Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of funding for victims’ support services.

The Ministry of Justice provides funding for victim and witness support services, including community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services, in addition to core funding for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need.

For the 2025/2026 financial year, funding for services supporting victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence has been protected at 2024/2025 levels. While there has been a modest reduction to the core funding provided to PCCs, the Department has consolidated previous ringfenced grants into a single funding stream, enabling greater flexibility for local areas to address specific needs. In 2023/2024 over 1.5 million victims were supported through the services commissioned by PCCs.

The Department continues to work closely with local partners to ensure funding is targeted effectively and is focused on delivering its commitments to repairing and strengthening the justice system, so that victims can receive swift access to justice. Funding after March 2026 will be agreed through the allocations process which follows on the latest Spending Review, and we are unable to pre-empt the outcome of this.