Women’s Aid respond to policing reforms announced by Home Secretary  

Isabelle Younane, Head of External Affairs at Women’s Aid, said:  

“There is no doubt that policing reforms are urgently needed to rebuild public trust in the institution that is supposed to protect us and instil confidence in their responses. However, today’s announcement does not do enough to address deep-rooted cultural issues nor to attend to the need for funding commitments in other areas that support survivors of domestic abuse. 

The Government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade, and while there are positive steps being taken to achieve this ambitious goal, such as a commitment to refresh the Tackling VAWG Strategy and invest in domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms, there continues to be silence on whether specialist VAWG services – which provide a lifeline to women and children experiencing abuse – will secure the urgent funding they need beyond March 2025. Specialist services continue to be chronically underfunded and unable to provide all survivors with the support they need.  

The funding commitments to policing made today confirm our concerns that the Government’s approach to their VAWG mission relies too heavily on criminal justice responses and ignores the importance of specialist services in not only supporting survivors but also in ensuring long-term recovery and preventing the reoccurrence of abuse.  

Several reports and investigations into police forces across the country over the last few years have found evidence of institutional misogyny and racism, which is leading to a failure to protect women and children, particularly those from Black, minoritised and migrant communities. Police forces must urgently accept Lady Angiolini’s recommendation to commit to being anti-sexist, anti-misogynist and anti-racist, including through mandatory training and involving specialist services in their recruitment and vetting processes.  

Women’s confidence in the police, and the wider criminal justice system is extremely low, with only 1 in 5 women reporting their experiences of abuse. As specialist domestic abuse and other VAWG services battle to plug the needs-gap this presents for some of the most vulnerable women in our society, we urge Government to recognise their importance and invest in their future.”