The economic conditions for survivors to leave their perpetrators are already wholly unfavourable, with finances often acting as a barrier to leaving an abuser. Perpetrators often control household income, which makes it harder for survivors to access the money they need to flee. The cost-of-living crisis has meant that for women experiencing domestic abuse, life and death decisions just got even harder.
Approximately 73% of our frontline staff surveyed have said that the cost-of-living crisis is increasing barriers to leaving a perpetrator and 68% stated that it was leading to survivors questioning whether they made the right decision to leave their perpetrator due to struggles to afford the basics. Some frontline workers report that women have returned to perpetrators as they cannot afford to live alone or as a single parent.
Now as prices rise, while pay and benefits do not, it just got even harder for women to leave an abusive partner. Many survivors’ benefits have been paid into their partner’s account. Many wait around six weeks to get universal credit when they flee their partner and end up struggling. Imagine the fear of leaving your home to build a new life without a penny in your pocket. Some women will check their balance and feel they simply can’t afford to reach safety.
As the country’s largest provider of specialist domestic abuse services, we know it can take women up to seven attempts to leave an abuser. Desperately trying to get enough money to survive on your own and coming short is enough to scare women back to an abusive partner. Refuge has been empowering and supporting women to rebuild their lives for the last 50 years. Refuge runs emergency accommodation, community services, and the National Domestic Abuse Helpline.
We help make sure women looking for a safe place and support can find it. We make sure women get clothes that make them feel like themselves again. We give toys to children that take their minds off things they should never have seen. We help women take control of their lives again. We give women fleeing an abusive partner a refuge space where they can recover and build a new life. We support survivors to use phones and computers without being found by their abuser.
We provide translators to survivors so they can access the support they need, removing language barriers. We support women who’ve been controlled financially with things like bank accounts and benefits.
We know we can always count on our community to send an unmistakable message: we stand with women experiencing domestic abuse, always. Absolutely no woman should pay for the cost-of-living crisis with her life – and together, we’ll make sure of it. Thank you for standing with us.
Content provided by Refuge. For more information please visit www.refuge.org.uk.