Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Aug 26, 2026

Government pledges £76m for abuse victims

The government has pledged to spend £76m to support vulnerable people who are "trapped in a nightmare" at home during the coronavirus lockdown.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the new funding would help vulnerable children and victims of domestic violence and modern slavery.

He also announced the launch of a taskforce which will aim to support rough sleepers after the lockdown.

More than 105,000 coronavirus tests were provided on Friday.

The total number of reported coronavirus-related deaths in the UK now stands at 28,131 - an increase of 621 on Friday's figure.

The funding package will help community-based services that work with victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence and modern slavery, as well as vulnerable children, in England and Wales.

This includes the recruitment of additional counsellors for victims of sexual violence.

It will also go towards the provision of safe accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse and their children, and further support for vulnerable children, in England.

There has been a "surge" in violence in the weeks since the lockdown was introduced, a report by MPs said.

It found there has been a rise in killings, while the number of calls to the National Domestic Abuse helpline run by Refuge are up 50% after three weeks.

Speaking during the government's daily coronavirus briefing, Mr Jenrick said: "For some in our society these [lockdown] measures involve sacrifices that none of us would wish anyone to bear."

He stressed that victims will not be breaking the law if they need to seek help outside the home during lockdown.

The domestic abuse charity Refuge said it was "pleased" with the government's announcement.

Chief executive Sandra Horley said the previous housing requirements "risked women having to make an unthinkable decision - to stay with an abusive partner or risk homelessness".

She added that the package "will help to plug some of the gaps left by a decade of austerity cuts".

Sally Field, chairwoman of Woman's Trust, said she welcomed the announcement "somewhat cautiously" because it is not clear how charities will access the funds.

Women were being turned away from refuges even before the lockdown, she added, and the sector needs "long-term sustainable funding" in order to provide safe accommodation.

She added that she expects an "exponential increase in calls for help" after lockdown because victims are unable to reach out for help while they are at home.

Mr Jenrick also said that 90% of rough sleepers known to councils have been offered accommodation and that the government is "determined that as few people as possible return to life on the streets" after the outbreak.

Dame Louise Casey, who is already leading a review of rough sleeping, is to oversee an effort to ensure rough sleepers have safe accommodation while self-isolating, and to work with councils on the provision of long-term support.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of homelessness charity Crisis, said he was "delighted" to see ministers "seize the opportunity" to make sure those helped during the pandemic do not return to rough sleeping.

"We look forward to working closely with the task force to provide as many people as possible with a home of their own," he said.


'Appalling abuse'

Earlier, Harry Potter author JK Rowling announced she is donating £500,000 to Crisis and £500,000 to Refuge, which supports victims of domestic abuse.

The £76m funding pledge comes days after MPs debated the Domestic Abuse Bill in Parliament.

The bill brings in new protections for victims and proposes the first government definition of domestic abuse in England and Wales, including financial abuse and controlling and manipulative non-physical behaviour.

On Tuesday, the government announced it would spend £3.1 million on services supporting children who witness "appalling abuse" at home during the coronavirus lockdown.

But Labour said this fell "woefully short" of what was needed and proposed amendments to the bill that would see 10% of the £750 million charity support package announced last month ring-fenced in a fast-track fund for domestic abuse charities.

MPs also said the bill must do more to ensure that there is adequate accommodation for victims who flee their homes. Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott called on the government to house them in vacant hotel rooms during the lockdown until decent alternatives could be found.

During Saturday's briefing, Mr Jenrick said the government will "work with refuges to make this option available to them" where necessary.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Turnbull Warns AUKUS Could Leave Australia Without Promised Nuclear Submarines
California Billionaires Pour More Than $150 Million Into Fight Over Proposed Wealth Tax
German Broadcaster Goes Dark to Warn AfD Could End Its Saxony-Anhalt Service
Badenoch Plans Major Shadow Cabinet Reshuffle as Tories Struggle in Third Place
Prime Minister Andy Burnham to Give Ukraine Classified Storm Shadow Blueprints for Domestic Missile Production
UK Graduate Job Vacancies Plunge 45% to Lowest Levels on Record
Iranian Hackers Shut Down British Power Plant for Four Days in Landmark Cyber Attack
Novak Djokovic Reveals Relentless Self-Doubt and Rejects Retirement in New Documentary
Trump Imposes 50% Tariffs on Canadian Goods After Bilateral Trade Talks Collapse
Australia Combines Indigenous Fire Knowledge With Satellite Tech to Combat Catastrophic Wildfires
Father and Son Jailed in Scotland Over £900,000 Airport Cannabis Smuggling Operation
UK Fraud Reports Surge Sevenfold as Criminals Exploit QR Codes in Parking Meters and Phishing Emails
Brighton Thrash Aston Villa in Four-Goal Opening Half as Manchester City Trail Bournemouth
Erin Patterson Appeals Triple Murder Convictions After Hotel Mixed Sequestered Jury With Prosecution
The rise and fall of Hui Ka Yan, China’s richest man
Woke: Britain Considers Plain Packaging for Cigars as Specialist Shops Warn of Industry Collapse
Britain's Public-Service Productivity Remains Below 2019 as £80 Billion Output Gap Fuels WFH Debate
Mandelson Epstein Case in Jeopardy as U.S. Files Stay Out of Reach
Prince Harry and Six Others Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million After High Court Defeat
Petrol Bombs Set Luxury Cars Alight Outside Birmingham Wedding as Police Hunt Three Men
Bitcoin Surges Toward $80,000 as Short Squeeze and ETF Inflows Ignite Crypto Rally
Twenty-Nine US States Take Meta to Trial Over Alleged Child Addiction on Instagram and Facebook
Former Scottish National Party Executive Peter Murrell Jailed for Five Years Over £400,000 Embezzlement
Moderna and Merck's Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Historic Late-Stage Melanoma Trial
Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain With Their Children
England and Wales Have Fewer Than 1,800 Prison Places Left for Men
Suspected People Smuggler Arrested After Investigation Identified Him
Children's Doctors Warn That Vaping Can Lead Young People to Smoking
Hundreds of Thousands of Students Receive GCSE and Vocational Results Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Issues New Conduct Guide for Asylum Seekers on Consent and Respect
A Sleepless Night on Wall Street: Nasdaq to Begin Nearly Round-the-Clock Trading
"The First in the World": 69-Year-Old Protested Artificial Intelligence—and Went to Jail
Ukraine's Ousted Defence Minister Calls for Wartime Presidential Election
China’s Lifelike AI Humans Move From Livestreams Into Real-World Service Roles
Sarah Ferguson Reportedly Retreats to Late Ex-Boyfriend's Swiss Chalet
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez Sign Prenup Protecting Their Separate Fortunes
Thieves Steal Antonello da Messina Renaissance Masterpieces From Sicilian Museum
Better.com Founder Who Fired 900 Employees on Zoom Is Ousted as CEO
Italian Speed Camera Issues Nearly 32,000 Fines in 10 Weeks, Worth More Than €3 Million
AI Manager at San Francisco Store Recommends Firing Human Employee
Google Launches Pixel 11 With Gemini AI at the Center of Its Hardware Strategy
Reform UK Unveils Plan to Cut Welfare Spending by More Than £50 Billion a Year
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Praised Extinction Rebellion for Doing a 'Great Service'
UK Wildfire Phone Alert Triggers Backlash as Users Switch Off Emergency Warnings
Heathrow Roads Reopen After Burst Water Main Floods Access to Terminals 2 and 3
Former NBA Players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White Say They Will Enter 2027 WNBA Draft
Former Cambridge Professor Jason Arday Found Dead Days After Resigning Amid Plagiarism Row
US Appeals Court Rules AI Agent's Website Actions Are Legally Attributed to the User
×