The Faith and VAWG Coalition’s Domestic Abuse Act Review Submission

It has been five years since the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and the House of Lords are carrying out a review into its effectiveness. We asked our members, most of them frontline VAWG sector organisations with first-hand experience of the act, to share their expertise. From this we submitted our feedback and recommendations for how the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 could better support survivors from faith backgrounds. The government asked for feedback in ten different areas, we reported on eight of those:

Children as victims of domestic abuse

We recommended making it explicit in the guidance that children subject to all forms of domestic abuse, including harmful practices, are victims. This is because there is little discussion about the needs of children living in households where harmful practices such as honour based abuse, faith-based abuse and forced marriage are occurring. We recommended specialist-led training across all child and family services, including social work, education, health, and faith settings, to improve identification and risk assessment regarding faith-based abuse and harmful practices. Currently services often avoid asking about faith and race for fear of being perceived as racist, leading to safeguarding blind spots. Additionally, specialist support must be expanded for children in community settings as currently commissioning is heavily skewed towards accommodation-based services.

Statutory definition of domestic abuse.

We suggested that spiritual or faith-based abuse, alongside other forms of harmful practices are named in the Act, because the current statutory definition of Domestic Abuse fails to mention spiritual or faith-based abuse. We would also like to see the guidance more explicitly name faith-based abuse as a form of coercive control. This would also support survivors to have the language to be able to identify and disclose the abuse they are experiencing.

Local authorities, statutory bodies and agencies, and multi-agency working

We raised several concerns around statutory bodies and services in relation to their understanding of and ability to support survivors from faith backgrounds. Evidence from our members shows that women from faith backgrounds are less likely to seek help if they believe that services will misunderstand or stigmatise their faith, culture or immigration status. Yet the structures of the sector including IDVA services, MARAC and risk assessment remain ineffective for many women with intersecting experiences based on their race, faith, class, age, sexuality and disability. Domestic Abuse Related Death Review panels rarely consider faith, and we are particularly concerned that there is an absence of faith leaders in multi-agency spaces, despite research indicating that victim – survivors approach faith leaders before other services.

Policing and courts

We suggested greater provision for training for police officers, utilising specialist ‘by and for’ agencies who have expertise in the areas of harmful practices including honour-based abuse, faith-based abuse and spiritual abuse.

Community service providers

We would like to see funding being made available to faith literate services and faith institutions to support survivors. Evidence from our members and other specialist organisations consistently demonstrates that culturally competent, faith literate, community-based services improve access to support for survivors facing multiple barriers. Yet currently smaller “by and for” organisations, who can offer more specialised support are repeatedly sidelined in favour of larger, generic providers, and faith based VAWG services are explicitly or implicitly excluded from local commissioning frameworks, despite their unique trust, access and credibility with survivors within faith communities.

Prevention

We would like prevention work to be better resourced, particularly in schools. We would also like to see faith organisations included in prevention work as they are often the first place survivors turn for help and they have a vital role to play in shaping social norms and values across communities. Research from our members highlights that when faith institutions work in partnership with specialist organisations, they can support both community education and improved safeguarding responses (Jewish Women’s Aid; Restored UK). However, without structured engagement and accountability frameworks, these opportunities remain under-developed. There is also a need for perpetrator work to move beyond the current focus on high harm abusers to incorporate early intervention programmes which address gender, faith and culture.

Inclusion

We are concerned that faith is consistently being ignored as a significant factor in risk assessment, safety planning and strengths-based practice. It is also not being addressed in commissioning, education and training. There is a lack of understanding of the intersecting barriers that many women of faith experience, including racism, migration status and negotiating NRPF (no recourse to public funds) and how these issues can be exacerbated for LGBTQ+ survivors. Women with NPRF are still systematically excluded from protection and support whilst at the same time there is increasing concern that victim - survivors of domestic abuse are at risk of being used within culture war narratives.

Gaps

Faith needs to be clearly named and embedded in risk tools, data collection, training and commissioning. Psychological and spiritual harm alongside faith based coercive control are under recognised both as forms of abuse and as causes of long-term trauma and mental health issues. Failure to recognise this leads to missed opportunities for early intervention, and miscalculation of risk.

At the Faith and VAWG coalition we are committed to centring the voices of survivors from faith and minoritised communities within the national conversation. It is important to us to advocate for survivors from faith backgrounds and ensure that their voices and experiences influence public policy. We take every opportunity then to respond to consultations such as this one to highlight the importance of ensuring that faith is always considered in any response to domestic abuse.