Standing Together responds to the Labour Government’s budget announcement

Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse responds to the Labour Government’s budget announcement, calling for more targeted cross-departmental funding in public services to tackle domestic abuse and violence against women and girls

Standing Together welcomes the budget delivered yesterday by the Rt. Hon Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the promised increased funding to public services, particularly health, education, social care, and criminal justice.

Each of these areas play pivotal roles in supporting survivors of domestic abuse. However, with no explicit mention of funding earmarked for the VAWG sector, we express our concern about the ability of the government to meet its commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. Approximately 80% of victim-survivors of domestic abuse will have their first, or only, point of contact-support in a health setting and it is vital that health systems and services are properly equipped to meet the complex needs of victim-survivors and properly treat, support and refer Therefore, it is paramount that, as the Department of Health and Social Care looks to consolidate its spending plans in the next few months, VAWG is central to the department’s strategy. The long-term impacts of a health service ill-equipped to support survivors not only has a significantly negative impact on the individual outcomes of survivors, but on the state more widely, particularly health and criminal justice. We are pleased to see that carers will now benefit from increased financial and employment stability, particularly considering that carers, 70% of which are female, are one of the most at-risk groups for abuse.

We are pleased to see new funding of £1.3 billion for local government to fund essential services, improve social care and tackle homelessness and rough sleeping; additional funding for carers; increased investment of £5 billion in housing and affordable homes; and a £22.6bn increase to the NHS budget. Whilst we welcome the focus on increasing social housing investment, we are concerned that the lack of increased Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates, could make rental housing unaffordable for survivors. Domestic abuse remains the leading cause of homelessness for women and children.  The lack of affordable, safe housing is a primary barrier to them recovering from the abuse they have suffered. We hope that the Labour Government will remain committed to its conference pledge to provide social housing for domestic abuse victim-survivors and take dedicated action to ensure that victim-survivors will be able to easily access the new affordable housing promised in the budget.

We also recognise both the Treasury’s commitment to increased criminal justice spending and the Chancellor’s acknowledgment of the urgent need for system-wide reform and investment. Much work remains to strengthen the justice process for survivors, ensuring perpetrators are held accountable. Whilst we welcome the government’s commitment to supporting rehabilitation programmes, which are key in preventing the continuation of violence and abuse in communities, we call on Government to extend this support to include funding for domestic abuse initiatives across both Civil and Criminal Justice systems that are essential for building a justice system that not only safeguards survivors and enables systemic change to prevent future violence.

Finally, we do echo the concern of partners in the VAWG sector regarding the increase to employers’ national insurance contributions. We believe this will have detrimental impact on those working in roles within an already-overburdened sector, and could also threaten the economic stability, financial independence or the ability to access support in a work environment for those experiencing abuse.

Standing Together believes a well coordinated cross-departmental approach is vital to VAWG prevention and positive survivor outcomes. This will underpin the Government's commitment to halve VAWG within the next decade. We call on the government to designate funding for domestic abuse and VAWG services within these broader public service budgets and to adopt a Coordinated Community Response (CCR) approach in addressing domestic abuse.

We view this budget as an opportunity to prioritise survivor needs within a comprehensive, funded framework that spans critical public service areas. We look forward to continued collaboration with Government to ensure these commitments yield meaningful outcomes for victims and survivors that we serve.

A statement from our CEO

“As a specialist Tier 2 VAWG sector organisation, we believe a well coordinated cross departmental approach is vital to VAWG prevention and improving positive outcomes for survivors. This will underpin the Government's commitment to halve VAWG within the next decade. We call on the government to designate funding for domestic abuse and VAWG services within these broader public service budgets and to adopt a Coordinated Community Response (CCR) approach in addressing domestic abuse.” 

Cherryl Henry-Leach, CEO Standing Together.