Another Autumn Budget, Another year of uncertainty for VAWG services and victim-survivors

Thursday, 27 November 2025  

Yesterday’s budget did not mention Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) once – a glaring omission at a time when demand for specialist support is at record levels and victim-survivors have a 60% chance of being turned away from refuge, primarily due to lack of space and the No Recourse to Public Funds condition. Despite a manifesto commitment to halve VAWG, the government’s Budget has provided no new funding for the specialist organisations supporting victim-survivors of VAWG and their children.  

With rising demand, higher operational costs, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) funding cuts, a cost-of-living crisis, and the impact of a previous National Insurance increase, services already under immense strain now face even greater financial pressure. For VAWG organisations delivering life-saving support, this picture means longer waiting lists, reduced support, and in some areas, the real risk of services shutting down entirely. We have already seen 3 Rape Crisis Centres close in the last 12 months, and they remain – as almost all other women’s services do – unsure about their future beyond the end of this financial year.  

While we welcome the scrapping of the two-child limit, which also means an end to women needing to ‘prove’ they were raped in order to qualify for the exemption on the benefit cap, the government’s failure to include support for victim-survivors in the budget is devastating for the thousands of women and children who rely on specialist trauma-informed support every day.  It also has significant implications for our economy, productivity, and broader quality of life, if those seeking safety, justice and recovery after experiencing violence cannot secure the support they need, and rebuild their lives.  

The government’s continued imposition of short-term, fragmented funding for VAWG services is actively hindering its own commitment to halve VAWG within a decade and undermining frontline work. While the entirety of the VAWG sector is affected, the impact is particularly severe for smaller, specialist ‘by and for’ organisations supporting Black, minoritised and migrant women. These services are six times less likely to receive government funding and operate at a 39% shortfall in funding¹, despite generating more than £42 million in public savings each year. Chronic underfunding, combined with a hostile and anti-migrant political environment and increasingly competitive funding systems, continues to place them at severe structural disadvantage.  

As one Imkaan member put it:  

“‘We’ve always been in survival mode since 2012, when the austerity measures kicked in and our local authorities stopped funding us […] The current situation is literally getting us from one year to the next year to the next year’…”

Evidence shows 67% of Black, minoritised and migrant victim-survivors want ‘by and for services’⁴. These services are not optional add-ons; they are essential, life-saving -and in many cases, the only safe and accessible spaces equipped to provide holistic support to some of the most vulnerable victim-survivors. Yet far too many specialist organisations remain locked out of fair and accessible funding.  

As the representatives of leading women’s sector organisations, we are yet to see the things we know are needed – long-term, secure funding for all women, including those with No Recourse to Public Funds and recognition and support for Rape Crisis Centres. 

Ahead of the publication of the VAWG strategy, we urge the government to:  

• Commit a minimum of £502 million of investment in specialist domestic abuse organisations, which should include £222m for refuge services and £280m for community-based services.
• Create national ring-fenced funding for specialist VAWG organisations, including ‘by and for’ services, in line with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s recommendations, including £158.3 million in ring-fenced for Black and minoritised, deaf and disabled, and LGBT+ victim-survivors, and £63.5 million per annum in dedicated funding for victim-survivors with No Recourse to Public Funds.⁵ 
• Urgent continuation and substantial increase of the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF) fund, with appropriate year on year uplifts, over a 4-year period in line with other commitments. 
• Replace short-term, fragmented funding with stable, multi-year funding allows services to plan, retain skilled staff, and meet increasing demand.  
• Reform competitive funding and commissioning models to ensure equitable access for all specialist organisations, recognising the distinct role played ‘by and for’ services and the structural inequalities they face.   

Without sustainable investment, life-saving VAWG services will continue to operate on the brink, and the government’s commitment to ending VAWG will remain unmet. Victim-survivors deserve better, and specialist organisations cannot continue to shoulder this responsibility without the resources required to keep women and children safe.