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Impact

Report

2022 - 23

“I am now facing life head on. Instead of drowning, I am now swimming.”

Victim-survivor

There’s little doubt that this was an exceptionally challenging year for victim-survivors. As living costs have risen, the economic instability facing survivors has spiralled, making our work more critical than ever.

Read our full impact report

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, we worked hand-in-hand with those women with lived experience and our partners to:

Reach almost
58,500
victim-survivors through our website, Survivor Forum, frontline partnerships, and direct work alongside experts by experience

Provide training to
840
professionals from 165 organisations to recognise and respond to economic abuse

Secure
£300,000
alongside Women's Aid for an emergency fund to help survivors flee in a time of financial crisis

Provide
£1.6m
in financial gains for victim-survivors via the Financial Support Line and casework service run by our frontline partner Money Advice Plus

What we achieved

In the first year of our new three-year strategy, Making Waves 2022-2025, we have achieved so much towards our goal to save lives and stop economic abuse forever.Some of the highlights from across our four strategic priorities include:

Public understanding and behaviour change

We supported victim-survivors during the peak of the cost-of-living crisis by providing vital information on the tactics used by abusers and the support available. We also worked with partners to raise awareness of economic abuse, including inspiring and supporting HSBC UK’s national advertising campaign.

Professional response and systems change

We worked collaboratively with the financial services sector to drive forward how the sector supports people subjected to economic abuse as vulnerable customers. Most notably, we worked with our partner Lloyds Banking Group and helped them to support more than 3,300 customers affected by financial abuse via our secondment to their Domestic and Financial Abuse team.

Legal, regulatory and public policy change

Building on our work on the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, which named and defined economic abuse in law for the first time, we successfully influenced reforms to the child maintenance service. These changes will make it safer and easier for victim-survivors to access the child support they are entitled to.

Survivors, partnerships, evidence and equality

By working closely with victim-survivors and listening to their voices, we were able to quickly respond to the cost-of-living crisis. We provided vital information on our website and, alongside Women’s Aid, successfully called for government support to secure the emergency fund pilot.

“I feel so very privileged to be able to contribute to so worthy a cause. Fighting for those who come after us so to make their paths a bit easier...”

Victim-survivor

Freya's Story

During the relationship, the abuser controlled the joint bank account and racked up debts worth more than £20,000 in Freya’s name. When Freya was referred to the Financial Support Line, run by our frontline partner Money Advice Plus, the specialist advisor helped her to claim additional benefits she was entitled to for herself and her disabled son. The advisor also liaised with her creditors, and they agreed for all the debt she had been coerced into to be written off.

“ It has been so hard trying to deal with everything, with the police, courts, divorce and health. You took all the worry off us. The debts were an ongoing, constant reminder of the abuse, causing me anxiety and distress. Now this trigger has been taken away. ”