half (54%) said they had not been able to provide any cost of living pay increases to staff, compared with just under one-third (28%) of all services. More of these specialist services reported concerns about how the crisis may affect their ability to support survivors in the future.

Fears for the year ahead

Despite all of the challenges they are facing, specialist domestic abuse services continue to provide their lifesaving work and support for survivors remains available. However many specialist services (67%) said that if the cost of crisis continues without intervention, they were concerned they would have to turn survivors away and/or reduce their services. Shockingly, five member services had fears they might have to close their services completely.

“Our service is at serious threat of closure”

Women’s Aid is calling for:

An Emergency Support Fund administered by a network of specialist domestic abuse services and accessible to survivors regardless of immigration status, to support survivors of domestic abuse through this crisis period.
Urgent, practical support for specialist domestic abuse services
- The Government to establish an independently chaired taskforce to review recruitment and retention in the domestic abuse and wider violence against women and girls (VAWG) sector. The taskforce must be chaired by a VAWG expert, and involve specialist VAWG organisations and specialist ‘by and for’ services, as well as local commissioners and funders.
- A Government guarantee to provide services with support with energy bills until the crisis is over, and that no specialist domestic abuse services will close. The government must also provide immediate clarity on how energy bill support can be accessed where there are difficulties.
- Ensure local authorities and police and crime commissioners set contracts with services to pay workers at the Real National Living Wage.

Reduce the impact of legal costs for survivors to enable them to seek justice
- Abolish the means test for legal aid for survivors of domestic abuse.
- Fund specialist advocacy services for all survivors.
- Provide additional support to women with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) to ensure they can access immigration advice/and support with their visa fees.
Exempt survivors of domestic abuse from the benefit cap and end the two-child tax credit limit these are huge barriers for women with children when fleeing abusers.
Abolish the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition for survivors of domestic abuse and extend eligibility for the existing Domestic Violence (DV) Rule, to ensure all women with insecure immigration status are supported to escape abuse.
- Local authorities must prioritise supporting women with NRPF experiencing domestic abuse directly during the cost-of-living crisis – and set aside emergency funds to do so.
- The government must urgently provide clarity about what funding will be provided for accommodating survivors with NRPF, specifically the Support for Migrant Victims run by Southall Black Sisters concludes in March 2023).

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The cost of living

Jess Milton — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 12:24:09 +0000

The cost of living is preventing women from fleeing domestic abuse

Almost all survivors (96%) responding had seen a negative impact on the amount of money available to them as a result of cost of living increases.
Two thirds (66%) of survivors told us that abusers are now using the cost of living increase and concerns about financial hardship as a tool for coercive control, including to justify further restricting their access to money.
Almost three quarters (73%) of women living with and having financial links with the abuser said that the cost of living crisis had either prevented them from leaving or made it harder for them to leave.

We know, and research by Women’s Aid and others shows, that many women who face domestic abuse already experience economic control by their abuser. This financial disadvantage means these women face further barriers when trying to leave, recover and rebuild their lives after abuse. The soaring cost of living compounds this crisis, making it even harder for women to escape abuse.

At Women’s Aid, we quickly saw through our LiveChat and other direct services that women experiencing domestic abuse are even more concerned about the impact this will have on their safety and their future. The Women’s Aid research team set out to ensure that survivors’ voices are heard in responses to the cost of living crisis and issued a survey in June 2022 to find out what women are experiencing, and what they want to see happen. The full results of our survey can be seen in this document.

Women experiencing domestic abuse are worried about being able to pay for essentials

Unsurprisingly we found that almost all survivors (96%) responding had seen a negative impact on the amount of money available to them as a result of cost of living increases with a quarter (24%) saying they’d needed to access food banks. While living with the trauma of abuse, they also tell us they are worried about paying bills (74%) or being able to afford food (61%).

“Everything has gone up in one go. Everything.” 

Economic abuse creates an uneven financial playing field and adds to the pressures survivors face

On top of these financial hardships, which many of us face, women living with their abuser are often financially dependent on them too. In our survey, 27% of women in this group told us they had limited or no access to money at the time due to limits imposed by the abuser.

Economic abuse takes many forms and has a profound impact. During the last year, 37% of all respondents said their abuser made it difficult for them to work, or prevented them from doing so and over a third (39%) said the perpetrator refused to pay child maintenance.  Economic abuse along with increased financial hardship as a result of the cost of living crisis creates an unequal financial starting point for survivors.

“[My abuser] would check accounts when I had the debit card. If I was food shopping, would ask how much I’ve spent, to see if I was truthful as he had already checked online. [They] would hide the car keys or leave the car with no fuel. [They] would not top up the gas and electric meters so I had to spend all day with no gas or electric.”  

Abusers are already using the cost of living crisis as a tool for abuse

Two thirds (66%) of survivors told us that abusers are now using the cost of living increase and concerns about financial hardship as a tool for coercive control. As we saw with the Covid-19 pandemic, abusers will use any means available to exert control and create a climate of fear.

A fifth of survivors (21%) told us their abuser used the crisis to justify controlling their access to money. Women also talked about ex-partners using the crisis to justify reducing child maintenance payments.

“[The abuser] makes me feel guilty for not doing enough to contribute to rising bills. Pushes me for more money, but makes me feel guilty and like I’m neglecting him and my family by taking extra shifts.” 

The crisis has further isolated survivors

Survivors talked about feeling isolated as a result of the cost of living crisis. For example, more than two thirds (67%) of survivors told us they were forced to spend more time at home because they were not able to afford activities outside the home or because they had to work more to make ends meet. When your home is not a safe place to be, the implications of this are horrifying and more than four out of five (83%) respondents said the cost of living crisis had a negative impact on their wellbeing or mental health.

“I have felt more isolated as I already cannot leave the home without permission. Not being able to afford activities means that I cannot leave at all.” 

The cost of living is preventing women from fleeing

On top of existing barriers to leaving a relationship and dealing with the trauma of domestic abuse, survivors tell us that they now have a set of new barriers to face when considering whether they can escape abuse. For women sharing housing and finances with the abuser, cost of living increases have created a new barrier to leaving. Almost three quarters of this group (73%) said that the cost of living crisis had either prevented them from leaving or made it harder for them to leave.

The majority of survivors who told us that the cost of living crisis has stopped them being able to end a relationship, or made it more difficult to do so, said this was due to the immediate costs of leaving (67%) or not being able to afford ongoing living costs on a single income (69%). Some explained that they were prevented from fleeing by the stark reality of not being able to support their children (50%), getting into debt (52%) or that benefits wouldn’t cover increased living costs (48%).

“I feel like my only option to keep my kids is to go back to the marital home where he nearly killed me.” 

Support services are there for survivors but also feel the impact of cost of living increases

Women’s Aid members tell us how cost increases affect them. Rising utility costs mean refuge services in particular are seeing a devasting impact on their outgoings as they look to cover increases from reserves rather than pass on to residents. This is not sustainable long-term and one member noted that refuge residents will not benefit from government measures to help with energy costs where the refuge uses a bulk energy contract, rather than individual meters. Members are concerned about not being able to afford cost of living pay increases, creating challenges with recruitment and financial difficulties for their staff. At the same time, the value of contracts are not increasing in line with these additional costs meaning they have to be met in other ways.

“We have just renewed our energy costs with our bulk supplier and the costs have increased by 300%. We built a 45% increase in to our budgets, but the 300% increase have completely blown our financial plan for this year. We would normally pass increases on to our residents in the refuge…but this would not be affordable – it would stop victims from moving in to refuges.”

What needs to happen?

That women in 2022 are having to remain with their abuser because they are afraid of not being able to provide for themselves or their children is alarming to say the least and must be addressed.

Survivors tell us they want to see more direct financial and practical support to help them through the crisis such as mortgage holidays and support with paying for bills and essential items. They want to see funding for housing options to enable women to escape domestic abuse and increase wages for the professionals working to support them.

Women’s Aid is calling for:

An Emergency Support Fund administered by a network of specialist domestic abuse services and accessible to survivors regardless of immigration status, to support survivors of domestic abuse through this crisis period.
Urgent, practical support for specialist domestic abuse services
- - The Government to establish an independently chaired taskforce to review recruitment and retention in the domestic abuse and wider violence against women and girls (VAWG) sector. The taskforce must be chaired by a VAWG expert, and involve specialist VAWG organisations and specialist ‘by and for’ services, as well as local commissioners and funders.
  - A Government guarantee to provide services with support with energy bills until the crisis is over, and that no specialist domestic abuse services will close. The government must also provide immediate clarity on how energy bill support can be accessed where there are difficulties.
  - Ensure local authorities and police and crime commissioners set contracts with services to pay workers at the Real National Living Wage.
Reduce the impact of legal costs for survivors to enable them to seek justice
- - Abolish the means test for legal aid for survivors of domestic abuse.
  - Fund specialist advocacy services for all survivors.
  - Provide additional support to women with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) to ensure they can access immigration advice/and support with their visa fees.
Exempt survivors of domestic abuse from the benefit cap and end the two-child tax credit limit these are huge barriers for women with children when fleeing abusers.
Abolish the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition for survivors of domestic abuse and extend eligibility for the existing Domestic Violence (DV) Rule, to ensure all women with insecure immigration status are supported to escape abuse.
- - Local authorities must prioritise supporting women with NRPF experiencing domestic abuse directly during the cost-of-living crisis – and set aside emergency funds to do so.
  - The government must urgently provide clarity about what funding will be provided for accommodating survivors with NRPF, specifically the Support for Migrant Victims run by Southall Black Sisters concludes in March 2023).

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid said:

 “The current cost of living crisis has been devastating for survivors of domestic abuse. Women’s Aid surveyed women who have experienced domestic abuse in the past year and the majority (96%) said the crisis had a negative impact on their financial situation.

We know that domestic abuse and economic abuse go hand in hand with abusers often controlling every aspect of a woman’s life. The soaring energy and food costs, coupled with stagnant wages, will leave many women more vulnerable to abuse.

“Women have told us that they are being trapped because of their dire financial situation, two thirds (66%) of survivors told us that abusers are now using the cost of living increase and concerns about financial hardship as a tool for coercive control.

Women who live with their abuser are often financially dependent on them, almost three quarters of this group (73%) said that the cost of living crisis had either prevented them from leaving or made it harder for them to leave.

“This crisis is having an unprecedented impact on women and children and requires urgent action. While the government has made some positive progress in this area, more must be done. We urge the government to provide an Emergency Support Fund for Survivors to offset the impact of the cost of living crisis. We also ask that the government offers discounts on energy bills to domestic abuse services that provide lifesaving support.

 “We are quickly approaching the winter months where the crisis will only get worse. Survivors have suffered enough, having been trapped in their homes during COVID: they must be offered the help they need to support their children and to be free from abuse.”

For further information, please contact: E.dobres@womensaid.org.uk

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Rail to Refuge: Life saving support for women and children

Jess Milton — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 17:08:17 +0000

Rail to Refuge: Life saving support for women and children

Blog by chief executive of Women’s Aid, Farah Nazeer

Imagine being able to get a space in a refuge but having no way of getting there.

Imagine being desperate to escape your abusive partner, who has said they will kill you and your children if you end the relationship. Imagine knowing there isn’t a safe way to move out of a home you share with your abuser or to ask them to leave. This is when a domestic abuse refuge can save your life, but what if you have no access to money as part of the abuse or can’t afford travel. This is where Rail to Refuge comes in and makes it possible to travel to safety.

The Rail to Refuge scheme offers free train travel to those fleeing domestic abuse, who have been given an offer of a place in refuge.

Rail to Refuge has been running nationwide since April 2020, and Women’s Aid has been proud to partner with the Rail Delivery Group; during this time to help 2,265 survivors, including 650 children, reach safety since its inception. Today we are launching a report to show the incredible impact it has had and continues to have.

Financial hardship and economic abuse are frequently part of domestic abuse, meaning that survivors often leave with nothing. It may be possible to find a place of safety locally, but women and children fleeing for their lives will often travel across local authorities, to be physically far away from the perpetrator. The Rail to Refuge scheme means that the survivor can travel to the service that feels most safe for them, and they are not limited by where they can afford to go.

This important scheme helps an average of four survivors, including children, find safety each day. This is truly extraordinary. For those survivors and their children, the scheme has given them a lifeline to safety, freedom and security. A lifeline to a future which would have been impossible to reach without the support of it – 64% of survivors tell us they would not have been able to travel without Rail to Refuge.

We are so proud have developed Rail to Refuge from the very beginning – which began with an idea by Southeastern station manager Darren O’Brien, who was inspired by watching our member service Reigate & Banstead Women’s Aid on Dispatches. It just shows the difference you can make to survivors’ lives when we work together. We would like to thank everyone who has been part of this lifesaving journey from the start.

Download the report

For more information about Rail to Refuge, click here.

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