Nahar Choudhury, Solace CEO, said: “Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a national emergency and Solace welcomes the London Assembly’s acknowledgement of this in its response to the Mayor’s draft Police and Crime Plan 2025-2029. We must continue to work together to ensure that the Mayor’s strategy provides long-term, sustainable support for survivors and clear, tangible actions to prevent abuse and hold perpetrators to account.
“We also welcome the London Assembly’s acknowledgment of the need to review the financial sustainability of the existing model, as survivors rely on specialist domestic abuse services like Solace, yet the current funding model remains overly competitive, short-term, and unsustainable. The sector needs long-term, ring-fenced funding through a grant-based model.
“Solace was able to offer expertise to the Committee during the evidence-gathering process, and we are pleased that our recommendations were taken on board. This includes ensuring that the upcoming London VAWG strategy adopts an intersectional lens to address the higher rates of domestic abuse and VAWG experienced by certain communities.”
As a leading domestic abuse charity, Solace provided frontline support to 14,435 survivors in 2023/24 and offered safe accommodation to 809 women and children across 24 refuges.
Additionally, Solace supports the expansion of Operation Soteria to improve investigations of rape and sexual assault and join the Assembly’s call to extend this approach to domestic abuse cases, as prosecutions for domestic abuse continue to decline, with many survivors reporting disbelief or poor support from police.
While these important steps are being taken, there are some key areas where the charity believes further progress is needed:
- Preventing VAWG and supporting survivors: The draft Policing and Crime Plan lacks clear, actionable steps to prevent VAWG and support survivors. We recognise that the Mayor’s VAWG strategy will be the focus for this and need to ensure this highlights key issues including support for survivors with insecure immigration status.
- Addressing root causes of VAWG: The London Assembly and the Mayor must acknowledge the links between VAWG and other issues, such as the online radicalisation of young men and boys, often rooted in misogyny, and the exploitation and trafficking of vulnerable individuals, who are frequently victims of VAWG.
- Sector collaboration: The gaps in the draft plan highlight the need for greater collaboration with the VAWG sector, including specialist ‘by-and-for’ organisations, to meet the Government’s target of halving VAWG in the next decade.
Solace remains committed to working in partnership with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the Mayor’s office to ensure the final VAWG strategy addresses the needs of the most vulnerable women and girls.