This year’s General Election is a once-in-every-five-years opportunity to pave the way for much-needed change. We need all politicians to listen to economic abuse victim-survivors and act. 

We have worked hand in hand with victim-survivors to create our Manifesto. It provides a blueprint of innovative and practical solutions, based on victim-survivors’ experiences, across three priority areas:

Support

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We are calling on all political parties to commit to ensuring that all victim-survivors of economic abuse can access life-saving specialist and economic support. This must be both at a point of crisis and when victim-survivors are rebuilding their lives and is essential to re-establishing their economic safety and/or stability.

Disrupt

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We are calling on all political parties to commit to encouraging and supporting public, legal, and private sector partners to work together to disrupt opportunities for abusers to control economic resources and ensure there are consequences for their abuse.

Prevent

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We are calling on all political parties to commit to stopping economic abuse for good. They must commit to tackling its root causes and educating children and young people about what economic abuse is and how to access support, as well as encourage equal economic relationships.

Victim-survivors of economic abuse know what works and what needs to change so they can achieve safety and rebuild their lives. That’s why we worked closely alongside Experts by Experience to develop our General Election Manifesto.

How you can support our campaign

1. Sign up to become a SEA Champion for regular updates on our progress 
2. Share our General Election Manifesto on social media
3. Share our call to the new government – see below

Share our call to the new government

With economic abuse devastating the lives of 5.5 million women in the UK, we need a cross-government strategy to address this issue as a priority. The new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has committed to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade. Help us call on the new government to ensure this becomes a reality, and make sure it includes robust plans to end economic abuse.

We’ve made it easy for you to amplify our calls to the new government, by putting together a template post that you can post on X (formerly Twitter) in just a couple of clicks. If you can, please click the button below to share our call to Starmer and the new Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper MP.

Why our General Election Manifesto is so important

We all want a world in which women and children can thrive, but up and down the country abusers are devastating the lives of millions of victim-survivors. In last year alone, 5.5 million UK women had their money and belongings controlled by a current or former partner.  

The cost-of-living crisis coming so soon after the pandemic is only making things worse. It is even harder for victim-survivors to flee the abuser and access safety and economic security.  

For those who can flee, abusers continue to cause devastating harm to victim-survivors and their children long after separation. Systems, like the child maintenance service and criminal and civil courts, allow abusers to continue to intimidate and control victim-survivors. While challenges de-linking joint financial products leave victim-survivors economically tied to abusers post-separation, providing opportunities for ongoing control. 

Through these systems and services, perpetrators of economic abuse can plunge victim-survivors into homelessness and destitution, leaving them in debt, with a poor credit score, and with no possessions or job.  

Many victim-survivors have no other choice but to return to the abuser, where they are at an increased risk of further harm and homicide. Some feel they have no choice but to take their own lives.  

This can and must change.  

We need all politicians to listen and act – by supporting victim-survivors, disrupting perpetrators, and educating the next generation to prevent economic abuse.  

At the next General Election, we have an opportunity to deliver lasting change for victim-survivors and stop economic abuse once and for all.  

Joint VAWG Sector General Election Manifesto

Alongside over 70 organisations from the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector, we are calling on all political parties to adopt a comprehensive, whole-society approach to tackling VAWG.

Read the Joint VAWG Sector General Election Manifesto here