Structural Inequality, Women’s Safety and the Funding Cliff Edge: The Impact of the New Funding Policy in Meeting the Needs of Black and Minoritised Women

Violence against women and girls’ (WAWG) organisations are facing a financial crisis brought about by the so-called new funding policy replacing ring-fenced grants with service contracts under the commissioning and public procurement regime. Women’s refuges have been impacted by the changes in funding policy that subjects these services to open market competition with bigger non-specialist providers operating economies of scale. The shift in funding policy has also impacted the nature of the State’s response to VAWG, driven by neoliberal ideas around cost efficiency, faster throughput and outputs-oriented results governed by strict contract compliance arrangements. The by and for women’s sector delivering specialist support to Black and minoritised women has been adversely impacted due to the specialist nature of provision they provide and the prevalence for less costly generic provision devised under changes to funding policy. This chapter summarises the impact of the new funding policy on women’s refuges in the United Kingdom, focusing on by and for women’s organisations and identifies ways to address the challenges posed by the system of funding to ensure a more appropriate response to VAWG embedding feminist rights-based trauma-informed provision. It addresses the following questions: How the new funding policy has impacted by and for women’s organisations (and refuge provision more specifically) considering that nature of structural inequality targeting access by Black and minoritised women to rights and safety? How these changes have been experienced by the by and for women’s sector considering issues such as financial security and service sustainability for these organisations? What legal and policy measures are needed to stop the reversal on women’s rights? The content is presented from primary data and analysis from a doctoral thesis by the author entitled The Impact of the New Funding Policy (Commissioning and Procurement) on Women’s Refuges in the United Kingdom.