Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders is due to announce major progress for the CPS in working with domestic violence cases at the opening of the Women’s Aid National 40th Birthday Conference today [Wednesday 2 July]. Women’s Aid will be welcoming the CPS success, while also warning that more positive action must be taken both locally and nationally by all relevant agencies if the country is to be prepared to meet the needs of women experiencing domestic violence.

The Women’s Aid annual National Conference is the only opportunity for domestic violence professionals to come together with the police, NHS, and social care to discuss the enormous challenges facing women and children experiencing domestic violence and the services that support them. Delegates will be considering the future needs of domestic violence survivors and how these can be met in a rapidly changing environment with increasingly limited resources.

Women’s Aid is highlighting that:

• Two women every week are killed by a partner or ex-partner [1], and a third of all female suicide attempts can be attributed to domestic violence [2]
• The police receive an emergency call relating to domestic violence every 30 seconds [3]
• Nearly half (48%) of domestic violence support providers are providing some services without dedicated funding [4]
• Nearly a third (30%) of services receiving local authority funding expected less funding this year than last – the second year in a row such cuts have been seen [5]
• In one day last year, more than 155 women with 103 children were turned away from the first refuge they approached [6]

Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid said:

“The Women’s Aid National Conference is the only opportunity for all professionals working on domestic violence to come together and prepare jointly for the future. We must take action now if we are to be ready for the challenges of significantly smaller budgets, and increasingly technologically sophisticated abuse. The need to tackle domestic violence is well-recognised: Women’s Aid will be leading this conference to develop strategy to eliminate violence under difficult circumstances for our members and statutory services.”

Alison Saunders, Director of Public Prosecutions, said:

“Domestic violence destroys lives and in the past the criminal justice system let down the victims of these terrible crimes. For example, just over a decade ago, less than half the domestic violence cases that we prosecuted ended in convictions. We have worked hard to change that – we trained specialist prosecutors and now build stronger cases and provide a better service to victims – and we are seeing results.

“Most recently we revised our guidance for prosecutors to highlight the potential impact of domestic abuse on victims from all walks of life, at different stages in their lives, to make sure we offer them all the support they need. We are currently consulting on this guidance and would welcome any views by July 9.”

Thursday’s programme concludes the two-day conference with events for Women’s Aid members only. The programme includes a session for survivors and services to question representatives of the Criminal Justice System, including HMIC for domestic violence Zoe Billingham, on their performance in responding to domestic violence.
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Notes:

[1] Office of National Statistics (February 2014) Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13 Release.
[2] Stark, E. & Flitcraft, A, Women at risk: Domestic violence and women’s health Sage Publications, 1996
[3] HMIC (March 2014) Improving the police response to domestic abuse
[4] Women’s Aid Women’s Aid Annual Survey, Survey 1, 2013
[5] ibid
[6] ibid

July 2, 2014