Domestic abuse provision: referrals to domestic abuse services
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About these dashboards
Referrals (Refuge)
Number supported (Refuge)
Referrals (CBS)
Number supported (CBS)
About these dashboards
- Information on the numbers of referrals received by refuge and community based services during each year, including the numbers of women and children supported (based on responses received in each annual survey) along with the types of challenge services faced.
- Estimates are based on responses to the annual survey and the total numbers of services listed on Routes to Support.
- For more information on On Track follow this link.
For more information on the numbers shown here see Survival and Beyond: The Domestic Abuse Report 2018 and The Domestic Abuse Report 2019: The Annual Audit
The tables show a break down for each year, though we would advise caution when making comparisons between findings from different annual surveys. Although differences in findings may suggest year-on-year change, because of differences in sample composition each year these would require further investigation.
Referrals (refuge services) and number of women/children supported (refuge services)
These two tabs section show:
- The estimated number of referrals received, declined and accepted for all refuge services in England each year.
- The estimated numbers of women and children placed in all refuge services in England each year.
Estimates are calculated by:
a. Refuge referrals received, declined and accepted: ratio of women housed or turned away to refuge space for services responding to the Annual Survey applied to non-responding services on Routes to Support for the same region.
b. Numbers of children: average number of children per woman accessing services from On Track applied to estimated number of women accepted by refuge services.
These two tabs show:
- The estimated number of referrals received, declined and accepted for all CBS services in England each year.
- The estimated numbers of women and children placed in all CBS services in England each year.
Estimates are calculated by:
a. CBS referrals received, declined and accepted: ratio of women supported or turned away to individual service type (e.g. outreach, IDVA, floating support) for responding services applied to non-responding services on Routes to Support for the same region.
b. Numbers of children: average number of children per woman accessing services from On Track applied to estimated number of women accepted by CBS services.
Most challenging issue for services
Each year in the Annual Survey we ask services to tell us the biggest challenge they faced during the previous year. We are then able to look at the themes raised to see what issues present challenges to services, the table here show the percentage of respondents identifying each theme.
The tables show a break down for each year, though we would advise caution when making comparisons between findings from different annual surveys. Although differences in findings may suggest year-on-year change, because of differences in sample composition each year these would require further investigation.
Referrals (Refuge)
Number supported (Refuge)
Referrals (CBS)
Number supported (CBS)
These dashboards use data from Routes to Support.
- Information on service types and refuge spaces comes from snapshots taken in May each year from 2010. We can see net change only and not the number of services changing provider as part of the commissioning process as we do not show fluctuations in number during the year.
- Services available can vary greatly in terms of size of the service and the numbers and support needs of the survivors they can support.
- Women accessing refuge services travel from one part of the country to another and these vital services form a national network and this should be taken into account when looking at the numbers of services and spaces regionally or locally.
For more information on service provision and changes over time see Survival and Beyond: The Domestic Abuse Report 2018, The Domestic Abuse Report 2019: The Annual Audit and The Domestic Abuse Report 2020: The Annual Audit
Domestic abuse support services for women in England
This section shows:
- The number of each service type available to women in England.
- How these numbers change from year to year.
- A breakdown of these numbers for each of the nine government regions in England.
The information used comes from snapshots taken from Routes to Support on 1st May each year from 2010 onwards.
Accommodation in refuge services
The national network of refuge services in the UK offers a wide range of support and different accommodation types for women and children needing to move from their home in order to be safe. During the year 2018/19 we estimate that refuge services in England supported 11,489 women and 13,787 children.
A refuge service offers accommodation and support only for women experiencing domestic abuse which is tied to that accommodation. The address will not be publicly available. It will have a set number of places. Accommodation can be in a range of shared housing, self-contained units and dispersed housing in order to meet the diverse needs of survivors and their children. Residents will receive a planned programme of therapeutic and practical support from staff and access peer support from other residents.
For refuge services data on the number of units (bed spaces) can give us an idea of how their capacity changes over time. One unit refers to accommodation for one woman or one woman and her children, units can vary in size and the number of children they can house, they can be in shared houses, self-contained units or dispersed accommodation.
This section shows:
- The number of refuge spaces in England over time compared to the Council of Europe minimum recommendation of one space per 10,000 population and includes a regional breakdown.
Data on refuges spaces comes from snapshots taken from Routes to Support on 1st May each year from 2010 onward.
Availability of spaces for individual women depends on a number of factors including size of family, geographical location of vacancies and the needs of the woman (and any children) seeking refuge. We know that demand for refuge spaces continues to be higher than the availability, an issue explored in detail in “Nowhere to Turn” which uses findings from Women’s Aid’s No Woman Turned Away project and The Domestic Abuse Report series which uses findings from the Annual Survey, Routes to Support and On Track. We also know that not all spaces are available or accessible to all women, as shown in the data on refuge vacancies.
This section shows:
- The proportion of refuge vacancies available to women with two and three children, those with mobility needs and those with no recourse to public funds.
Information on vacancies comes from all refuge vacancies in England posted to Routes to Support during the years 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20.
The tables in this section look at where services for women also support men. This is not an exhaustive list of the services available to male victims or perpetrators, rather these numbers are for services primarily offering support to women who also work with male victims.
If you are looking for support for male victims or details of available support services, please call the Men’s Advice Line on 0808 8010327.
At May 2018, 170 out of 363 entries (46.8%) had one or more service for men including 32 out of 271 refuges (11.8%) which can now accommodate men.
Of the 171 refuge spaces available to men 148 are available to either men or women dependent on need and these are included in the numbers of spaces for women on the previous pages.
The tables in this section show:
- The number of each service type which available to men in England.
- How these numbers change from year to year.
- The number of refuge spaces available to men from 2018.
Data on refuges spaces comes from snapshots taken from Routes to Support on 1st May each year from 2010 onward.
