New research highlighted in The Guardian shows official statistics may be capturing just 6.5% of the true number of domestic abuse-related suicides – a shocking under-estimate that exposes a national crisis.
After 30 years of supporting survivors’ mental health following domestic abuse, Woman’s Trust warns that the Government must act now, with bold investment and a nationally coordinated strategy focused on mental health and suicide prevention, to stop thousands of women from being failed by the system.
Wider case reviews focusing on women who attempt suicide and die by suicide must be implemented to better understand their needs and prevent further deaths.
Through our Living Without Hope campaign, we are calling for £27.5 million per year to provide specialist mental health support for survivors. Half of the women who approach the charity for specialist mental health support after domestic abuse are turned away due to chronic underfunding – leaving vulnerable survivors at heightened risk of suicide.
Figures show:
Out of every 10 domestic abuse survivors, 8 identify long-term counselling and mental health support as their top priority need, yet only 4 survivors are able to access support nationally (Domestic Abuse Commissioner, 2023).
1 in 12 of all women attempt suicide, compared to 1 in 20 men, although more men die by suicide than women (McManus et al, 2016).
The VAWG Strategy focused on crisis response and physical safety, ignoring the mental health recovery that survivors urgently need. With domestic abuse-related suicides severely under-recorded, this failure is literally costing lives.
We are calling on:
The Department of Health and Social Care, the Home Office and the Department of Education to undertake joint research to improve data and analysis of the prevalence and impact of domestic abuse on women’s and children’s mental health, self-harm, suicide attempts and deaths, at a national level.
The Home Office, the Department of Health and the Office for National Statistics to implement a national survey and database of suicides capturing previous and current domestic abuse and related forms of violence, and implement Suicide Case Reviews of all deaths by suicide linked to domestic abuse, to identify improvements across the whole system.
The evidence is clear: without immediate funding and a national coordinated strategy, thousands of survivors will continue to be left without life-saving support. The Government cannot ignore this crisis any longer.
