Refuge requires VAWG sector to be exempt from Nationwide Insurance coverage hikes throughout 16 Days of Activism in opposition to Gender-Based mostly Violence
Following the announcement of Nationwide Insurance coverage contribution rises for employers in final month’s finances, the nation’s largest specialist home abuse service supplier Refuge is urging the Authorities to exempt charities so the sector can proceed its very important work in tackling violence in opposition to ladies and women (VAWG).
The decision comes during16 Days of Activism in opposition to Gender-Based mostly Violence, an annual worldwide marketing campaign led by the UN, which launches immediately (the Worldwide Day for the Elimination of Violence Towards Girls), and can be operating till Human Rights Day on the ten December. Refuge is standing with the UN’s name to finish the epidemic of VAWG.
The VAWG sector is experiencing power underfunding, leaving many lifesaving providers at breaking level. To forestall additional stress on the sector, Refuge is looking for charities to be exempt from Nationwide Insurance coverage contribution rises for employers in order that we will proceed to assist survivors and sort out VAWG all 12 months spherical.
Responding to the Authorities’s plans to extend Nationwide Insurance coverage contributions for employers, Abigail Ampofo, interim CEO of Refuge, stated:
“The VAWG sector is already underneath immense monetary stress. Not solely did final month’s finances fail to incorporate element about how a lot funding has been put aside to sort out violence in opposition to ladies and women, the Authorities’s plans to extend Nationwide Insurance coverage contributions for employers may have dire repercussions for charities.
“As 16 Days of Activism in opposition to Gender-Based mostly Violence commences, we’re conscious of the disparity between consciousness and tangible motion from the Authorities to sort out VAWG. We welcomed the Authorities’s pledge to halve VAWG inside the subsequent decade, however have been clear that this mission can’t be delivered with out reversing the power underfunding that has been hindering the sector for years.
“VAWG providers present lifesaving assist to 1000’s of girls and women yearly, however many are at breaking level. Refuge has made clear to the Authorities that the epidemic of male violence in opposition to ladies and women is not going to stop till we see long-term, devoted funding for assist providers. Our mission to assist as many survivors as doable is not going to finish till we dwell in a world the place home abuse and VAWG just isn’t tolerated. The Authorities should play its half in serving to us obtain this.”
