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The extent of violence in England and Wales, especially against women, is obscured by official Government statistics – new study reveals

Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, and Lancaster University, have found that Government statistics on violent crime underestimate the extent and severity of violence against women by as much as 39%, and underestimates violent crime against men by 26%.

When it comes to domestic violence the statistics reduce serious domestic violence against women by 59% and against men by 5%.

The researchers say this is causing a sex bias in the official violence statistics and is the result of limiting the inclusion of repeated incidents.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) caps the number of violent offences against the same victim measured by the Crime Survey of England and Wales.

The current cap replaced a previous much-criticised system which stopped counting repeated violent offences against a victim after the first five.

However, this latest study, published in the British Journal of Criminology, reveals the current capping system also causes significant bias by masking violent crime against women, especially domestic assaults, which is often a repeat offence.

The study used 19 years of data from the Crime Survey of England and Wales (2001/02 to 2019/20) examining non-fatal assaults.

The authors say this sex bias in statistics on violent crime marginalises the experience of women and hides the repetition of domestic violent crime against women.

The study authors call for the capping method to be removed and, they argue, could be replaced with an alternative ‘moving average system’. This, they say, would also remove volatility in the statistics but would also prevent sex bias.

The study’s lead author, Professors Sylvia Walby, from Royal Holloway, University of London, said: “We welcome the Government Strategy to halve violence against women and girls and urge the ONS to improve the quality of its statistics by removing the capping and therefore the sex bias.

“Accurate measurement of the volume and distribution of violent crime is important for the distribution of public funding to the services that most need it in order to achieve social justice.”

Study co-author, Professor Brian Francis, from the School of Mathematical Sciences at Lancaster University, added: “By capping the actual statistics of violence against women, it underestimates what is happening in England and Wales, even though alternative statistical methods are available.

“We want to see the ONS include all repeated incidents to give us a proper and clear picture of what is happening in the UK, so we are better prepared on how to tackle violence reduction.”

The findings are detailed in the paper ‘Re-sexing violent crime: Sex bias in official estimates of violent crime underestimates the extent of violence against women and girls’, which is published in the British Journal of Criminology.

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/sex-bias-against-women-found-in-government-violence-statistics

April 23, 2026

Maintenance is used as a weapon all of the time – Gingerbread

Gingerbread has  published a joint briefing exploring the experiences of victim-survivors of domestic abuse with the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). Developed in collaboration with Surviving Economic Abuse, Women’s Aid, and victim-survivors, it highlights serious gaps in support and safeguarding.

What are our key findings?

For many victim-survivors of domestic abuse, the CMS is the only safe route to securing the financial support their children are entitled to. It is therefore essential that it provides a trauma-informed and safe service. However, victim-survivors tell us that the CMS is failing to meet their and their children’s needs.

Instead, they describe a service that is weaponised by perpetrators of abuse to continue coercive control and financial abuse post-separation. Our research finds persistent challenges with the service, including weak enforcement, payment loopholes, inadequate safeguards, poor specialist support, and a reliance on parents with care to report and investigate fraud and non-compliance.

These findings echo our Fix the CMS report, published in 2024, which showed that the CMS is failing to protect people who have experienced domestic abuse and, in some cases, is making the abuse worse.

The government has recognised misuse of child maintenance as a form of violence against women and girls (VAWG) within their VAWG strategy, and has announced welcome reforms to the CMS, including the removal of Direct Pay and a reduction of fees. However, the legislation for these reforms is not expected until 2027/28, despite the urgent need for change. Additionally, the government needs to go further to ensure the system meets the needs of victim-survivors of abuse.

What are our recommendations?

Our research found that victim-survivors want reforms to the CMS to include:

  • Urgently introducing legislation that will enable the government to safely transition service users from the Direct Pay service to Collect and Pay.
  • Providing specialist developed and delivered training and support for CMS staff to consistently identify and respond to domestic, including economic, abuse, with a particular focus on how the CMS is used to coerce and control victim survivors.
  • Improving safeguarding processes and procedures to help survivors safely engage with the CMS to manage their children’s entitlements. This includes basic procedures for alerting survivors to any changes or contact with a perpetrator that could increase their risk of harm, and ensuring access to specialist, trauma informed support.
  • Using stronger enforcement of non-payment and fraudulent non-disclosure of earnings responses, including improved automatic maintenance calculations based on cross-agency information sharing, proactive monitoring and investigations that do not place a disproportionate burden on victim-survivors to report or prove fraud, and a zero tolerance approach to non-compliance. The reforms should also close loopholes that allow abusers to misuse the enforcement process to evade accountability and urgently introduce secondary legislation to implement commitments made in the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023.
  • Removing barriers to the Collect and Pay service, by guaranteeing that victim-survivors can remain on Collect and Pay indefinitely to safely manage their children’s entitlements and waiving Collect and Pay fees for all parents, so that they are not financially penalised for relying on the CMS to safely manage their children’s support.

Vaila McClure, Head of Communications and External Affairs at Gingerbread, says:

“This research shows how the Child Maintenance Service is too often being used as a tool for ongoing abuse, rather than providing the safety and support families need.

Failures in safeguarding and enforcement are allowing perpetrators to continue to control and harm families long after relationships have ended, leaving children without the financial support they are entitled to.

Whilst the government has acknowledged the problem, recognition alone is not enough. Urgent reform is needed to protect children and the parents caring for them.”

Part of a longer press release at https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/our-work/news-and-views/maintenance-is-used-as-a-weapon-all-of-the-time-read-our-new-joint-briefing/

April 23, 2026

The economic consequences of gender-based violence – IFS

Summarising recent work on the economic impacts of domestic abuse, sexual assault and workplace harassment.

Gender-based violence has not historically been a major area of study for economists. Yet, in parallel with sociology and the law, it is also an economic matter. It reduces labour market participation, deepens inequality, and limits freedom of choice. It can also be driven by economic factors: women’s financial autonomy is tremendously important.

This emerging and growing field of research, applying economic tools to the study of gender-based violence, can help to improve our understanding of this important issue, and improve our ability to predict and mitigate harm.

Much of the research to date has been conducted elsewhere – in large part due to the availability of high-quality administrative data. In places such as Finland and other Nordic countries, detailed police records can be linked to individual earnings and information about firms.

In the UK, research is hampered by the absence of such a link. In 2019 the Home Office estimated the economic and social costs of domestic abuse at £66 billion (Home Office, 2019), which the National Audit Office (NAO) estimated to have risen to £84 billion by 2025 (National Audit Office, 2025). However, the NAO also notes that there has not been an effective whole-system response. In the battle against gender-based violence, if we are to truly understand how to best prevent and reduce it, better data and further analysis would be a huge gain.

Full article https://ifs.org.uk/articles/economic-consequences-gender-based-violence

April 23, 2026

Women Remain Significantly Underrepresented in UK News Media, According to New National Report – Worcester University

Women remain significantly underrepresented in UK news media, with nearly twice as many men appearing in stories as women; a ratio that has barely changed in 30 years, according to a new national report.

The study, which analysed 570 news stories, more than 2,000 sources, and 708 reporters across the UK, found that women make up just 36% of all sources and subjects, an increase of only seven percent since 2020.

It also found that gender-based violence does not receive significant coverage in the news.

The report was co-led by Dr Barbara Mitra, Principal Lecturer in Media & Film Studies at the University of Worcester, (along with Dr Victoria Cann from the University of East Anglia) as part of the Global Media Monitoring Project, which tracks gender representation in news worldwide.

Dr Mitra said: “Gender equality is still treated as a peripheral issue, and women’s voices remain marginalised in hard news areas. Without deliberate interventions, these patterns risk becoming entrenched, perpetuating a media landscape that fails to reflect the diversity and complexity of society.”

The findings reveal that coverage of gender-based violence remains minimal, and women are still most often quoted in ordinary roles, such as eyewitnesses or providers of popular opinion, rather than as experts or authority figures. In sports news, women accounted for just 6% of coverage across print, radio and television.

The report urges media organisations to adopt gender-sensitive editorial policies and for digital platforms to promote serious stories featuring women beyond celebrity and entertainment.

It also calls for targeted regional strategies across the UK, alongside training and awareness programmes for journalists.

In addition, the report recommends the government develop policies to hold media organisations accountable on gender equality and that further research and education initiatives be prioritised to drive systemic change.

Dr Mitra said: “Progress is now happening, but it’s slow. For real change, we need systemic action from media organisations, policymakers and educators.”

  • You can view a copy of the report online.

https://www.worcester.ac.uk/about/news/2026-women-remain-significantly-underrepresented-in-uk-news-media-according-to-new-national-report

April 23, 2026

New research calls on housing providers to protect women and families from abuse and gambling risks – Nottingham University

The researchers conducted in‑depth interviews with women with lived experience of gambling harms and domestic abuse, as well as with support services and UK housing providers. They also surveyed housing providers to understand what data they captured about tenants’ experiences of gambling harms and domestic abuse, and the support they made available to women.

Key findings included:

  • Physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, financial abuse, and psychological or emotional abuse were all found to occur within the home – and even continue after women had separated from their partners.
  • Financial abuse, where partners stole money or used their identities to fraudulently obtain loans and build debt, landed women in inescapable circumstances, unable to pay for secure, safe, affordable housing elsewhere or obtain financial or legal support.
  • Despite debts caused by gambling resulting in rental arrears and mortgage default, eviction, and future housing instability, gambling is often overlooked in Housing Providers’ risk assessments and professional practice.
  • A lack of specialist knowledge among housing service providers is hindering the ability to identify abuse in the home and provide help.

To enable the housing sector to overcome these challenges, the research makes a number of recommendations for policy, practice and further research, including:

  • An increase in the provision of quality, affordable and secure housing.
  • Improving access to low-cost or free legal support and introducing protective public policy.
  • Greater training for sector professionals and taking action to tackle the social stigma surrounding gambling and domestic abuse.

Overall, developing a multi-agency approach to enhance prevention could better enable early intervention and crisis response, as well as provide an accessible route out of harmful living circumstances for those at risk.

Read the full press release at https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/housing-providers-to-protect-women-from-abuse-and-gambling-risks

April 23, 2026