- The Guardian, Friday 30 January 2009
More than 100 councils will today be threatened with legal action over their failure to provide rape crisis centres and domestic violence support services, with a strongly worded warning issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Research reveals that one in four local authorities in Britain offer no specialised services for women who have faced violence or abuse, and shows that a quarter of those rape crisis centres that are still operating believe they will either have to close or radically cut services in 2009.
The findings, published jointly by the EHRC and the End Violence Against Women campaign, offer a stark illustration of the large areas of the country where there is now no provision at all.
The research shows that those services that do exist are losing their battle to secure long-term funding both from the state and from charitable sources. Trevor Phillips, chair of the EHRC, said: "In many parts of the country, services for women who have experienced violence are chronically underfunded or simply do not exist. Women shouldn't be subjected to this postcode lottery.
"Urgent action is needed to provide funding and support to ensure that all women can get help whenever they need it - wherever they live."
He said he hoped the report would prompt councils to act, but added: "For those who continue to ignore the dire need to shore up services, we have a stark reminder: the commission is ready and willing to use its enforcement powers."
The EHRC will send a letter to around 100 local authorities giving them a month to explain why they have no provision in place. If their response is unsatisfactory, it intends to take legal action under the Equality Act 2006, which requires local authorities to promote gender equality.
"Because violence against women is such a major cause of women's inequality, public bodies should ensure adequate support for women in such circumstances," the EHRC said in a statement. The commission will issue formal compliance notices to those local authorities that fail to address the problem, and this could ultimately lead to court action.
Vera Baird, the solicitor general, appeared to support the EHRC's initiative, and issued a statement saying: "There are still too many local authorities not providing support. Women shouldn't have to face a postcode lottery of service provision."
The Local Government Association described the initiative as "irresponsible and alarmist" and said: "Threatening legal action against individual councils is not going to help the situation."
The study highlights the patchy state of provision, citing cases of victims who have been forced to make 120-mile trips to receive counselling. It shows that ethnic minority women, who often require very specific services (relating, for example, to issues such as forced marriage) are especially poorly served, with just 10% of local authorities offering dedicated support.
The piecemeal way in which these groups have had to gather funding in the past has always made their long-term existence precarious. But groups say they have found it increasingly difficult to persuade local authorities to fund their work, and blame a preference for funding large-scale service providers rather than small charities, and a failure of central government policymakers to prioritise sexual violence support services.
Only 38 remain rape crisis centres remain in England and Wales, many of which may close soon. Workers in the sector claim there are more pet rescue centres than women's violence support groups.
Yvonne Traynor, chief executive of London's only remaining rape crisis branch, in south London, said the nature of the violence made it hard to launch powerful, opinion-forming campaigns.
"Victims are not normally strong enough to tie themselves to the railings outside Downing Street, shouting: 'This has happened and I don't have any help.' Survivors of sexual abuse don't want people to know what happened to them: they won't be marching to Whitehall," she said, adding that the branch faced closure this year unless new funding emerged.
Although the government has increased provision of support for victims of domestic violence, there has been no parallel rise in funding for rape victims. The NHS offers some counselling to those victims who report attacks to the police, but these are believed to be a small minority. A large proportion of victims have always relied on the charitable support services - and these are the groups who now find themselves without support.
Every year an estimated 3 million women experience rape, domestic violence, stalking or some other kind of abuse, the EHRC said.
