For the 1.7 million women in England and Wales who are victims of domestic abuse, the cost of living crisis has added more barriers to leaving their abuser. The charity Women’s Aid has found that the vast majority of women living with their abuser have now found it even more difficult to leave for financial reasons.
In partnership with Women’s Aid, the Home Office is attempting to combat this through a new scheme to support victims in leaving their abuser. The fund will provide a one-off payment of £250 to individuals experiencing abuse, and £500 if they have children.
Over the last few years, my colleagues and I have been using population data to understand how social inequality plays a role in domestic abuse among mothers with young children in Scotland. Even without factoring in the rising cost of living, our research revealed that mothers of young children who were living on the lowest incomes were disproportionately more likely to report experiencing domestic abuse, and to experience more types of abuse, more often, than those on higher incomes.
To put it simply, money matters. Without access to funds, victims of abuse are unlikely to be able to take the necessary steps to leave an abuser if they wish to. Victims also often experience economic abuse, where a partner or ex-partner is controlling their access to finances and their freedom to pay for things like clothing, transport or a new place to live.
Read more: Why victims of domestic abuse don't leave – four experts explain
Eligibility for the new fund will be based on a number of criteria, such as whether someone is financially dependent on an abusive partner or is unable to access their own money or benefits. It is not clear how (or if) victims will need to prove this criteria.
Funds will be distributed in one of several ways depending on the circumstances. This could mean vouchers, cash or bank transfer – though this may not be appropriate where an abuser controls a survivor’s bank account.
How much does it cost to leave?
In today’s financial climate, the amount of money being offered is unlikely to make a substantial difference for domestic abuse survivors who cannot leave an abuser due to a lack of resources.
It is tricky of course to estimate what the cost of leaving an abuser actually is, and the number will vary depending on the case. The Canadian charity Resilience has estimated the cost of leaving to be between £17,600 and £26,500. A calculation that includes childcare, legal support and housing.
Money is not the only resource required. In 2017, the Australian Council for Trade Unions noted that leaving an abuser on average required investing 141 hours of time during business hours. This is a time commitment that many women, especially if working in inflexible low-paying jobs, will not be able to afford.
And leaving comes with other risks. According to data from the 2020 Femicide Census for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 37% of women killed by a male current or former partner had separated or taken steps to separate in the run up to their murder.
Leaving an abuser makes women (and children where there are any) homeless, and forces victims to lose vital support networks they may have in their community. Data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics suggests that one in 11 households in England who were homeless or threatened with homelessness cited domestic abuse as the main reason for this.
According to Women’s Aid, security and safety of housing is the primary barrier for women attempting to leave an abuser.
The bigger picture of abuse
There is one more consideration – the leaving fund puts the onus on victims of domestic abuse to leave their home without addressing the actions of the abuser.
There are other potential spaces for policy action. These include ensuring that there is proper law enforcement for perpetrators of abuse when such abuse is reported to the authorities.
We know that there are serious deficiencies when it comes to the police response to domestic abuse in England and Wales. These include delays in sending officers to victims at risk, poor understanding of coercive control among officers, worryingly low and falling arrest rates for abuse perpetrators.
When arrests do happen, and when they lead to prison sentences, femicides (the murder of women because they are women, usually at the hands of male partners) come with the lowest prison sentences compared with other murders, raising questions about social norms and attitudes towards domestic homicides. The 2020 Femicide Census notes that in 48% of cases, perpetrators had a known history of violence and abuse.
Government data reveals that behaviour-change intervention for perpetrators is severely lacking across the country.
The leaving fund is a step in the right direction in its aim to support women financially to leave an abuser. But the amount being offered is too little, and without addressing the broader structural factors that affect victims of domestic abuse, such as a lack of housing, sub-optimal law enforcement and unfavourable social attitudes to domestic abuse, this will likely be a drop in the ocean.