Women’s Aid has put a price on fleeing domestic abuse: up to around £50,000 in a worse-case scenario.
At best with the help of state support it is more than £10,000, double that for those without recourse to public funds because of their immigration status. The key costs factored into those estimates are legal fees for the family courts and housing.
“The safety net of state support, including social security, legal aid and free childcare, is vital, but it is not designed with survivors of domestic abuse in mind,” according to Women’s Aid. “The eligibility and evidence criteria can rule out large groups of survivors, especially those with insecure immigration status, and stop them from accessing the essential life-saving and life-changing support they need.”
The cost is spelt out in a new Women’s Aid research report: ‘The Price of Safety: the cost of leaving an abuser and rebuilding a safe, independent life’.
The campaigning group would like to see policy changes to mitigate the cost of rebuilding a life free of abuse by expanding of the Road/Rail to Refuge Scheme, reform to the child maintenance service, and guaranteed funding for the Flexible Fund which provides one-off payments to survivors of domestic abuse fleeing for 2025/26 and beyond.
Women’s Aid is also urging a commitment of at least £516 million a year to specialist domestic abuse services made in the government’s planned spending review.
