Investing to save: the economic case for funding specialist domestic abuse support

This report presents research by Women’s Aid and economic analysis by ResPublica. Women’s Aid finds that the economic case is clear for the UK Government to commit to investing £427 million per year, as a minimum, to fund specialist domestic abuse services for women and their children across England. As an economic analysis commissioned by Women’s Aid shows, for every pound invested in domestic abuse support services we will see a saving to the public purse of at least £9.

To ensure provision is available and accessible to all who need it, this investment should come with a portion of funding ring-fenced for specialist services led ‘by and for’ Black and minoritised women, d/Deaf and disabled women, and the LGBT+ community. This level of funding will not only provide these services with the minimum level of resources they need to carry out life-saving work, but bring significant cost savings to other public service.