Women’s Aid, the national domestic violence charity in England, has warned that unless cuts to specialist gender-specific services end soon, an entire network of domestic violence providers in England is likely to collapse.
The warning comes as recent figures reveal that around 155 women and more than 100 children were turned away from refuges in one day in 2013.
Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid said:
“Specialist gender-specific domestic violence services are reaching a breaking point. Over 1.2 million women were estimated to have experienced domestic violence last year, and two women a week are killed by perpetrators. We cannot afford to lose the services we have spent 40 years building up; we cannot afford to lose the experience of those who work in the sector, and we cannot afford to lose the ties these services have to their communities.
“The government has an opportunity to significantly reduce the number of women and children hurt and killed by violent partners by ensuring adequate funding for the sector. However, this opportunity must be taken in the immediate future. If it is not, the safety net for women experiencing domestic violence in England will fall through, leaving even more women and children to be harmed and killed by people they should be able to trust.”
Women’s Aid is calling for:
- All local, gender-specific specialist domestic violence providers to be adequately funded.
- The government to ensure that any new arrangements in welfare reform do not result in refuge services losing rental income and so facing closure.
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