Join The Sun on Sunday’s Save Our Shelters campaign to stop closure of life-saving refuges for domestic violence victims
Two women a week are killed by domestic violence in England and Wales, yet the Government wants to scrap funding for shelters, which could result in HALF of them closing
FOR the victims of domestic violence, Christmas is not magical – it is a terrifying time when the number of attacks by abusive partners rises.
Two of these women are killed each week in England and Wales — yet despite this shocking statistic, the Government wants to scrap funding for life-saving refuges, which could result in HALF of them closing.
Today The Sun on Sunday is calling for a halt to the plans so these vulnerable women — and their children — can be kept safe.
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Last night Women’s Aid chief executive Katie Ghose saluted our campaign and said: “A domestic abuse shelter isn’t just a bed for a night — it is a vital lifeline for thousands of women and children.
"If the Government goes ahead with its changes, more women and children’s lives will be put at risk.”
Our campaign also has the backing of actress Dame Julie Walters, 67, and the sons of tragic Claire Hart, murdered by her husband Lance, 58, before he turned his gun on himself.
The killer also shot dead their 19-year-old daughter Charlotte after an ambush in July last year.
Luke, 27 — brother of Ryan, 26 — said: “Our mother and sister experienced years of severe emotional abuse, but because they didn’t have physical wounds they felt they couldn’t go to the police.
“People experiencing domestic abuse need to be supported so they can safely escape.”
The brothers, both engineers, told of the close bond between their sister and mum and described them as selfless people “obsessed” with dogs.
Claire had survived ovarian cancer when her children were in their early teens and had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2003.
Ryan and Luke helped Claire, 50, a supermarket assistant and Charlotte, a university student, move out of the family home in Spalding, Lincs, to a rented home — but four days later they were killed.
One in four women are affected by domestic violence during their lifetime, yet ministers want to remove refuge hostels from the welfare system.
That would mean women would no longer pay with the housing benefit that currently accounts for 53 per cent of total refuge funding.
As a result, the last guaranteed source of income for refuges, run by charities such as Women’s Aid, would be removed.
Domestic violence services have been under pressure for years. In 2015 The Sun launched the Give Me Shelter campaign, which resulted in a £3.2million funding boost.
But the problem has escalated — and now the proposed removal of housing benefit will slash services.
More than two thirds of women in refuges have escaped from outside their local area, in fear of their perpetrator hunting them down.
But under new plans, local authorities will be told that victims outside their area will NOT be prioritised — so those women fleeing violence will have nowhere to go.
Research by Women’s Aid shows that the reforms would lead to 39 per cent of the 270 refuge services in England closing FOR GOOD.
Another 13 per cent will be forced to reduce beds, leaving 4,000 desperate women and children unable to access a safe refuge.
Last night Labour MP Jess Phillips, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on domestic violence, backed our campaign.
She said: “The Government has to think again and make sure it has a sustainable plan for refuge funding that won’t shut beds.”
Fellow Labour MP Seema Malhotra added: “Refuge funding from housing benefit is essential. Stopping this could put lives at risk.”
A Government spokesman said: “Our new funding model will see all housing costs covered by a long -term, ring-fenced grant to be distributed by local authorities.”
Sign the petition online
Donate to Women's Aid
National Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247
It was a launch pad to begin our lives again
IT was a week before Christmas when Catherine Green finally fled from her abusive boyfriend after he tried to strangle her in front of their six-month-old son.
There was no refuge place available because of stretched services so she was placed in a dirty homeless hostel with drug dealers until Women’s Aid could finally rehome her.
Catherine, 35, said: “Women’s Aid was so much more than a lifeline.
"It became a sanctuary, a family and a launch pad from which to begin our lives again. I don’t think I’d be alive today without the refuge.
“To the Government we might be just statistics on a spreadsheet, but in the real world we are real people, with real children, in real danger.
"We will die if someone doesn’t stop to recognise this.”
Catherine – we have changed her name to protect her identity – suffered a two-year campaign of mental and physical abuse.
But she says: “Finally I kneed him in the groin and bit his hand. That act of survival bought me time to grab our baby and run for our lives to a neighbour.
"The police arrested my partner and told me to grab a bag.”
She was taken to the nearby hostel but says: “I was given a cot from an old shed.
"I broke down when loads of spiders ran out of the foam. A drug dealer was next door and had visitors at all hours.
“I prepared for when my partner found and killed us. I tested the window to see if I could get through. I got a pillowcase to put my son in to throw him to police.”
After a week Women’s Aid found them a refuge place.
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Catherine says: “It felt like home. There was good noise, coming from families just like us.
"If one of us had an off-day, the other would look after her children.”
Women’s Aid also provided counselling, play therapy and legal advice.
Her former partner received a 12-month suspended sentence.
Eventually, workers helped Catherine secure a new home and she returned to college to train as a legal secretary.
Sign the petition online
Donate to Women's Aid
National Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247
By Dame Julie Walters
FOR most of us, home is a place where we feel safe and secure.
But for thousands of women and children, it is the most dangerous place they can be.
With roughly 1.2million women experiencing abuse in England and Wales, the chances are a woman you know will go home tonight to an abusive partner.
Someone who belittles her, controls her, makes her feel scared and unworthy, takes her money and her freedom.
For some women, that abusive partner will seek the ultimate control and take her life.
Being able to escape to a refuge is not just a chance of freedom, it is a vital lifeline.
Hidden within our communities, these services do extraordinary work on a shoestring budget, saving lives every day.
When women arrive, they often have nothing but the clothes on their back. No one chooses to leave their home, their community.
It is a decision made in circumstances of fear, one which is well-founded when we look at the number of women killed by a partner or ex-partner at home.
These refuges are essential to building a world where women and children can be free from the fear of abuse.
Without them, they will have no choice but to sleep rough, or return to their abuser.