One in 12 women and girls are victims of violence every year and the Government will struggle to keep its promise to cut numbers by half. Services supporting victims have reached crisis point, with refuges having to turn away 65% of those who ask for help, and online misogyny is fuelling the problem.
The shocking findings were published in a report on Friday by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. Anna Dixon, one of the MPs leading the inquiry, said: “The levels of violence against women and girls in our country are truly appalling and it is right the Government have set out a mission to halve it. Success will require urgent and co-ordinated action across departments to ensure victims and survivors can be confident that they will receive the support they need, get swift justice, and preventative action is taken.”
But the Labour MP warned: “On some types of harm, Government appears to be oblivious to the true scale and there remains scant evidence or learning from what is working locally. It is vital that the Home Office seizes this opportunity to lead and co-ordinate strong action across departments to ensure victims and survivors have access to the services and support they need and deserve, and that as a society we reverse the worrying rise in misogyny.”
The inquiry looked at crimes including domestic abuse, rape, stalking, harassment, upskirting, revenge porn, forced marriage, so–called “honour–killings” and many more.
One in five crimes recorded by police involve violence against women and girls and incidents of rape and sexual assault against women and girls have increased almost fourfold, from 34,000 in 2009-10 to 123,000 in 2023-24, although the figures may partly reflect improved reporting of these crimes.
The MPs said: “Despite the stark nature of these statistics, the true scale is likely to be even higher, as not all survivors will report their experience to authorities.
“These crimes can have devastating impacts on survivors, affecting them physically, mentally, socially and financially.”
The Home Office is to publish a new strategy for reducing violence in the summer. But the inquiry warned: “There are considerable gaps in the Home Office’s understanding of the scale of violence against women and girls, which will undermine its efforts to target interventions and monitor progress against its ambition to halve violence against women and girls.”
The MPs highlighted warnings from Farah Nazeer, chief executive of charity Women’s Aid, who spoke to the committee as part of the inquiry and warned that services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence “are not funded to within 50% of what is needed in order for sustainable, viable survivor services.”
She said: “Right now, those services are absolutely on the brink. I have seen more services close or be in real jeopardy over the past six to seven months than I have over the past four years. We are in a state of crisis and we are now at a point where we have a 65% refusal rate.”
Minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, Jess Phillips, said: “Every day, the lives of women and girls across our country are shattered by violence and abuse. I thank the Public Accounts Committee for this report, which highlights the significant challenges we’ve inherited from the previous government. We will carefully review their recommendations and respond in due course.
“As part of our ambitious pledge to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, we have already put domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms in the first five forces, introduced new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in select areas, and set out a clear process for police to release information about online stalkers.
“Our new Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, coming this summer, will take a cross-government approach with prevention at its heart – to better protect victims, support their journey to justice and hold perpetrators to account.”
