Domestic abuse is Scotland’s hidden emergency

As Scotland faces a Holyrood election, survivors of domestic abuse are demanding change.  

Last year, Police Scotland recorded more than 63,000 incidents of domestic abuse. But with most survivors never reporting the abuse they experienced and just one in five ever contacting the police, this is just the tip of the iceberg of a national crisis.  

SafeLives research shows that on average, victims in Scotland live with abuse for four years before they get any support. 

Children are being left behind too. Children are survivors of domestic abuse in their own right and should be recognised as such, yet their needs as survivors are often overlooked or misunderstood. This in turn is reflected in policy and funding decisions which child survivors remain largely absent from. At least 12,480 children in Scotland are currently living with the very highest level of domestic abuse risk in their homes. Young people are experiencing significant harm in their own young relationships too, often reaching, when they do at all, services not specifically designed for them. 

As Scotland heads to the polls this May, now is the time for ambition to move to delivery. Survivors are clear they want the next Government to listen, act fast, and make sure families are safer before more lives are ruined and more victims are killed. 

“If the courts had spoken to each other, my son would not have suffered” 

 

For the past five years, Danielle has sat on the SafeLives Authentic Voice Panel, a ground-breaking domestic abuse survivor panel in Scotland, using her own experience of domestic abuse to advise the charity, and the sector, on what is needed. Her experience includes navigating both criminal and family courts while trying to keep her children safe. 

She describes how the lack of connection between the two courts shaped everything that happened next. 

“If the criminal court could speak to the family court, a judge would have seen how dangerous he was. Instead, child contact was offered twice.” 

“My son was begging not to go. I had to force him because the court told me I had to.” 

Danielle reported her abuse but the response she received left a deep mark. 

“The [police] officer said there was no point taking a statement because the witness was his friend. My justice was taken from me by the people meant to protect me.” 

She also talks about the lack of follow-up from services after her Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference, known as MARAC. MARAC meetings bring together agencies to share information on the highest-risk domestic abuse cases and form strategies to keep survivors safe. 

“If MARAC had followed up, they would have known he was breaking court orders and showing up at school. I lived by a safety plan. I never felt safe.” 

MARAC remains a crucial lifeline, enabling professionals to come together quickly to identify risk and offer joined-up support for those in the most dangerous situations, but we cannot ignore the growing pressures, increasing caseloads, and processes that can often leave victims feeling out of the loop, or ignored after case conferences. 

There is a clear need for further embedding of MARAC as a public protection process given equal credence as child or adult protection, and a greater embedding of survivor voice and ongoing feedback into MARAC so that it is a process done with survivors, wherever possible, not to them.   

For Danielle, this election is a moment to demand higher standards and real accountability. 

“Women do not feel safe walking home, going to work, anywhere. Set standards. Fund services. Hold people to account. If services do not do their jobs, women will die.” 

Bindhu, another member of the SafeLives Authentic Voice Panel, shared her own motivation for speaking out, saying: “I didn’t want my experience of domestic violence to be something just which happened to me. I wanted to have my pain to have some purpose to it.”  

Bindhu added, “I feel like the phoenix rising from the ashes when I do this work, my voice has helped to make a difference for somebody else.”  

 “I came face to face with him because nobody told me he had been released” 

 

Trish joined the SafeLives Authentic Voice Panel because she wanted to stop other women going through what she had experienced. Her experience of the justice system left her feeling abandoned. 

“Nobody was listening, no one was helping. Nobody warned me when he’d been arrested, but then he was released and nobody told us. So he came running up to us.” 

She remembers feeling stripped of control at every stage. 

“You are beaten down emotionally. You’re not in a capable state of mind, not confident, just beaten down. You’re just a number. They need to do a major modernisation of the courts.” 

“Not everything went wrong. One police officer made a difference.” 

“The police officer herself, the way that she spoke to me and the way she supported me was totally spot on. She was very down to earth, like speaking one woman to another. She understood. She was willing to come to another building; she would work round me as much as she could. It felt more private.” 

Trish wants long term commitment from the next Government. 

“It cannot be a promise for six months. It needs ongoing monitoring, proper funding and real consistency.” 

“Education also needs to be provided around understanding what behaviours are not going to be accepted. It’s all well and good having support for victims after the fact.” 

Her vision for Scotland is grounded in fairness and humanity. 

“Survivors need consistent support. Courts need to change, staff need proper training, and everyone should be treated as a person, not a number.” 

Bindhu said, “I faced assumptions and a lot of stereotyping based on my colour, the fact that I’m a professional person, and my socioeconomic status – some of the attitudes were very hurtful and I felt unseen.” 

She added, “I’d like services to be kinder, no judgement, so the person’s needs are actually being met rather than stereotyping.” 

Bindhu shared that for her an individual, not a service, made the difference; “If not for the kindness of my daughter’s teacher, who took me in with two kids for almost two weeks. I was so broken, I was actually bedridden, my mouth was full of sores and ulcers. That kind of kindness-I always get emotional talking about it. I can never ever forget her.”  

Bindhu said, “Social work and the domestic violence officer were able to gauge that I was not in a safe situation, I am forever grateful that that initiated my journey to independence.”  

 “I don’t go out at night alone” 

 

SafeLives Authentic Voice Panel member Nikki said she shares her experience as a domestic abuse survivor to help demand real change. 

Nikki says she is constantly alert when she and her daughters are out. 

“I don’t go out at night alone and I track my teen daughters. Scotland does not feel like a safe place for a woman to be alone at night.” 

For Nikki, the support system felt confusing and overwhelming at a time she was already traumatised. 

“I would have benefitted from a little more understanding, to have a port of call or someone to help and guide me through what was to come for me and my children. My whole life was destroyed. I felt alone and scared and having to relive the events to every organisation was traumatic. Having one person to tell my story [to] – for me and [to] guide me through services – would have been extremely beneficial.” 

 “There’s such a difference where you’ve been brought up” 

 

Another Panel member Claire, who experienced domestic abuse 10 years ago spoke about the postcode lottery of support, saying that where you live or have been brought up “definitely affects how much support you’ve been given and why is that?”. She is keen to see the next Government putting an end to this, saying that regardless of your circumstances you are “still affected as badly as that person.” 

Bindhu said, “If you’re a migrant especially, it can be a bit of a postcode lottery, to find the services you want. And we need to really look into prevention.”  

Claire continued that when she first experienced domestic abuse “I didn’t even know I was in that. I didn’t know that’s what it was.” 

Claire had a positive experience with Police Scotland saying they “held my hand” but that was her only support. She said the thing that would have made the biggest difference to her was government support for women based on injury and harm due to domestic abuse: “For me, it wasn’t about my injuries. They were the last thing…no CBT or therapy will ever stop the thoughts. They should have reached out to me and went, right, this has happened to you. How can we support you?” 

Claire continued “I want to use all the tools and all the skills I’ve managed to gain to make other people’s lives better. That’s my main aim.” 

“What I want to achieve by being in the Panel is to make sure the women coming up are supported in the right way for them, wherever you come from or whatever’s happened to you.” 

 “I had to cope alone, even my workplace couldn’t see what I was living through” 

 

Bindhu added, “Work were not trauma‑informed at all. They saw whatever I was going through as some sort of cultural issue. I was pulled up for taking lawyers’ calls at work and if I had to see a lawyer, then I had to use annual leave.”   

She continued, “It was all part of the abuse, I was made to work two jobs, I had no control over my money, every month I would have to write a cheque to my husband. It kept me exhausted and controlled.”  

“Ask survivors, they will tell you” 

 

SafeLives’ Authentic Voice Panel members are clear about what they need from the next Government. 

Nikki said: “Put yourself in a survivor’s shoes. When your life has been burned to the ground and you are terrified and alone, ask yourself what you would need. If you don’t know, ask survivors. They will tell you.” 

Danielle echoed this: “Bring people in and embed survivor voice. Don’t make us another statistic. I’m somebody’s mum. I’m somebody’s daughter.” 

Trish reminds us that listening is not a one-off action: “Government needs to make long term commitments. They need to revisit what they say they will do and see what has changed.” 

Claire emphasised that the education and safety of our young people is a crucial focus for the next Government: “As long as we have their safety at the forefront of our minds and the forefront of everything that we do, then surely we must be making an impact somewhere.” 

Bindhu said: “I joined the panel because I didn’t want my experience to be something that just happened to me, I wanted it to mean something. Lived experience should be recognised and respected as a form of expertise.”  

“I want a Scotland where prevention goes alongside protection” 

 

The need for change is urgent. “My vision for Scotland is that gender-based violence is eradicated for good, because even if you survive, the scars stay with you until the day you die” says Nikki.  

Bindhu added: “I want a Scotland which understands diversity and doesn’t assume things and stereotype cultural backgrounds. I want a Scotland where survivors are supported to rebuild their lives and where prevention goes alongside protection.” 

The Authentic Voice Panel has worked with SafeLives and are clear that the next Scottish Government must:  

 

• Centre the lived experience of survivors in the response to domestic abuse
• Invest to end abuse 
• Strengthen the system response for the whole family 
• Prevent abuse 
• Take a cross-government approach to promote societal change. 

 

The collective vision is a Scotland where every adult and child lives free from domestic abuse. This requires a joined-up system that prevents harm, protects victim-survivors sooner, and holds perpetrators to account.  

Read SafeLives asks for the next Government here. 

If you are experience domestic abuse, or if you’re worried about some else, you can find specialist support via Scottish Women’s Aid. Contact 0800 027 1234 or visit www.womensaid.scot  

If you are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police.