Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence: national advisers annual plan 2025 to 2026
What we are doing to prevent violence and to support and protect people who have experienced violence.
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Introduction
As National Advisers for the Welsh Ministers, we are required under Section 22 of Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 to prepare an annual plan setting out how we propose to exercise the functions of this role during the following financial year.
Our annual plan for 2025 to 2026 is our final annual plan as National Advisers and demonstrates our priorities for the year in addressing violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence (VAWDASV). We do this within the context of the Act and the 2022 to 2026 VAWDASV strategy, which provides the objectives and mechanisms for government and public services to deliver the commitment to address VAWDASV and to deliver the ambition to “make Wales the safest place to be a woman”
We continue to engage with key stakeholders across a wide variety of forums as well as chairing both the Expert Reference group, formed of the independent specialist sector and the National Survivor Voice, Scrutiny and Involvement Panel which is aligned to the VAWDASV Blueprint.
Through our attendance at relevant forums and our direct engagement with specialist providers and survivors, we strive to ensure that we are aware of progress, best practice and the challenges that continue to be experienced in Wales in addressing violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. The scale of the issue is immense. Violence against Women has now been prioritised as a national threat, next to threats such as terrorism and serious organised crime, under the Strategic Policing Requirement 2023. Most recently the National Police Chief’s Council national policing statement on 23rd July 2024 reported that violence against women and girls (VAWG) related crime rose by almost 40% between 2018 and 2023 and is now recognised as a ‘national emergency’. More than a million crimes against women or girls were recorded by police between 2022 and 2023 and it is estimated at least one in every 12 women; more than 3 million will be a victim of VAWG crimes every year.
Throughout 2024 to 2025, Wales has seen a significant rise in demand for specialist VAWDASV services. Specialist services across Wales report higher numbers of referrals, with many experiencing stretched capacities as they work to provide critical interventions, safe accommodation, mental health support, and counselling. The Welsh Women's Aid State of the Sector Report 2023 to 2024 published in March 2024 reported that specialist services in Wales showed a 28% increase in reports of financial abuse from survivors accessing community-based services between 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023. This increased demand highlights the ongoing vulnerability of many survivors, who face substantial barriers in seeking safety and recovery. For those affected by VAWDASV, the need for support has never been more urgent, and without adequate and sustained funding, specialist services will continue to be under considerable strain.
Challenges Survivors Face in Wales
Survivors in Wales continue to face a range of challenges that affect their journey to safety and recovery:
- Limited access to safe accommodation: the shortage of refuge spaces and affordable housing options poses significant obstacles for survivors attempting to leave abusive environments. Many survivors, especially those with children, struggle to find suitable temporary or permanent accommodation, forcing some to return to unsafe situations.
- Mental health support needs: survivors often require tailored mental health support to cope with the trauma of abuse, but access to these services remains inconsistent. The high demand for mental health services has led to longer waiting times, leaving some survivors without immediate access to essential psychological support.
- Economic dependence: financial barriers are a common challenge for survivors who may lack the resources to establish independence. Economic abuse, job instability, and limited access to benefits exacerbate their dependence on abusive partners, further hindering their ability to break free.
- Sexual violence: as reported widely, most reported cases do not progress to prosecution, creating significant barriers for survivors seeking justice. Additionally, sexual violence services in Wales report the urgent need for more sustainable funding for specialist support services
- Cultural and language barriers: survivors from minority communities or migrant backgrounds often face additional cultural, linguistic, or legal barriers when seeking support. There is a critical need for accessible and culturally sensitive services to ensure that no survivor is left behind.
Public services in Wales
Local authorities, local health boards, fire and rescue authorities and NHS trusts in Wales as listed as ‘relevant authorities’ in the VAWDASV Act 2015 must be fully engaged in a whole systems approach with a view to contributing to the purpose of the Act. This work has been the focus of the Sustainable Whole System Approach workstream. However, representation and engagement is limited and progress has not been as we would like. Survivors have been clear in their ask that there are clear pathways for support in public services in Wales placing the burden on us not them to identify and respond to the abuse they have experienced.
The police forces in Wales have continued their efforts to improve response rates and outcomes for survivors. Progress has been made in training officers to identify signs of VAWDASV, respond sensitively to survivors, and pursue perpetrators effectively. However, the scale and complexity of VAWDASV incidents require a strengthened approach, particularly in rural areas, where survivors may feel isolated and less able to access support.
The need for collaborative efforts between police, health, social services, and the justice system, which is of course reserved, remains paramount. Survivors rightly believe that professionals, services and systems should work together to deliver what they need and at the time they need it.
The need for a system-wide approach in the face of funding uncertainty
The current funding landscape remains uncertain, posing a considerable risk to the sustainability of VAWDASV services in Wales. Many of the services upon which survivors depend are funded through short-term grants, leaving providers unable to plan beyond the immediate term. This lack of stable funding is especially challenging for specialist organisations, which rely on consistent resources to deliver quality support and to retain skilled staff and/or loss of expertise within the by and for specialist providers.
A system-wide approach, supported by the blueprint delivery model, remains the best solution for addressing these challenges. By fostering collaboration between all parts of the system; police, health, social care, housing, and specialist VAWDASV services, this approach creates a resilient and adaptable response to meet the needs of survivors. Long-term, coordinated investment across sectors is critical to achieving this vision and ensuring that VAWDASV services are both sustainable and accessible.
Our aim and priorities
As the National Advisers for Wales under the VAWDASV Act 2015, our plan outlines the aims and priorities for the 2025 to 2026 period. This year, reflecting the ambition of our aim and that we are now in the final months of our term as National Advisers, our aim is consistent with our previous plan to focus on a whole system response to VAWDASV with public services fulfilling their duties within the Act.
Our aim for 2025 to 2026 is:
- To work with all stakeholders to ensure the most effective delivery of the Act and Strategy so that we have a whole system and whole of Wales response working towards the elimination of Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence in Wales.
To ensure the achievement of this aim, we have identified the following priorities:
- Support the delivery of the ambition and the work required across Welsh Government ensuring that there is well informed cross government action.
- Engage with all stakeholders and continue to work with Welsh Government and Ministers and the Blueprint delivery team to improve victim and survivor experience and highlight gaps and poor experience in services.
- Work with the specialist sector in Wales to highlight their work, the areas of emerging practice and the challenges experienced as critical services for survivors and advocate for enhanced and sustainable funding.
- Continue to reinforce the need to ensure that a whole system response includes prevention, perpetration and survivor-led services.
- Continue to engage with survivors and specialist services to inform our representation, advice and advocacy is based in expert experience and understanding of current delivery. We will make particular effort to ensure we adopt an intersectional approach, and we reflect the experiences and additional challenges for minoritised survivors.
- Undertake research and work to inform our advice for Ministers, Welsh Government officials/departments and public services with regards to their responsibilities the Act for the prevention, protection and support of victims and survivors.
- Provide representation with the UK government, ensuring that Welsh perspectives and experiences are included in policy and planning, particularly where we can demonstrate better outcomes for victims and survivors. An example of this includes our work to exercise our Single Unified Safeguarding Review process which will be delivered through a pan Wales approach.
- Support the need to expand capacity and develop innovative service delivery models that meet the diverse needs of survivors across Wales. Despite the Welsh Government NRPF guidance (2022) published which provides information on how local authorities and statutory agencies should support people with NRPF, there is a need to go further and provide a clear direction on how the guidance can be used to support victims with NRPF for local authorities.
Despite the challenges we face regarding the uncertainty of long-term funding for VAWDASV in Wales, we, alongside public bodies and relevant authorities remain committed to achieving the aims of the VAWDASV (Wales) Act 2015 and to making Wales a place where survivors are supported, perpetrators are held accountable, and our communities can live free from violence and fear. It remains imperative that we strive to provide needs-based and system-wide response to tackle VAWDASV in Wales, ensuring that survivors have access to the support and justice they deserve. Therefore. we must give violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence in Wales, the national urgency required.
This will be the final plan for us a National Advisers and will also provide a basis for the work of the next Adviser for their first 6 months. We will ensure that there is a seamless transition for them and that they can take up their duties including involvement in the Blueprint and facilitating the hugely important work of the National Survivor Scrutiny, Voice and Involvement Panel.