Refuge is the largest single provider of specialist services to survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based abuse. We provide a national network of 41 refuges, child support services, independent advocacy and community outreach. We also run specialist services for survivors of modern slavery, ‘honour’-based violence, and female genital mutilation. Refuge also runs the National Domestic Abuse Helpline that provides the first crucial step to women escaping abuse.
During the pandemic we increased the number of shift hours on the helpline, so more women received a response in the moment they needed it. We also worked quickly to launch a new live chat function on the Helpline website. Since launching the service, over 5,200 live chats have taken place. We have seen uptake of the live chat service from young women; between May – December 2020, 37.6% of the survivors we spoke to on live chat were aged 16-25, compared to 15.2% of women we spoke to on the phone in the same period. Live Chat also proved a valuable resource for concerned third parties – during the first lockdown (from May, when the service launched, to the end of June 2020), 18% of live chatters were friends, neighbours or family members worried about somebody experiencing domestic abuse, compared to 12% of those we spoke with on the phone.
In 2020 our expert helpline team:
-Referred women to secure refuges across the country 4,481 times, enabling them to flee abusive partners.
-Signposted survivors to other specialist domestic abuse services in their communities 32,811 times. -Supported women to create safety plans 11,616 times
-Empowered women with information about their rights and options (for example, around child contact, civil orders, reporting to the police, making an emergency homelessness application) 56,596 times
Refuge is the largest specialist domestic abuse organisation in the UK. Domestic Abuse is estimated to cost society £66 billion each year, and a decade of austerity cuts has meant that frontline organisations are constantly facing a funding crisis. Our consultancy work with the New Economics Foundation in 221 estimated that the social value generated by Refuge’s specialist services is £86 million per year. Savings to the State from Refuge’s services were highest in health followed closely by safety, through reduced costs to the criminal justice system. For every £1 invested in Refuge’s specialist services, a woman, her family and society at large reap a social reward equivalent to £4.94. Through three service streams: Refuge services, community outreach services, and independent domestic violence advocacy services, Refuge generates an average of £8.24 in social value for every £1 invested. For some services this is even higher: Outreach services generate £26.35 and IDVAs generate £9.4.
