The barriers making survivors’ journeys to safety more difficult and dangerous
A Safe blog
17th June 2025: Through dedicated support and advocacy, Women’s Aid’s No Woman Turned Away Project (NWTA) supports women and their children fleeing domestic abuse who face barriers when trying to access a safe place to stay. Our Nowhere to Turn 2025 report evaluates the work of the NWTA project in 2024 and utilises insights from the project to inform research on the experiences of survivors facing additional structural barriers and inequalities to accessing refuge and other safe accommodation.
Our report evidences the urgent need to fund refuge services that can meet survivors’ diverse support needs, includes an in-depth exploration of the specific barriers faced by migrant survivors with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) and presents key recommendations needed to address these barriers.
There is a significant shortage of and an urgent need to fund refuge spaces that are equipped to meet survivors’ support needs
- A total of 70 women were refused between one and 10 times from a refuge vacancy listed on Routes to Support, as the vacancy was unable to meet their support needs. This is a 27.3% increase compared with 2023.
- By the end of support from NWTA, 48.0% of women had a new housing outcome including refuge, emergency accommodation and private rental.
- Women experienced further abuse and hardship while waiting for refuge; 24.0% experienced further abuse, 13.2% could not afford essentials and 8.8% slept rough.
The Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) replaced the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession (DDVC) in 20242, exacerbating barriers to accessing safe accommodation
- It is crucial that survivors access immigration advice before applying for the MVDAC because they may have no further visa application options when the MVDAC expires. However, there is a national shortage of legal aid solicitors and less than half (47.4%) of women were able to access immigration advice by case closure.
- Uncertainty among refuge workers on whether survivors with the MVDAC can apply for the Domestic Abuse Rule and continue to access the public funds needed for refuge has led to more refuges declining referrals for these women or requesting a solicitor is already in place to make a further immigration application and/or the survivor is already accessing benefits. The MVDAC has therefore exacerbated barriers to accessing refuge for survivors with the concession.
Unqualified professionals are illegally giving immigration advice to survivors
- Non-regulated professionals gave immigration advice to 29 survivors and for a quarter (24.1%) of these, the advice was inaccurate. Non-regulated professionals also submitted immigration applications on behalf of 12 survivors. This is illegal and has serious implications on survivor’s immigration options.
Our report found that statutory services often failed to meet their legal duty to support survivors. A key role of the NWTA project is to challenge statutory services to ensure they meet their legal duties to survivors, sometimes with the support of solicitors.
- Over two-thirds (67.4%) of inadequate and unsafe responses to survivors recorded by Women’s Aid direct services were regarding statutory services.
- For 61.5% of families with NRPF, children’s services failed to provide adequate support and accommodation.
How can these barriers be addressed?
To address the barriers explored in our report, Women’s Aid is calling for statutory service workers to receive training developed and delivered by specialist domestic abuse organisations. Statutory services play an integral role in supporting survivors and staff must be equipped to recognise and meet the needs of women and children fleeing abuse.
Women’s Aid recommends that frontline workers at local domestic abuse services access training on supporting women with insecure immigration status to ensure these survivors receive the right support including accessing immigration advice.
We are calling for the Home Office to abolish the NRPF condition for all survivors, extend the eligibility of the MVDAC and Domestic Abuse Rule to all survivors and fund training on supporting survivors with insecure immigration status for statutory and local domestic abuse services. We also recommend that the Ministry of Justice reinstate legal aid for all survivors and ensure that there are sufficient legal aid solicitors to meet demand.
Read the full report here.
Find out more about No Woman Turned Away and make a referral here.