Today (10 March) Refuge, the UK’s largest specialist domestic abuse charity, is urgently calling on Parliament to plug a £55.5 million a year funding gap that is leaving women at risk in their own homes.
As part of the charity’s ‘Home is Where the Hurt is’ campaign, which launched on 2 March and runs for the two weeks straddling International Women’s Day, over 50 Refuge staff, supporters and ambassadors descended on the biggest ‘house’ of all – the Houses of Parliament.
Carrying placards bearing campaign slogans that resembled estate agent boards, the group surrounded a large coffin-shaped front door with the number 75 on it – representing the number of women killed by domestic homicide in the year ending March 2025.
This bold visual stunt seeks to highlight the devastating consequences of underinvestment in domestic abuse accommodation services, while reinforcing the overarching campaign theme that, for women experiencing domestic abuse, home is the most dangerous place.
Refuge’s message is clear: we are not going TO LET this abuse continue. Women’s lives are in danger unless services are meaningfully invested in. With a funding shortfall of £55.5 million a year for refuges and other forms of safe accommodation, women’s lives are effectively FOR SALE.
Refuge supporters and ambassadors in attendance included: Zara McDermott, David Morrissey, Georgia Harrison, Sharon Gaffka, Ranvir Singh, Chanita Stephenson, Wendy Turner-Webster, Ash Bibi, Em Clarkson, Natalie Russell, Eleanor Neale and Lorien Haynes.
This year’s International Women’s Day on 8 March was themed ‘Give To Gain’ and Refuge is calling on Sir Keir Starmer to give survivors of domestic abuse the funding and support they need to gain safety.
Refuge CEO, Gemma Sherrington, said: “Home should be a safe place, but at Refuge we know it can be the most dangerous place for women experiencing domestic abuse. There are a myriad of ways in which perpetrators weaponise the home environment every day: from controlling the purse strings, to misusing smart home devices such as the heating or locks, to physical abuse. The Government have pledged to halve violence against women and girls by 2034, but without investing the full funding needed for services that save women’s lives, their VAWG strategy comes up short.”
Refuge ambassador, Ranvir Singh, said: “75 women were killed in the last year, by a partner, ex or family member. These deaths are not inevitable and often happened in the home, behind closed doors. We’re not going TO LET this continue and I stand with Refuge to call for an end to male violence against women and girls.”
Hayden and Melony Slack, whose sister and sister-in-law, Rachael, and nephew, Auden, was murdered in a domestic homicide, said: “Rachael and her toddler son Auden were killed in their own home in Derbyshire 15 years ago. Developments in technology since 2010 mean that it is chilling to think of the impact that the misuse of surveillance tech and smart home devices can have in cases such as Rachael’s. The coroner at the inquest said that their deaths were the result of an epidemic of domestic abuse.
“More women than ever are seeking the support and services that Refuge provides, and this – together with the fact that 75 women were killed in 2025 through domestic homicide – shows that the epidemic has escalated. This is why our family, together with Refuge, urge the Government to commit to providing a sustainable source of sufficient funding so that women and mothers like Rachael can access vital assistance, potentially saving lives, thereby ensuring that no other families have to endure the pain of losing a loved one to domestic homicide, as our family has.”
A Refuge survey conducted by YouGov recently showed that the public still misunderstands domestic abuse and the dangers it presents: 85% of UK adults polled believe most people feel safe in their own homes, while 33% identified a place outside the home as the location a woman is most likely to be abused; 14% cited outdoor public spaces such as parks, 10% the street, 5% public transport, 4% the workplace, with a further 10% unsure. (The remaining 57% of respondents identified the home.)
Domestic homicide stats show that, for women, home is the most dangerous place.
Last week Refuge launched a powerful campaign film ‘Home is Where the Hurt is’ to raise awareness of this threat. Developed in collaboration with global creative consultancy Revolt, the film was directed by Bonnie MacRae, who assembled a majority-female crew to shoot and edit the film, and produced by Spindle.
At first glance the film appears to be a charming home tour video – until subtle, unsettling signs of abuse begin to emerge. Each detail is designed to reveal the hidden, everyday ways domestic abuse can be perpetrated behind closed doors.
Watch the video here: Home is Where the Hurt is
Refuge is asking the UK public to sign an open letter to Prime Minister, Keir Starmer demanding his Government urgently address the annual £55.5 million funding shortfall for safe accommodation and refuge services. Sign the open letter here
