Together, they point to one clear message: we need a stronger, more joined-up and long-term approach to tackling domestic abuse and wider violence against women and girls (VAWG).
At SafeLives, we recognise that important progress has been made in recent years—from the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Act, to investment in vital programmes, and a growing understanding that both adult and child survivors must be heard and supported.
But we have to do so much more—and quickly. Survivors cannot afford to wait.
Victims, frontline professionals and services are telling us that the system is under immense pressure. The scale of need is growing, the complexity of cases is increasing, and too many people are falling through the gaps.
This latest evidence isn’t just a signal for action—it’s a demand for it. The next phase must be faster, braver, and more ambitious. Survivors deserve nothing less.
The scale of abuse is higher than ever acknowledged
New questions added to the Crime Survey for England and Wales have captured coercive and controlling behaviours in a way that previous surveys did not.
The result: an estimated 12.6 million people in England and Wales—more than one in four adults—have experienced abusive behaviour from a partner or family member since the age of 16.
The data now paints a fuller picture of how abuse affects adults—physically, emotionally, psychologically, and financially. And it confirms that we are dealing with a national crisis of staggering scale.
We are failing to protect young people—and missing key opportunities to prevent harm early
The Public Accounts Committee flagged a critical blind spot in the government’s approach: the exclusion of under-16s from official data on violence against women and girls. That’s despite evidence that the most common age range for both victims and perpetrators of sexual violence is 11 to 20.
We cannot hope to prevent violence if we are not even counting those most at risk.
From our Your Best Friend partnership, we know that:
- 71% of girls aged 13–24worry about behaviours in a friend’s relationship
- Many say they don’t know how to help—or what abuse looks like
Our research into Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) showed:
- Just 24% of young people recall being taught about coercive control
- Only 46% of students feel confident about who to talk to if they or someone they know is experiencing abuse
And through our Verge of Harming research, we heard directly from young people themselves. 30% told us they had used harmful behaviours in a relationship.
This isn’t just about risk. It’s about responsibility. We have a duty to equip young people with the knowledge, language and support to form safe, respectful relationships—and to intervene early when harm begins to emerge.
Services are overstretched and under-resourced
At the same time this new data was published, the Public Accounts Committee released a powerful report assessing the government’s mission to tackle VAWG. Its conclusion: without clearer leadership, more robust data, and stronger delivery, any new strategy will fall short of the transformation survivors need.
Among the report’s most urgent findings:
- Refuges are turning away 65% of requests for help
- Community-based services can only support half of those who seek help
- Nearly 50% of people in refuges now present with mental health needs
- Short-term funding cycles continue to undermine long-term planning
The Committee also warned that central government does not yet have an accurate picture of the scale or complexity of VAWG, or a full understanding of how local services are responding. This must change.
We strongly support the PAC’s recommendation for better data, stronger coordination, and a clearer grasp of what’s working on the ground.
At SafeLives, we’ve seen the impact of local leadership and working through our Public Health Approach. Our work with local areas brings agencies together—police, health, children’s services, housing, specialist services and others—to take a whole-system, trauma-informed approach that’s rooted in the voices of survivors and tailored to local need. We need national action and guidance, and we also need local insight and local ownership, which can reflect the realities of each community.
Survivor safety must be built into every system—including justice
Recent proposals to release prisoners early to ease overcrowding are resulting in serious safety concerns. As it stands, there is no national framework for how risk will be assessed, how survivors will be notified, or what protection measures will be in place.
Survivors risk being left unprepared and unsupported as the person who abused them returns to the community.
The Domestic Abuse Commissioner is right to raise this as an urgent concern. Justice systems must do more than respond to individual offences—they must understand and manage the ongoing patterns of harm that survivors face, and act proactively to prevent further abuse.
We cannot reduce risk without addressing those causing harm
One of the most crucial elements of a robust, evidence-informed response to domestic abuse is how we respond to perpetrators.
The Drive Partnership, established by SafeLives, Respect and Social Finance in 2015, is working to end domestic abuse and protect victim-survivors by disrupting, challenging, and changing the behaviour of those who are causing harm.
This work is underpinned by the Drive Partnership’s unequivocal support for quality-assured perpetrator responses in all areas and for all communities, representing a multi-agency, whole system response, centring the safety of both adult and child victim-survivors.
What needs to happen now
If this Government is serious about its ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, it must act with the urgency and leadership that this moment demands.
This week’s findings from the Public Accounts Committee could not be clearer. MPs warn that “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.” They highlight that current monitoring misses entire forms of abuse, and that under-16s—those most likely to become victims or perpetrators of sexual violence—are excluded from prevalence data altogether. With one in five recorded crimes now related to VAWG, and at least one in 12 women affected every year, the time for action must be now.
We cannot build a system that prevents abuse if we aren’t even measuring where it begins.
At the same time, refuges are turning away 65% of requests, and community-based services—used by 70% of survivors seeking support—are only able to help around half of those who come forward. These services are lifelines. But they are stretched beyond capacity, dealing with rising complexity and trauma while operating on insecure, short-term funding.
We know this can change.
We’ve seen how effective local leadership, when backed by coordination and resources, can lead to better outcomes. Through our public health approach, we’ve supported local areas to develop trauma-informed, multi-agency responses that are shaped by the voices of survivors and tailored to local need.
We’re also showing, through the Drive Partnership, how consistent, evidence-informed responses to those causing harm can reduce repeat offending, increase survivor safety, and start to break the cycle for good.
At SafeLives, we’re committed to working alongside government, public services and communities to achieve meaningful change.
But to do that, we need:
- Sustainable, long-term funding for specialist and community-based services — so people can access the right support for them, at the right time for them, and frontline teams can move from crisis response to recovery and stability.
- A joined-up focus on children and young people, recognising them as victims in their own right and responding to the harm they experience — whether in their families or intimate relationships. We must close the gaps in provision, improve early intervention, and build a response that truly keeps young people safe, seen and supported.
- A coordinated, cross-government response to perpetrators, through evidence-informed, multi-agency work that stops abuse at its root, increases safety for survivors, and offers meaningful interventions for change.
- National leadership matched by local action, using trauma-informed approaches rooted in the voices of survivors— with strong local pathways and connected whole-family responses. At SafeLives, we believe lasting change happens when we find what works and help it happen— taking learning from communities, amplifying what’s effective, and embedding it across systems to drive consistent, scalable impact.
- A confident and capable workforce, across all agencies, trained to recognise abuse, reduce risk and respond with care — so every professional has the knowledge, time and tools to play their part in preventing harm and supporting recovery.
Domestic abuse is a national emergency. The data is clearer than ever. Survivors are speaking their truth. Services are sounding the alarm.
Now is the time to listen—and act.