A letter from domestic abuse survivors raises questions about the UK’s support system
A letter written on behalf of more than 100 women living in domestic abuse safe houses in the West Midlands has raised a wider question about the UK’s support system: once somebody has escaped abuse and found somewhere safe to live, where are they supposed to rebuild their life?
The letter was submitted to Contento Social Homes by its Board of Survivors, which represents women living across the organisation’s safe houses.
Their request was not for more refuge bedrooms.
They were asking for a safe place to come together.
A reliable, controlled and accessible space where survivors could attend recovery programmes without worrying whether the venue would change, whether they could physically get inside, whether children were allowed, or whether somebody at the building might know them or be connected to their past.
Earlier this year, the Board asked Contento Social Homes to work towards establishing a dedicated community centre for survivors.
It warned that continuing difficulties with externally hired venues were affecting confidence and willingness to attend programmes, with the risk that some survivors could eventually disengage from support altogether.
At first glance, this might appear to be a local problem involving one organisation and the rooms it hires.
But the experiences being described raise a wider question about what happens after someone reaches safety.
When a venue becomes a barrier
One incident described by the Board shows how an apparently ordinary venue problem can have much greater consequences.
Contento had arranged an end-of-year event at an accessible venue. After that building became unavailable following a fire, an alternative had to be found.
When survivors arrived, the lift at the replacement venue was not working.
According to the Board, women with physical disabilities were unable to enter and had to remain outside. The letter says they were left feeling “excluded, embarrassed, and overlooked”.
Other difficulties have also been reported.
Some venues offer limited time slots which clash with school drop-off and collection. Others do not allow children.
For a mother who has fled an abusive home with her children, that can create a difficult choice between attending a programme intended to support her recovery and remaining with her children.
There are also concerns about confidentiality.
The Board is not alleging that survivors have been identified or approached at hired venues. The concern is the possibility of being recognised.
For somebody whose safety may depend on controlling who knows where they live or receive support, even that possibility can be enough to discourage attendance.
The Board says fear of being recognised has already caused some survivors to avoid empowerment events.
There is also the question of peer support.
Safe houses cannot operate like ordinary residential buildings. Visitor restrictions exist to protect residents and keep locations secure.
But survivors sometimes want to speak to people in other safe houses who understand what they have experienced, particularly when they do not feel comfortable discussing personal matters with somebody living in the same property.
Without a neutral and secure place to meet, those relationships can be difficult to build.
A much wider issue
The concerns come against the backdrop of a much larger domestic abuse problem.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that around 3.8 million people aged 16 and over experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2025, including an estimated 2.2 million women and 1.5 million men.
Domestic abuse support is also about much more than refuge accommodation.
When the Domestic Abuse Commissioner carried out a major mapping exercise involving more than 4,000 victims and survivors, 83% said they wanted some form of community-based support.
Only 28% said they wanted refuge accommodation.
Yet fewer than half were able to obtain the community support they wanted, and only 28% described accessing help as easy or straightforward.
The Commissioner’s research described domestic abuse provision as a “patchwork”, with access often depending on where somebody lived and their individual circumstances.
That research does not prove that survivors elsewhere in the UK are experiencing exactly the same venue problems being described in the West Midlands.
But it does show that access to community-based support is already a recognised problem.
What happens after the refuge bed?
One difficulty is that national statistics tell us much more about refuge capacity than about the physical spaces where longer-term recovery takes place.
The Office for National Statistics reported 4,604 domestic abuse refuge bed spaces in England in 2025.
The West Midlands has actually performed relatively well against recommended refuge-space benchmarks.
That makes the concerns raised by Contento’s Board of Survivors particularly important.
These women are not describing a shortage of refuge beds.
They already have safe accommodation.
They are describing what happens around that accommodation: recovery programmes, peer support, confidence building, workshops, preparation for independent living and somewhere secure to meet.
There does not appear to be an equivalent national measure showing how many organisations have permanent, controlled and fully accessible spaces specifically available for survivor recovery programmes.
That means we cannot reliably say how widespread this particular problem is.
But it also means it is not routinely measured.
Housing is only the beginning
Escaping an abusive home and recovering from abuse are not the same thing.
Safe accommodation can remove somebody from immediate danger. Rebuilding a life can take much longer.
Survivors may need help with confidence, finances, employment, trauma, parenting, legal processes, education, social networks and preparing to live independently.
Contento runs recovery and empowerment programmes alongside the regular support provided in its safe houses.
The Board’s concern is that programmes intended to create stability can themselves depend on arrangements that are unpredictable.
A venue has to be available at the right time. It has to be affordable, accessible and suitable for children where necessary.
Most importantly, survivors have to feel safe entering it.
If any part of that fails, a programme may technically exist while becoming inaccessible to some of the people it was designed to support.
A gap between accommodation and recovery
There is also an important distinction in how domestic abuse services are commissioned.
In England, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 placed duties on local authorities relating to support for victims and children living in refuges and other forms of safe accommodation.
Community-based services operate within a more complicated framework.
The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 introduced arrangements requiring police and crime commissioners, local authorities and Integrated Care Boards to work together when considering services for victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and serious violence.
But those arrangements do not create a guarantee that every particular community service will be commissioned.
This creates an important question.
A survivor can live within a statutory system concerned with keeping them safe in accommodation without necessarily having the same certainty about the longer-term support they need outside it.
That is where the request from Contento’s survivors sits.
They have somewhere safe to live.
They are asking where the infrastructure for recovery is supposed to be.
The government’s Violence Against Women and Girls strategy has acknowledged that support can be fragmented and inconsistent, and that where somebody lives can affect what help is available.
Funding remains part of the problem.
Women’s Aid has estimated that specialist domestic abuse services in England require approximately £502 million a year, including £280 million for community-based services, and has identified a funding shortfall of more than £300 million.
Those figures are Women’s Aid estimates rather than a government calculation, but they illustrate the financial pressures being reported across the sector.
Children also form part of the picture.
Under the Domestic Abuse Act, children who see, hear or experience the effects of domestic abuse are recognised as victims in their own right.
Research published by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner in 2025 found that 27% of services surveyed had turned children away because of funding pressures, while 51% had placed children on waiting lists.
For a parent attending a recovery programme, whether a venue allows children is therefore not necessarily a small administrative detail.
It can determine whether they attend at all.
A dedicated survivor centre
Birmingham is not without domestic abuse services.
The city has specialist organisations, accommodation providers, advocacy services and a Domestic Abuse Local Strategic Partnership Board.
The question raised by Contento’s Board of Survivors is more specific: can support exist on paper while practical barriers prevent some survivors from using it?
A workshop exists, but the venue keeps changing.
A programme exists, but children cannot enter the building.
An event is rearranged, but a disabled survivor cannot get upstairs.
Peer support is encouraged, but women living in different safe houses have nowhere secure and neutral to meet.
Individually, these can look like logistical problems.
Together, survivors say they can determine whether somebody continues attending.
This is why the request for a dedicated centre is about more than simply finding another building.
A specialist space could be designed around the people using it.
Accessibility could be checked and maintained. Programmes could be arranged around survivors rather than the availability of a hired hall. Entry could be controlled. Parents could know whether their children could attend. Survivors from different safe houses could meet without compromising residential security.
A building alone would not solve everything.
It would still require safeguarding, controlled access, confidentiality, disability access, appropriate facilities, trained staff and sustainable funding.
Survivors themselves would also need a meaningful role in deciding how it operates.
But those requirements are also part of the argument for creating a space specifically designed for them.
A question beyond the West Midlands
The evidence behind this story comes from more than 100 women supported by one organisation in one region.
Their experiences should not automatically be presented as representative of every domestic abuse survivor in the UK.
Different groups face different barriers, and there is no national dataset showing how many survivors are experiencing exactly the problems described by Contento’s Board.
But that lack of information matters.
If recovery programmes are regarded as an important part of helping people rebuild their lives after domestic abuse, commissioners need to know not only whether those programmes exist, but whether people can actually attend them.
The legal and commissioning arrangements discussed here relate primarily to England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own devolved systems.
But the underlying question can be asked across the UK:
Once we have counted the refuge bed, have we also counted what a survivor needs after reaching it?
Contento Social Homes is now exploring how a dedicated survivor community space could be established in the West Midlands.
It is seeking discussions with local authorities, funders, businesses, charitable organisations and property owners.
Support could include funding, access to an appropriate property, a long-term subsidised lease, corporate sponsorship, refurbishment, accessibility work or partnership with another organisation.
The original request came from Contento’s Board of Survivors.
Behind it are the experiences of over 100 women living across its safe houses.
Their question is bigger than the building they are asking for.
Safe accommodation provides a door away from abuse.
The question now is what comes after it.
Can you help?
Contento Social Homes is seeking organisations, funders, local authorities and property partners interested in helping develop a dedicated, secure and accessible survivor community space in the West Midlands.
Organisations able to provide premises, funding, professional expertise or partnership support can contact Contento Social Homes through www.contentosocialhomes.com.
If you are experiencing domestic abuse
If you are in immediate danger, call 999.
The National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge, is available free, 24 hours a day, on 0808 2000 247.
The Men’s Advice Line can be contacted on 0808 801 0327.
Local specialist domestic abuse services are also available throughout the West Midlands. You do not need to have reported domestic abuse to the police to seek support.
