Women’s Aid Annual Audit 2025: The funding gap risking the future of domestic abuse services in England
A new report published by Women’s Aid reveals the severity of the £321 million funding gap faced by domestic abuse services. Life-saving services have been forced into using organisation reserves and reduce areas of work as a result of this gap, sparking concern over their future. The Government must take immediate action to reduce this gap and save specialist domestic abuse services from closure.
An alarming 15% of respondents to the Women’s Aid annual survey, said they either had to close or reduce an area of work because of limited funds, impacting the support options available for survivors. Given that there is already a national shortage of support services, and that 1 in 4 women experience abuse, this is deeply concerning.
35% of respondents told Women’s Aid that they were operating an area of work without dedicated funding in 2023/24. Of those running areas of their work without dedicated funding, 71.4% said they were having to use their organisational reserves to cover running costs and keep that area open. Reserves are limited, meaning that this is not sustainable, and without funding commitments, these services will be lost.
Discrepancies were identified within commissioning practices, as it was found that Imkaan members were less likely to be commissioned by local authorities. Black and minoritised survivors already face significant barriers to accessing support and restricting funding for the specialist organisations that are run by and for minoritised survivors marginalises them further.
There has been a small increase in the number of local services which offer a dedicated services for Children and Young People (CYP) in England, from 238 services in May 2023 to 247 in May 2024. However, it is extremely concerning that the proportion of CYP domestic abuse services in the community that are being run without dedicated funding has doubled from 15.7% to 31.4%.
Given the findings of the Annual Audit 2025, Women’s Aid is concerned that services may be forced to shut down, ultimately leaving the estimated 1.6 million women and 1.8 million children in England who have experienced abuse in the last year unable to access lifesaving support, unless there is an urgent cash injection to fill funding gap.
The Government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade but in order for real progress to be made, they need to recognise the value of specialist services and commit to the minimum of £516 million needed to adequately fund them so they do not have deal with the constant threat of closure and can instead focus on supporting survivors. Domestic abuse is a national emergency and real action need to be taken to combat it.
Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said:
“Every year, our Annual Audit provides unique insights into the state of domestic abuse service in England, allowing us to both reflect on the progress that has been made and identify any gaps in provisions that need to be addressed to ensure the safety of women and children.
This year’s audit has revealed the significant impact of a £321 million funding gap and widespread commissioning issues, which are putting immense pressure on these services as they try to stay afloat and delivery the support survivors need.
As domestic abuse is the most comment form of violence against women and girls (VAWG), the Government must plug this gap as a matter of urgency if they truly committed to their pledge of halving VAWG in the next decade.”
Read the report here.
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