Women’s Aid responds to the Autumn Budget

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

Despite the pledges made in the Labour government’s election manifesto to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade, we are once again disappointed to see a budget that does not explicitly mention VAWG and domestic abuse.  

If the government is still committed to its manifesto pledge, then investing in the sector that supports survivors and provides lifesaving, frontline services is absolutely essential. For years, successive governments have failed to invest into the VAWG sector in a way that is as sustainable as it is impactful. We have seen powerful, standalone investments that make for positive interventions, yet neglect to provide the ongoing support that victims and survivors urgently need. Without urgent and sustainable investment, local refuges and community-based services simply won’t be able to continue supporting women and children at their point of need, leaving many trapped in life-threatening situations. 

Despite the omission of VAWG from the autumn budget, we are pleased to see that the government has made the decision to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which placed countless children at risk of poverty. This is a shift that has been long-campaigned for by Women’s Aid as well as the wider VAWG sector, as the removal of the cap will allow for more women and children to leave refuges and restart their lives, following the ordeal of abuse. 

We are concerned that the decision to freeze income tax thresholds further exacerbates the lack of financial support women need to escape abuse. Women’s Aid research demonstrates that it can cost a survivor almost £50,000 to flee and ‘stay fled’ from domestic abuse. While the maximum support available from the state is around £40,000, many survivors would not be able to access this full amount. The deficit in financial support is twice as large for survivors who have no recourse to public funds. We continue to call on the government to commit long-term to the Flexible Fund and to carry out an impact assessment of the ‘Budget’s key economic interventions on survivors of domestic abuse to better understand their unique needs. In addition, the introduction of a cap to pension contributions under “salary sacrifice” schemes means that any contributions above the cap would be subject to NI payments by both employees and employers; we are concerned of the impact this could have on specialist services, combined with the rises to minimum wage, on the sector’s ability to retain workers and have financial stability. Once again, we continue to call for funding commitments that match the ambition of the manifesto pledge. Specialist domestic abuse services should be given the funding they urgently need to support women and children as they flee abuse and rebuild their lives in safety.