Violence against women and girls (VAWG)

The government has set out its strategy on how it plans to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. We have and will continue to call for policy change and resources for the family justice system to help meet this aim. The family courts are ideally placed to tackle VAWG work – but they will need effective and sustained investment.  

Why family courts are key

VAWG is often considered through the lens of the government’s ‘Safer Streets’ mission and regarded as an issue that can be ‘solved’ only in the criminal courts. This ignores the fact that many women and girls are harmed by men who are connected to them and the abuse takes place in their own homes.

Family law provides a legislative basis to protect victims and prevent VAWG in the long term, whether that be through a non-molestation orders or orders regulating where and with whom a child should live.

What are we calling for?

Due to years of underfunding, the family justice system’s ability to contribute to tackling VAWG has been hampered, meaning women are not appropriately and meaningfully protected, and in some cases, are subjected to ongoing abuse through court proceedings.

We have now set out a package of recommendations to improve the ability of the family justice system to address the root cause of VAWG through prevention and early intervention. As 2025 Bar Chair Barbara Mills KC said in her inaugural address: "Fund the family courts and end the horrific roll call of violence against women".

Justice is essential to tackling VAWG and this must be recognised. That means investing across the justice system so that it can play its part in tackling VAWG, whether that be the family, criminal or civil justice system. We know that the courts can not only protect victims but prevent future harm. This is only possible if the system is properly resourced to deliver the accessible, survivor-centred justice focused on early intervention and prevention that’s desperately needed.

Our 8 recommendations:

1. VAWG must be accurately measured and recorded
2. Pilot the national reporting and review mechanism
3. Increase legal aid funding in family law
   1. Remove means testing for legal aid for alleged victims and survivors of domestic abuse
   2. Bring all cases involving domestic abuse within legal aid scope for both parties
4. Sufficiently fund the rollout of the Pathfinder courts and the Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDAC) across England and Wales
5. Improve support for those going through the family justice system
6. Continue to support the Domestic Abuse Protection Orders and Notices (DAPOs and DAPNs) scheme
7. Provision of perpetrator programmes following admissions or findings of fact hearings
8. Better coordination between the family justice system and the criminal justice system

What is the government’s strategy promising to do?

Improving victims’ and survivors’ experience of the justice system: 

• Reform in the criminal courts to improve timeliness for all victims and survivors, including those of VAWG offences
• Improve the experience of trial for victims of rape and funding vital victim support services
• Tackle rape myths and misconceptions at court, bringing forward a package of legislative measures to improve the experience of giving evidence for victims and survivors of sexual violence
• Bring the principles of Operation Soteria to the courtroom to ensure those are being modelled by the whole criminal justice system
• Exploring specialist court models, such as specialist domestic abuse courts, to provide better support to victims and survivors
• Training for criminal justice practitioners will seek to ensure the criminal justice system is not used as a space to revictimise survivors
• The CPS must deliver the Victim Transformation Programme to improve the services they provide to all victims of crime who interact with them

Family courts:

• Ensure that the family courts are no longer spaces where victims and survivors of VAWG can be revictimised
• Through a programme of reform, we will reduce opportunities for perpetrators to misuse legal processes, strengthen protections for victims, survivors and children, and embed a trauma-informed approach across the system

Broader experience of the criminal justice system:

• Commit to reducing the number of women in custody by addressing their distinct needs
• Improve support for women in the criminal justice system by strengthening awareness and understanding of how victims can become criminalised, particularly among criminal justice agencies
• Explore changes to Crown Court and magistrates’ court defence forms to include questions about histories of domestic abuse, including coercive control

Read the full strategy

Relevant statistics and research

• The new CPS VAWG data covering 2020 – 2025 shows that since 2020, 35.1% of rape charges, 92.4% of strangulation or suffocation charges, 69.4% of harassment charges, 82.8% of stalking charges and 85.6% of revenge porn charges were flagged on the case management system as relating to domestic abuse
• Government figures show that in the year ending March 2024, over 1.2 million women and over 550,000 men between the ages of 16 and 59 are estimated to have been victims of domestic abuse
• A report from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner published in October found that domestic abuse features in almost 90% of family cases
• The latest Femicide Census found that 51% of women killed by men in 2022 were killed by a current or former intimate partner
• The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 introduced new means testing that left approximately 15% of families eligible for legal aid