Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence: national advisers annual report 2024 to 2025

This annual report is our final joint annual report as joint National Advisers under the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. Over the past year, we have focused on addressing critical gaps in service provision strengthening safeguarding responses through unified approaches and ensuring that the Wales VAWDASV framework meets the needs of all survivors, particularly those facing multiple and complex vulnerabilities. As this is Yasmin Khan’s final report after a 7-year period of 2 terms, this report provides an overview of specific priorities and a summary of progress.

We jointly committed to making the provision of support for all survivors that is accessible and inclusive through a sustainable whole system approach and championing the rights of all victims. We recognise the multiple risks they face including sexually exploited women and girls, victims with protected characteristics with particular focus on addressing barriers that prevent survivors from accessing support.

Strategic Context and Legislative Framework

Wales continues to lead with the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, landmark legislation and the first of its kind in the UK and Europe, alongside the VAWDASV Strategy 2022 to 2026 which renews the commitment to make Wales the safest place in Europe to be a woman.

UK legislative developments 2024 to 2025

The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 makes provision for the establishment of an independent advocate to support victims of major incidents and makes changes to the parole system of England and Wales. The Act places the principles of the Victims' Code into law and requires criminal justice bodies to review their compliance, creating new accountability mechanisms that will impact Welsh criminal justice responses. New legislation effective from 1 October 2025 affects confidentiality clauses, protecting victims' ability to report crimes and seek support without being silenced by non-disclosure agreements. Additionally, criminal justice inspectorates are now required to consult the Victims' Commissioner on their inspection frameworks and programmes, creating new opportunities for Welsh perspectives to influence inspection processes. These developments require careful integration with Welsh devolved responsibilities and the existing VAWDASV framework.

Regulatory bodies and inspection framework challenges

The lack of a dedicated regulatory framework specific to VAWDASV, has posed substantial challenges to the effective implementation of statutory duties under the VAWDASV Act. While the Act places clear duties on local authorities, health boards, fire and rescue authorities, and NHS trusts, the lack of standardised inspection and regulatory oversight mechanisms has led to inconsistent approaches to VAWDASV implementation across Wales. This regulatory gap has made it difficult to monitor compliance with the Act, identify best practice, and address underperformance systematically. The Single Unified Safeguarding Review (SUSR) model has emerged as a promising governance mechanism that demonstrates how strategic representation and engagement of senior leaders can drive effective change. The SUSR approach brings together senior leaders from across public services, creating a framework for integrated decision-making that addresses the root causes of complex social issues like VAWDASV. 

This governance model may provide the mechanism by which prevention of VAWDASV can effect meaningful change, moving beyond individual service responses to create whole-system transformation that addresses the underlying factors that contribute to gender-based violence. The oversight, governance and leadership engagement in preventing and addressing VAWDASV must be a priority for the next strategy.

The Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence landscape in Wales

Wales continues to lead the UK in legislative frameworks addressing violence against women and girls. However, implementation remains inconsistent, particularly in reaching survivors who face multiple barriers to accessing support. Our advisory role this year has focused on identifying and addressing these systematic gaps while responding to emerging challenges including increasing social division and fear within communities.

Key challenges 

Welsh Sexual Assault Services

The Welsh Sexual Assault Services (WSAS) Programme was commissioned in 2014 following a review by Welsh Government into the provision of sexual assault services across Wales. The programme was established to design and implement a model for the delivery of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) across Wales. The ambition was, and remains, to deliver patient and victim centred sexual assault services with health needs as the key priority, to provide the best outcomes for victims of sexual violence, to be achieved through a health-led programme, with the NHS working in partnership with policing and other key stakeholder organisations.

However, the programme has not delivered the intended actions and outcomes. The service model and funding is still not secure. Partners on the WSAS board have stated that they would like assurance of the commitment to deliver the programme as agreed before any transition to business as usual. 

While this sits outside of the Blueprint delivery model, these are critical services for survivors of VAWDASV. It is also worth noting the interdependency of this work with that of the Child Sexual Abuse action plan and the acceptance of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) recommendation regarding therapeutic services for survivors of child sexual abuse which is also not being met and is at risk of getting significantly worse.

Rural communities face challenges, with survivors travelling significant distances to access SARCs, creating barriers for women without transport, those with disabilities, or women fleeing perpetrators who may monitor their movements. Black and minoritised women report additional obstacles including lack of culturally specific IDVA/ ISVA’s, limited interpretation services, and SARCs that don't accommodate religious or cultural needs around intimate examinations. Compared to England, where the Ministry of Justice funds a national ISVA service and NHS England commissions SARCs, the devolved model has created inconsistency, with some health boards providing comprehensive services while others rely on overstretched third sector organisations operating on short-term grants. The gap between legislative ambition and resourced delivery means many survivors, particularly those facing intersecting disadvantages cannot access the trauma-informed, timely support that Welsh policy promises. 

Sustainable whole systems approach as part of the Blueprint delivery model in Wales

The Welsh Government's Blueprint to deliver the VAWDASV strategy provides an ambitious and necessary framework for integrating commissioning, partnership working, and survivor pathways across statutory and third sector services. This vision requires sustained engagement across multiple sectors, each operating within different governance structures, funding cycles, and strategic priorities. Current efforts to engage health and social care senior leaders demonstrate commitment to cross-sector collaboration, yet the complexity of alignment with competing pressures on statutory services, and varied levels of understanding about violence against women presents genuine challenges to implementation pace. The delivery plan's progress is necessarily incremental as it seeks to embed systemic change rather than superficial coordination, requiring not only partnership agreements but fundamental shifts in how services are commissioned, how professionals are trained, and how accountability operates across the system. 

Intersectionality

The evidence of the highest risk to women being a man known to them and in their own home is a long- standing truth and one that we have sadly failed to change. We also know that black and marginalised women are more at risk of harm and that for those women who have no recourse to public funds, they are three times more likely to experience VAWDASV. We must recognise all victims and survivors' experiences and should feel compelled to prevent all harm. Focusing on one version of harm and magnifying it above all others, makes us all less safe not more. 

In our role as National Advisers, we have continued to prioritise the need for an intersectional approach to tackling violence against women, domestic abuse, and sexual violence. Intersectionality recognises that survivors experience multiple and overlapping forms of discrimination based on their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and other protected characteristics. We must continue to address the barriers marginalised survivors experience in identification and disclosure and seeking support. 

Key policy and practice developments

Supporting whole system prevention approaches involves working across sectors to implement comprehensive prevention initiatives that challenge societal attitudes, promote gender equality, and foster respectful relationships from an early age. Building on successful campaigns like the Sound campaign, which targets young men in Wales and encourages them to learn about gender-based violence and examine their own relationships and behaviours can influence the change required for tackling perpetration at its earliest formation and create the ambition of a zero tolerance to all forms of violence against women and girls.

Education sector engagement will focus on strengthening VAWDASV education across all educational settings, from primary schools through to universities, this requires the implementation of relationships education curricula that promote healthy relationships and consent, while working with universities to improve their institutional responses to gender-based violence and harassment.

Evidence base and research 

During 2024 to 2025, we recommended the prioritisation of implementation of evidence-based interventions and initiatives aligned with the VAWDASV Act 2015 and the 2022 i 2026 National Strategy, with a focus on developing and implementing evidence-based prevention approaches and early intervention strategies aimed at addressing the root causes of VAWDASV. Evidence units supporting the National Action Plans for Race Equality, LGBTQ+ and Disability have been recognised as critical to policy development and evaluation across the VAWDASV landscape, contributing to an informed intersectional approach. Key research commissioned during this period includes a systematic review of reviews on online sexual harassment and online gender-based harassment undertaken by the ACE Hub Wales, with publication anticipated in early 2025, alongside research on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women's experiences of workplace sexual harassment in Wales, commissioned by the Welsh Government's Race Disparity Evidence Unit. We will continue to work with the Welsh Government's Knowledge and Analytical Services on developing measures for National Indicators, which are integral to demonstrating impact and progress made through action taken to prevent, protect and support victims and survivors, with analytical plans being developed to meet wider evidence needs including identifying global best practice. The VAWDASV Research Network Wales has continued to provide an inclusive forum to set future research agendas, determine research and practice priorities for Wales, and identify gaps in VAWDASV research while fostering collaboration across stakeholders. 

Challenges and lessons learned

Persistent barriers

Specialist services dedicated to supporting victims and survivors continue to face unprecedented strain, with many finding it necessary to draw on reserves as they grapple with increasing demand while limited funding and resources mean organisations are struggling to meet the growing needs of individuals seeking support, with staff members increasingly filling gaps left by overstretched public services. Persistent challenges remain in meeting the diverse needs of survivors, particularly those from ethnic minority communities, disabled people, and those with no recourse to public funds, who experience compounded barriers when accessing services, with long-standing gaps in tailored, trauma-informed support that meets their specific needs.

The Sustainable Whole System Approach Workstream has identified structural barriers for needs-led provision, with constraints in existing contractual arrangements failing to meet the living wage or provide annual increments, while persistent challenges continue in securing convictions and ensuring perpetrators are held accountable. Welsh Women's Aid reported that 88% of member services experienced an increase in demand during 2023 to 2024, occurring against a backdrop of a 4.2% cut in the UK budget for victim services and increased national insurance contributions, creating an uncertain funding landscape that threatens service sustainability. 

Systemic issues

Wales continues to experience systemic challenges in delivering a sustainable whole-system approach to VAWDASV, with the Sustainable Whole System Approach Workstream identifying structural barriers for needs-led provision and fragmented commissioning arrangements across different local authorities, health boards, and police and crime commissioners.

The prevalence of VAWDASV affects 2.4 million adults annually with social and economic costs estimated at £74 billion, while 1 in 5 homicides are domestic homicides, demonstrating the scale of systemic failure to prevent violence. Significant disparities persist in access to services and support across Wales, particularly for survivors from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities, disabled individuals, LGBTQ+ survivors, and women facing economic hardship, with gaps in data and classification hampering understanding of the prevalence of abuse within diverse communities. Investment remains primarily concentrated on tertiary prevention measures and crisis response rather than primary prevention, with the system designed to respond to crises rather than create systematic change that aims to prevent VAWDASV, undermining the objectives of the Act and national strategy. This must underpin our work and the work of funding allocation decisions to demonstrate the efficiencies made for prevention, the blueprint delivery model can mobilise key actions to drive policy into financial planning.

Overview of progress for our 2024 to 2025 aim and priorities

As the National Advisers for Wales our plan for 2024 to 2025 outlined the aims and priorities for the year. It continued our commitment to the overarching objective of the VAWDASV Strategy and Blueprint, delivering a comprehensive whole-system approach to tackling violence against women, domestic abuse, and sexual violence in Wales. 

We decided on our strategic priorities based on the objectives outlined in the VAWDASV Act 2015 and the National VAWDASV Strategy, essentially prevention, protection and support. 

In keeping with the long- term ambition our aim for the year was: 

• to work with all stakeholders in Wales to improve understanding of and response to presentations of VAWDASV within their services and to enhance the pathways of support for survivors in a collaborative whole system approach

To ensure the achievement of this aim, we identified the following priorities.

Priority 1

Work with all areas of government and public bodies to ensure a true whole government response to VAWDASV in Wales.

We have continued to work with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip on getting full commitment across government departments to achieve a true whole government response to VAWDASV. We have also worked with other stakeholders and through a variety of fora to promote whole system thinking and responses.

AAs Chair of the Training and Learning Sub-Group within the Single Unified Safeguarding Review, significant progress has been made in developing Wales-wide consistent approaches to professional competency in VAWDASV responses. Through the subgroup, unified training pathways have been developed that ensure consistent responses across public authorities including police, health, social services, and by and for sector organisations. 

Healthy Relationships Education for children and young people in Wales has continued to be a government priority to prevent abuse and harm. Following a review of the current arrangements; engaging with Regional VAWDASV Advisors, RSE Regional Leads, school leads, specialist providers and others, we provided a paper with an overview of current practice, challenges and recommendations to Cabinet Secretaries for Education and Social Justice. Following that Stori have been commissioned to provide the Cwtch Education Project. This will provide support for teachers through training and resources for a whole school approach to RSE. 

We have continued to advocate for HEFCW and now Medr to enhance support and scrutiny regarding sexual harassment in universities. We expect that oversight of the prevention and protection actions addressing sexual harassment will be within Medr’s regulations for tertiary education as a result of this work. We also met with the Minister for Further and Higher Education to advise on the work required and recommended approaches. 

Health is consistently recognised as a critical space for identification and intervention by survivors including those from marginalised groups. We have supported the development of the Women’s Health Plan and the inclusion of VAWDASV as one of the priorities in the plan (Women’s health plan for Wales launched to close the gender health gap.)

Priority 2

Attending forums and meetings that provide oversight of the delivery of the VAWDASV Strategy, Blueprint approach and workstreams along with any other relevant fora. We will continue to share advice and information with Welsh Government and Ministers and the Blueprint delivery team which can improve victim and survivor experience and highlight gaps and poor experience in services.

Along with attending meeting across the Blueprint, we have jointly attended a wide range of meetings including the Criminal Justice Board Victim and Witness Taskforce, HBA Leadership Group, the All -Wales Operational Group for Sexually Exploited Women (AWOGSEW), Older People’s Commissioner’s Abuse Action Group and the Welsh Sexual Assault Services Programme board.

As National Advisers we are required to keep informed of relevant best practice for addressing VAWDASV and supporting survivors. An integral part of this is working with the specialist sector. At the beginning of our term, we created the Expert Reference Group which is a forum chaired by the National Advisers with membership of specialist independent VAWDASV services working across Wales.

We believe that building a comprehensive whole-system approach to tackling VAWDASV in Wales must remain the top priority. Our role in this is engaging with government, leaders and working with public bodies to develop improved responses to VAWDASV and critically full adoption of the duties laid within the VAWDASV Act. We value the commitment, influence and cooperation of the specialist sector in working with us as collective critical friends in our work in addition to their involvement in the wider VAWDASV landscape through partnerships which also help influence our shared understanding of where gaps exist and can highlight good and poor practice where possible. The Expert Reference Group provides a consistent mechanism for both engagement with the specialist sector on the issues that matter to them and for them to provide constructive challenge to our work. 

Priority 3

Support the development of new and the recognition of existing good practice to encourage consistent provision across Wales. We will also respond to emerging themes and concerns, where necessary through the creation of new mechanisms. We will do this in collaboration with the specialist sector and champion maintaining high quality provision across Wales.

Leadership of AWOGSEW has enabled strategic focus on addressing sexual exploitation as both a form of VAWDASV and a pathway into further victimisation for vulnerable women and girls. It has also ensured that there is policy integration, ensuring sexual exploitation is embedded within VAWDASV strategies rather than treated as separate issue. As a commitment to all survivors, the work through AWOGSEW has focused on making visible the experiences of women who face sexual exploitation while ensuring our approach remains inclusive of all survivors.

Priority 4

Continue to advocate for the investment in prevention services for both potential victims and those perpetrating harm including for young people where there is a recognised increase in need and the ability to significantly reduce harm. This should be a spectrum of intervention from campaigns and training aimed at the public as well as professionals to be direct interventions including education programmes and by-stander interventions. 

Our advisory work has been informed by and contributed to the growing evidence base on effective VAWDASV responses for marginalised communities. We continue to raise concerns about the pressure on services, specifically core services that provide the most critical support. We are pleased that there will be an uplift in the governments VAWDASV Budget for 2025 to 2026. However, we recognise this provides a small percentage of the overall funding. We have also raised issues on behalf of the sector with regards to burdensome demands of commissioners and the changing funding provision from the UK government.

Priority 5

Keep informed of survivor experiences, promoting what works and advocating when systems and responses have not worked both through the National Survivor Voice and Scrutiny Panel and the many survivor networks across Wales. Ensuring that we adopt an intersectional approach by engaging and promoting with specific issues such as the needs of migrant women and specific barriers for disabled victims of abuse. 

Working with, advocating for and continuing to reinforce survivor experiences is central to our role. We chair the National Survivor Voice, Scrutiny and Involvement Panel and now support victims and survivors to attend all of the Blueprint meetings. We have also engaged with survivors regarding their experiences of Family Court as this has been consistently raised with us. We are taking forward this work through the Criminal Justice in Wales Victim and Witness Taskforce as well as in other ways. 

In alignment with a commitment to intersectionality, we have held separate focus groups to better understand the rising concerns about hate crime and the lack of support for   people in Wales from Black, Asian or other minoritised communities, particularly survivors of violence and abuse. These focus groups have provided crucial insights into the systemic barriers faced by marginalized communities, this is an ongoing piece of work and will be fed into Welsh Government Anti-racist Wales Action Plan and work with strategic partners.

The Panel's impact was powerfully demonstrated at the VAWDASV Summit marking ten years of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, where three Panel members significantly influenced the agenda and shared critical insights with policymakers, commissioners, and service leaders. Their contributions challenged stakeholders to confront gaps between legislative ambition and lived reality, highlighting specific barriers that survivors, particularly minoritised women continue to face in accessing safety and justice. The Panel members testimony brought authenticity and urgency to discussions about implementation challenges, reminding the sector that policy success must be measured by survivor outcomes rather than process compliance. The Panel represents the Welsh Government’s commitment to survivor leadership and provides a model for how lived experience can drive systems change when properly resourced and genuinely valued.

Priority 6

Provide additional scrutiny to key deliverables within the Act, including local strategies and activity required to improve VAWDASV commissioning and procurement across Wales, working towards the ambition of delivering a sustainable whole system approach.

The VAWDASV strategy and blueprint approach provides us with a good opportunity to work with government, public services and the specialist sector to achieve this aim There is commitment to delivering this specifically in the Sustainable Whole System Approach workstream, which is co-Chaired by Yasmin. Through our attendance across all of the Blueprint workstreams we are able to advise on the interconnectivity and interdependencies of priorities and actions. There has and continues to be limitations on appropriate representation by public services and we have provided advice and challenge to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip on this. This representation is an illustration of the more important issue of the delivery of the Act itself by the relevant authorities. While there have been efforts made through leadership conferences and other means to engage with leadership there is more work to be done. We also, as mentioned throughout this report, provide advice and expertise on other policy work such as the Women’s Health Plan and wider strategic forums such as the Wales Sexual Assault Services Programme where there are obligations and opportunities.

Priority 7

Specifically advise Ministers and, where appropriate, public services and relevant stakeholders on the delivery of their responsibilities within the Act for the prevention, protection and support of victims and survivors. 

Ensuring that the key deliverables within the Act and working towards the ambition of delivering a sustainable whole system approach is a vital element of our work, with survivor panel members asking critical questions with respect to how this links in with VAWDASV prevention and fully resourced survivor services across Wales. With the results from the sustainable whole system approach survey and workshops we are now able to validate where the key challenges exist. Identifying a collaborative commissioning approach in Wales is key, alliance commissioning model is being explored-albeit at early stages we are considering the specific challenges of membership and the lack of strategic relevant bodies who are missing in the group and the senior leaders who we have continually strived to engage.

Priority 8

Support the specialist sector in their efforts to maintain effective and vital services for victims and survivors of VAWDASV and that they are present in local, regional and national planning.

The Expert Reference Group, as mentioned previously, provides us with opportunities to understand and agree priority actions with the specialist sector. We know that since the pandemic services have faced increased demand in terms of both numbers and complexity of need. Unfortunately, inflation, societal economic pressures have led to a real time reduction of investment in services.  Along with advocating for increased investment we also ensure that their experiences and perspectives are represented across the forums we attend. 

Priority 9

Support the development of National Indicators and the development of an accompanying evidence base to evidence the impact of the delivery of the Act.

The work to develop the National Indicators has proven to be really challenging. The standard required for a National Indicator is very specific and consequently there is limited relevant data that is suitable. Support the development of National Indicators and the development of an accompanying evidence base to evidence the impact of the delivery of the Act. Our recommendation is that there is work undertaken to create a minimum dataset for the VAWDASV Needs Assessments and Strategies that would provide the data in future for improved National Indicators. We will continue to work with the VAWDASV policy team and the Welsh Government Knowledge and Analytical Services on creating an evidence base including a data set. 

Priority 10

Continue to provide support and advice on the intersectional approach to delivering VAWDASV and that this commitment turns to action and delivery. The intersectional approach must sit within an improved understanding of all forms of VAWDASV so all survivors can be assured of appropriate and effective protections and support. This should be inclusive of age-appropriate interventions for children and young people and older people. We must recognise children and victims and provide the services that meet their needs and highlight the gaps which exist for the transitional period from children to adulthood, particularly to improve multi-agency responses for young people.

Our work has is also providing crucial insights into the systemic barriers faced by marginalised communities, allowing the development of tailored strategies to enhance support services and workplace safety. Recognising these barriers, there is also a pressing need to test for disparities in victim services for Black and minoritised victims. Establishing a separate group to address institutional barriers will help identify and rectify inequities in service delivery, ensuring that support systems are both accessible and effective for all survivors, regardless of their background.

Priority 11

Represent and influence to ensure the Welsh developments, perspectives and experience is included in UK stakeholder planning, UK government policy and decision making.

Following the planned closure and redundancies in TATA Steel in Port Talbot, we have liaised with both UK and Welsh Government and the increased pressure this has placed on communities which we know will have an impact on violence against women and girls. We know that economic stress and community tension creates an environment with increased risk of VAWDASV. We continue to keep updated on how this is impacting the community and advocating for measures that mitigate against this.

The changes in political leadership within the UK government provided an opportunity for enhanced cooperation between governments and a synergy and approach not seen previously. Further to this the UK government commitment to halve violence against women and girls creates a renewed focus. We have attended meetings with Ministers Jess Philips and Alex Davies-Jones as well as improvements in forging closer strategic partnerships with cross-government colleagues and improving the England and Wales VAWG landscape to consider the Welsh Context.

Through collaboration with the Welsh Government, specialist providers, key stakeholders, and survivors, we have committed to driving forward a whole-system approach to VAWDASV that prioritises prevention, protection, and support for survivors.

The success of the VAWDASV Act and strategy depends on sustained commitment from all partners, adequate resources for specialist services, and the continued centrality of survivor voices in shaping policy and practice. With these foundations, Wales can continue progressing toward its goal of being the safest place in Europe to be a woman.

As this is the last joint annual plan, here is a departing message from Yasmin Khan who has served as the National Advisor for Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence between January 2018 to October 2025.

After 7 years serving as National Adviser for VAWDASV, through pandemic, economic pressures, and profound system change, Wales has built something remarkable. The VAWDASV Act 2015 remains the benchmark across the UK. We have established the All-Wales Survivor Panel, embedded survivor voices into policymaking, and created a Blueprint approach that brings together government, public services, criminal justice, and specialist organisations in shared purpose.

Survivors are experts by experience. Their courage and insight have shaped every priority, every challenge to systems that do not serve them, every innovation we have delivered. This has been one of my most inspiring motivators for continuing the journey.

We know what works. Now we must sustain it.

Cross-sectoral collaboration is stronger. Prevention through education is advancing. The National Partnership Board provides leadership that aligns local, regional, and national action. These are real achievements that protect real lives, with a cross-government approach and continued Ministerial leadership we can continue to drive equitable outcomes for all our victims and survivors and prevent harm in its earliest form.

Yet demand continues to grow. In addition, VAWDASV must continue to include all groups, including sexually exploited women and ensure intersectionality is embedded across cross government policy. Economic hardship has intensified vulnerabilities. We have proven the model works; we must now resource it adequately.

Wales has led where others follow. The infrastructure exists. The partnerships are established. The commitment is evident. Making Wales the safest place in Europe for women is within reach, not as aspiration but as achievable goal, if we sustain investment, ensure consistent delivery, and keep survivor voices central to everything we do.

It has been my absolute privilege to serve as the National Advisor for Wales, a zero approach to VAWDASV across Wales can be achieved through the work our stakeholders, survivors and specialist services who continue to strive to build a safer Wales for our future generations.