Alison Ryan, manager of the women’s refuge service, said it was a “done deal” that the £7.5 million in direct funding from the Scottish Government would be scrapped in March 2011, with councils expected to pick up the slack using their already overstretched block grants.
The threat to funding was met with dismay by those most hurt by domestic abuse, with one Scottish victim saying the support she received saved her life after she was sexually abused and assaulted by her husband, who also pulled a knife on her.
Non-specialist services -- such as a council house let instead of a refuge -- are no substitute, she said, and would deter victims coming forward.
According to Ryan, two Scottish Government funds that will run out next year will not be replaced. The funds -- one for children; one for abused women -- have directed more than £7m over three years to frontline services for Women’s Aid. The loss would cut around 40% from most refuges’ budgets.
“At the moment it’s ring-fenced until March 2011, but what’s going to happen now is that the ring-fencing’s coming off and it’s going to come from a grant to local authorities,” she said. “We’ll have to fight alongside a lot of other services to try to retain this funding and retain our staff and service.” Ryan added that the decision was “pretty definite” and would be finalised within the next few weeks.
The Scottish Government declined to comment on the Women’s Aid claims but implied that it would fall to councils to provide for domestic abuse victims.
“Let’s be absolutely clear that there is a legal duty on local authorities to provide accommodation for anyone fleeing domestic abuse,” a Scottish Government spokeswoman said. “This can be refuge accommodation -- and excellent new refuges have opened recently -- but also using flats, houses or other temporary accommodation.
“The Scottish Government also funds many valued organisations that provide a wide range of support to victims of domestic abuse, and it is our priority to continue to support vulnerable people -- despite the tough economic conditions.”
Despite the assurances, aid workers fear that the most vulnerable women and children will be affected by any reduction in service.
Grace, a 44-year-old who escaped abuse with the help of the Women’s Aid network, described the refuges as “absolutely crucial”. She said: “I don’t think I could have coped on my own in a residential flat. It was vital that I had that support and understanding.
“If funding is reduced and people can’t get help, they could end up committing suicide or living in extreme danger from their partners.”
She spent 20 years in a relationship with a man 12 years older than her, and was subjected to such serious abuse that when she finally sought help in her late 30s she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Some of the things you’re talking about are what they’d do in a war to torture people,” Grace’s doctor told her when she finally opened up about her experiences.
Grace -- not her real name -- said she would lock herself in the toilet to escape her husband, who kept her prisoner in her own home in Glasgow. Her phone was often confiscated and she was barred from seeing friends and family or going on outings with workmates.
“Sometimes it was physical abuse, like pushing me, or putting his hands round my throat, saying, ‘I could easily do this, or stab you’,” she said.
“Sometimes I used to lie in bed at night and just think, ‘I wish he’d do it. If he’d just do that somebody would start to ask questions’.”
There was also sexual abuse -- “things I didn’t want to do but was coerced into” -- but the emotional abuse was the worst, Grace said, “because it strips you of your own self, you get really low and hate yourself”.
Eventually things came to a head when her partner began drinking heavily, becoming more and more unpredictable. He threatened to drive the couple’s car off a motorway bridge, and one Saturday came close to stabbing her in her own home. “He picked up a knife and just said, ‘I could come over and use this’,” she said. It was at that point Grace turned to Women’s Aid and secured a refuge place.
Others are not so lucky. Of around 700 women who asked for accommodation at Glasgow Women’s Aid last year, 30% were turned away due to lack of space.
“This isn’t a plea for more money, it’s just about keeping the money we’ve got,” Ryan said. “We know there are financial constraints, but we can’t have any funding reductions without impacting on the service we provide.”
