PM warned he will miss target to halve VAWG without urgent investment

In an unprecedented joint intervention, the Victims’ Commissioner and Domestic Abuse Commissioner have written to the Prime Minister warning that his personal commitment to tackle VAWG will not succeed, unless urgent investment is provided at the Spending Review next week.

Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales Baroness Newlove, and Domestic Abuse Commissioner Dame Nicole Jacobs, said they were “increasingly concerned” that the Government’s response to the epidemic levels of abuse is following the same “piecemeal” pattern as before.

Their letter to Sir Keir Starmer warns that support services are being “pushed to the brink” by funding cuts and rising demand, with growing waiting lists and a lack of secure long-term funding. These pressures, they argue, are jeopardising victims’ ability to access safety and justice.

“We all want to see the vision you set out – one where violence against women is stamped out everywhere – delivered upon. But right now, this is at risk,” the Commissioners write. “Following the same path as before will not give victims the confidence that justice will be served if they report a crime to the police.”

The joint letter criticises recent proposals set out in the Government’s Sentencing Review, warning they risk prioritising prison capacity over victim safety. The Commissioners argue that releasing offenders earlier, without the right safeguards in place, could “risk victims’ safety” and further erode trust in the system.

The intervention comes nearly a year after the Government pledged to make streets safer and halve VAWG within a decade. While acknowledging the economic pressures facing government, the Commissioners stress that “victims must not pay the price” for wider crises.

The Commissioners have urged the Prime Minister to use next week’s Spending Review to deliver bold, long-term investment in frontline services and to build a justice system that “delivers for survivors every single time.”

“The cost of inaction is one this country can no longer afford,” the letter concludes.

Ellie Butt, head of Policy, Public Affairs and Research at Refuge, said: “Refuge welcomes the joint intervention by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and Victims Commissioner, as well as the warnings issued by senior police leaders. Their messages are clear: without urgent and sustained investment, the Government risks failing in its commitment to halve VAWG.

“As with others in the sector, Refuge’s frontline services – including refuges, helplines and community-based support – are under immense and growing pressure. We are supporting women and children with increasingly complex needs, all within a fragile and uncertain funding landscape. Services are doing everything they can, but they cannot do more with less.

“We echo the Commissioners’ call: this Spending Review is a critical moment to define the Government’s legacy on tackling domestic abuse. Words of commitment must be matched by bold and ambitious investment – anything less will cost lives.”

The End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) said nearly a year after the Labour Government committed to a landmark goal to halve VAWG in a decade as part of its election manifesto, “we are yet to see any detail about how delivering on this will be measured”.

With one in 12 women experiencing VAWG every year and the rapid emergence of new and complex forms of tech-facilitated abuse, it says government action is urgently needed to set out how it intends to tackle this epidemic.

The EVAW, Women’s Aid, Imkaan, Surviving Economic Abuse and Respect have drawn up a set of principles and recommendations for how the Government should approach halving VAWG, endorsed by more than 80 VAWG organisations.

The recommendations highlight the importance of taking an ambitious approach that not only looks at reducing the prevalence of VAWG incidents but also recognises how women and girls’ lives are multi-faceted and likely to include myriad forms of men’s violence across their lifetimes, with far reaching impacts and harms; not solely at an individual level but rippling out to families, networks and communities and reproducing women and girls’s inequalities.

“There is no more time to waste. We need a plan from the top that sets out clearly how the government intends to tackle this national crisis,” said the EVAW.

“We’re calling for a further consultation process be opened so that there is transparency and a clear structure around how the VAWG sector and VAWG experts can inform and guide the development of the Government’s approach to measuring VAWG and the delivery of its mission to halve it.

“This must include consultation with smaller specialist VAWG organisations, including those led ‘by and for’ black, minoritised and migrant women, and others who are marginalised.”