News

With financial support from government agencies becoming increasingly precarious, community support is vital to the continuation of Refuge’s services. Refuge provides 15 units of emergency accommodation in Richmond and is a fantastic example of people coming together to support women and children escaping domestic violence and abuse. We are incredibly grateful to Richmond Mayor Ben Khosa, who has continued his predecessor Cllr. Sue Sampson’s support of Refuge in the mayoral office by selecting Refuge as his 2019 charity. As of May 2019 Mayor Khosa has raised over £20,000 in support of Refuge through events such as the multi-faith Peace and … Continue reading →

We are delighted to announce that we opened a new refuge service in Hillingdon at the beginning of March. This service can accommodate up to seven women and 14 children at any one time. The service is staffed by a deputy manager, two refuge workers and a child support worker. During the first few months, the staff have been busy supporting residents, making links with external agencies and agreeing referral pathways so that our clients can easily access any additional support they might need. The child support worker is running activities for children such as cooking and homework club as well … Continue reading →

A refuge is so much more than just a roof over a woman’s head At the beginning of the year Refuge won a bid to develop its first psychologically informed refuge service in Westminster, London. The service comprises five refuges which support 35 single women or families at any one time. As we develop this service we have been giving much thought to creating an environment in the refuges which provides a culture of well-being and a sense of physical and emotional safety for clients and staff. Our specialist staff have consulted women about the refuge environment – with a … Continue reading →

In response to the Government’s announcement that it intends to suspend Parliament in September, Sandra Horley CBE, chief executive of national domestic abuse charity Refuge said: ‘The announcement today from the Prime Minister that the current parliamentary session will end in mid-September has the potential to erase years of work towards the Domestic Abuse Bill. The Bill, introduced by Theresa May and awaiting a second reading, aims to put in place much needed changes to current legislation and save lives. Legislation introduced in the last parliamentary session can be very simply ‘carried over’. We hope that the Prime Minister will … Continue reading →

Refuge is pleased to announce the Home Office has awarded Refuge a grant of £1.2 million to run the National Domestic Violence Helpline from November 2019 to March 2022. Refuge has run the National Domestic Violence Helpline since 2003, in partnership with Women’s Aid. Last year, the Home Office re-tendered the service and Women’s Aid decided to bid independently. Following a competitive process, Refuge was awarded the contract to continue running the helpline. Refuge will run the Helpline in partnership with Women’s Aid until 31 October 2019, from which point the service will be run by Refuge only. Callers will … Continue reading →

Refuge has played an essential role in influencing the content of the Domestic Abuse Bill and continues to campaign for the changes our front line staff and the survivors we support tell us they need. The Government’s stated objective for the Bill is to transform the response to domestic abuse – which Refuge is fully behind. However, we are concerned that the Bill in its current form focuses too much on the justice system and policing, leaving out swathes of policy areas that need reform in order to better protect, and meet the needs of, survivors. Listening to the survivors … Continue reading →

Refuge, one of 30 women’s groups today wrote to Conservative Party leader candidates Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson asking them to make specific pledges to tackle domestic and sexual violence if they become the next Prime Minister. The organisations, who work supporting survivors of all forms of violence against women and girls across the UK, are asking Mr Hunt and Mr Johnson to: Ensure the draft Domestic Violence Bill becomes law and is delivered; Renew the cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy from 2020 onwards – this includes life-saving work from ensuring hospital there are domestic violence workers in A&E departments, to advising … Continue reading →

The Joint Pre-Legislative Domestic Abuse Bill Committee, a group of MPs and peers who are responsible for scrutinising the draft Domestic Abuse Bill published by the Government earlier this year, today published its report and recommendations to the Government. We are delighted that the Committee has listened to Refuge, and has made some strong recommendations to the Government. Gendered definition of domestic abuse The draft domestic abuse Bill will define domestic abuse in law for the first time. As this will be an important awareness and understanding raising tool, the Committee took lots of evidence on this issue and debated … Continue reading →

Earlier this year, a team from HMP East Sutton Park in Kent took on the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for Refuge. In just three days, Stacey, John, Jo and Matt beat Great Britain’s three highest peaks and raised £3,000 – as if that were not enough, they even found time to write a blog about their adventure. Ben Nevis We began our ascent at 7am after an overnight stop in Carlisle. The track up Ben Nevis mainly consists of rocky steps made for people with exceptionally long legs, which none of us have! Despite our early battles with … Continue reading →