Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) support and (b) resources her Department provides to organisations to (i) address issues related to gender-based violence and (ii) support survivors.

The Home Office and wider government committed to over £230 million from 2022-2025 as part of the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, including £140 million for supporting victims. Funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline has been doubled, and funding for all the other national helplines supported by the Home Office has also increased.

As part of this commitment, the joint Home Office-Ministry of Justice VAWG Support and Specialist Service Fund will provide up to £8.3 million (in total) from 2023-2025 to ‘by and for’ and specialist organisations to support victims often facing the greatest barriers to getting the help they need.

Activity funded by the Home Office also includes £10.3 million across three years for the Children Affected by Domestic Abuse Fund and up to £1.4 million per financial year for the Support for Migrant Victims Scheme until March 2025.

In May 2023, the Home Office also launched a £300,000 ‘flexible fund’ trial in partnership with Women’s Aid Federation for England to make direct cash payments of £250 to victims and survivors of domestic abuse (£500 to those with children and those who are pregnant) to help remove barriers to leaving an abusive relationship. In November 2023, the Government commitment to support victims was renewed with a further £2m investment into the Flexible Fund until March 2025.