Today’s Autumn Budget was delivered on Economic Abuse Awareness Day and during the 16 Days of Action Against Gender-Based Violence. Yet despite this, the Government announced no new funding to address violence against women and girls (VAWG).  

Surviving Economic Abuse’s CEO Sam Smethers commented, “Removing the two-child limit in Universal Credit and the cruel rape clause is welcome and will offer some relief to victim-survivors and their children. But if the Government is serious about ending child poverty, it must invest in tackling violence against women and girls.  

“Victim-survivors and their children are facing poverty as a direct consequence of economic abuse, a dangerous form of coercive control. Perpetrators refuse to pay the child maintenance they owe, forcing mothers into debt or leaving them unable to afford food and heating. It’s a scandal that so many families are pushed into financial precarity by domestic abusers. 

“Today, the Prime Minister declared his commitment to ending violence against women and girls. Yet the Budget failed to set out how that promise will be funded. How long must survivors and their children wait? The upcoming VAWG strategy must make up for this missed opportunity and match cross-governmental commitments with concrete investment so victim-survivors can rebuild their lives free from economic abuse.” 

ENDS

For further information or to arrange an interview with a SEA spokesperson, please contact the Surviving Economic Abuse press office on: [email protected] / 07786 073249