Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will provide additional financial assistance to the charity Hourglass to ensure it can continue to support older victims of domestic abuse and neglect.

We know that domestic abuse affects a wide and disparate group and that a “one size fits all” approach is not appropriate to support all victims. Whilst anyone can suffer from domestic abuse, for older victims, abuse may be more hidden and disguised, or compounded by other age-related factors such as ill health.

Specialist and ‘by and for’ services (specialist services that are designed and delivered by and for the users and communities they aim to serve) are vital in providing the tailored support that victims and survivors of domestic abuse need. We work closely with and fund organisations providing this support, including Hourglass. In 2021/22, the Home Office provided Hourglass funding to support their work in enhancing their helpline, providing casework support, and training specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advisers. This financial year we have continued to provide Hourglass with funding to continue their activity supporting older victims of domestic abuse. In 2021/22 Hourglass supported over 3,000 cases.

Our Tackling VAWG Strategy commits £1.5 million to increase provision for ‘by and for’ services and to increase funding for specialist services. Alongside this, our Domestic Abuse Plan commits to, where possible, offering multi-year awards to funding to organisations supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse. This means that smaller organisations, including ‘by and for’ services, can offer a stable service to victims and survivors.

To deliver against these strategic commitments, later this year, we plan to run an open commercial competition for ‘by and for’ and specialist VAWG services, including those providing domestic abuse services for older victims.