The new Prime Minister Liz Truss MP has said that violence against women and girls ‘doesn’t have to be inevitable’. We believe that too – but it will take more than warm words from the Prime Minister to make that hope a reality. We need to see bold, ambitious plans for tackling violence against women and girls and significant investment in the services that support them.
For survivors, specialist support in their community is absolutely vital, but too many cannot get the help they need.
Advance builds long-term trusting relationships with women and girls, help them feel safe, and provide them with in-depth support, from money advice to improving emotional wellbeing. But like many other such services we are underfunded and over-capacity.
We want to ensure that every woman and child who experiences domestic abuse and other forms of violence gets vital support help when and where they need it. We need the government to listen and increase funding for a wide range of long-term, community-based support to help women and girls rebuild their lives and thrive.
Specifically we are calling for the government to:
- Invest in community based support services for women and girls who have experienced domestic abuse to the tune of £220 million a year to ensure all survivors can get support when and where they need it.
- Prioritise young women and girls across the board, with specialist services supporting young women and girls at risk of domestic abuse fully funded and rolled out across the country.
- Ringfence funding for specialist services supporting women in contact with the criminal justice system, the vast majority of whom have experienced some form of abuse.
-ENDS-
For all press enquiries, please contact:
E: Marketing@advancecharity.org.uk
M: 07932 811848
About Advance
- Advance’s vision is a world in which women and children lead safe, equal, violence-free lives so that they can flourish and actively contribute to society. The charity works with women who experience domestic abuse to be safe and take control of their lives, and women who have committed crime or are at risk of offending to break the cycle.
- As well as providing direct support, Advance works with statutory services, government agencies and other women’s charities to ensure a holistic approach to the issues these women face.
- Women must be referred to Advance, via statutory services or the charity’s self-referral scheme. For more information about who Advance is able to support, click here.
- For facts and statistics about domestic abuse and women in the criminal justice system, as well as Advance’s work, click here.
www.advancecharity.org.uk @ADVANCEcharity
