Peterborough Women's Aid say more needs to be done to tackle violence against women and girls
It comes as a watchdog has warned that government efforts to address the issue have not yet been effective
Peterborough women's aid say they are having to close 2 services due to a lack of long term funding for violence against women and girls in the UK.
It comes as a watchdog has warned that government efforts to address the issue have not yet been effective.
The National Audit Office describes it as a 'significant and growing problem' - affecting 1 in 12 women.
The Labour government's pledged to halve rates of such violence in the next decade - but the spending watchdog warns that to meet this target, a 'co-ordinated whole-system response' is needed.
There's no continuity for victims
Mandy Geraghty, CEO of Peterborough women's aid, said:
"Without long-term funding, we will never really be able to tackle the issue of violence against women and girls."
"They also need to look at what works in the local community. They need to listen to smaller organisations like ours that are on the front line saving lives."
"Grants tend to be for one or two years, which means that we cannot plan or offer any stability for the victims we're working with because we don't know if we can offer our support projects after this time."
"There's no continuity for victims."
"In my view, there is a disconnect between the government understanding what works in local communities and what they think works."
"What we are not seeing is the government looking at frontline services, looking at our outcomes, and investing money in projects."
There is a disconnect between the government understanding what works in local communities and what they think works
A key pledge by Labour when the party came into Government last summer was to halve VAWG in the next decade.
The NAO said to meet this target, the Home Office "will need to lead a co-ordinated, whole-system response that addresses the causes of VAWG".
The prevalence of sexual assault against women aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales was 4.3% in 2023-24, up from 3.4% in 2009-10, the NAO said.
In that same period, incidents of rape and sexual assault against women and girls recorded by police rose from 34,000 to 123,000, although the NAO said this could partly be explained by improved recording of such crimes.
We will not stop until we have a system that protects victims, supports their journey to justice and holds perpetrators to account
A Home Office spokesperson said the report had looked at the previous government's "failure to deliver systemic change", and vowed Labour is "delivering a step-change in the Government's response".
They added: "Over the last six months, we have wasted no time in taking action to better protect victims and pursue perpetrators."
"This includes launching new domestic abuse protection orders, starting the rollout of domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms, strengthening the police response to spiking and stalking, and pioneering a truly cross-Government approach to tackling these issues."
"We will not stop until we have a system that protects victims, supports their journey to justice and holds perpetrators to account."