In June 2020 the Ministry of Justice published the Harm Panel Report, following an inquiry into risks of harm and the family courts in England and Wales. The report identified deep-seated, systemic problems with how domestic abuse is responded to in family court proceedings. Courts and professionals were found to be prioritising contact over children’s and non-abusive  parents’ safety. Despite [...]

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 [...]

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 year in focus – the annual audit of domestic abuse services in England Today we have published The Domestic Abuse Report: the Annual Audit 2022, looking at the work of domestic services in England and the experiences of women who use them.   We found over a third (35.1%) of service users reported feeling depressed or having suicidal thoughts [...]

Survivors deserve to be heard:  The reality of the barriers to mental health support  A Safe Blog by Lizzie McCarthy and Jenny Birchall, Women’s Aid 6th December 2021: Today, Women’s Aid has published two reports as part of our Deserve To Be Heard campaign. This campaign aims to highlight the devastating impact of domestic abuse on the mental health of women and their children. Through our campaign, we [...]

Women who kill: how the state criminalises women we might otherwise be burying By Sophie Howes, Research Consultant, Centre for Women’s Justice Introduction Those working in the field of violence against women and girls are primarily focused on the state’s duties to protect, prevent and investigate crimes of violence perpetrated against women and girls. We often refer to the horrendous [...]

It’s time to flip the sexist script Tuesday 20th July 2021: Today, Women's Aid and the University of Bristol publish new research, “Gendered experiences of justice and domestic abuse. Evidence for Policy and Practice”.  Lizzie McCarthy and Sarah Davidge explain why it is vital that we recognise the role sexism and misogyny play in setting the scene for domestic abuse.  Read [...]

The movement against domestic violence: celebrating our history A Safe blog by Gill Hague, Professor Emerita of Violence Against Women Studies Women’s Aid and the services in the present domestic violence sector arose originally out of pioneering women’s activism, fighting for social change. The direct connection from today back to the movement against violence against women of the 1970s is [...]

"Parental alienation": A dangerous and harmful concept A Safe blog by Jenny Birchall, Senior Research and Policy Officer at Women's Aid Over the last few years, the terms “parental alienation” and “alienating behaviour” have been used more and more – in the family courts, in children’s social work, on social media, and even in debates about the new domestic abuse [...]

Network of refuges in England depends on services running with no funding By Maia Samuel, Senior Research and Evaluation Officer at Women’s Aid Monday 15th February 2021: Today, Women’s Aid published a new report, Fragile funding landscape: the extent of local authority commissioning in the domestic abuse refuge sector in England 2020 Read the report: Fragile funding landscape Fragile funding [...]

How Covid-19 is impacting domestic abuse reports to the police Covid-19 and its associated restrictions are making leaving - and reporting - an abusive relationship more difficult. Katrin Hohl and Kelly Johnson share the preliminary findings of their research into how lockdowns make reporting to the police harder, alongside their recommendations for forces to prepare for a surge in reports [...]