Meeting of the Parliament 04 November 2025
As a member of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, I am pleased to speak about the findings of our inquiry into financial considerations when leaving an abusive relationship. The committee’s report highlights the serious challenges that are faced by domestic abuse victims and how basic financial protections are still missing for many of those individuals. The most recent statistics show that more than 63,000 domestic abuse incidents took place in Scotland in 2023-24: that is one incident every eight minutes.
The committee report confirms that, unfortunately, financial instability is one of the most common reasons why victims stay with their abuser. Many stakeholders were clear that victims who attempt to leave an abusive relationship often face unaffordable housing and rising living costs. Evidence has shown that that is particularly the case for older victims and those with a disability. Age Scotland highlighted that long waiting lists for properties can act as a significant barrier to those individuals. If new care arrangements are also required, the situation becomes even more difficult.
Among the issues in the committee’s report is access to advice and information. Too often, victims are not aware of where to turn when fleeing an abusive relationship. The Glasgow violence against women partnership revealed that a victim would contact, on average, up to 11 services before they get the information that they require.
Local authorities have an important role to play in helping domestic abuse victims. The committee report recommends that the Scottish Government work with COSLA to create a single point of contact within each council area where victims can seek support and advice. It also recommended that the Government work with COSLA to improve the consistency of financial support across different council areas. I hope that the Government will look at those recommendations closely.
We also heard evidence that, in single-sex relationships, it is often the main earner who is the victim of abuse. That challenges the common narrative that financial control always aligns with financial power. It is important that the equally safe framework is able to reflect the needs and circumstances of different victims, including those with protected characteristics.
The Scottish Government must play a role in providing victims with the funding that they need to leave an abusive relationship. In respect of that, the fund to leave pilot scheme is very much welcome. That funding plays a vital part in easing the financial burdens that many victims have to deal with when they leave. The recently announced additional £500,000 for the fund is also welcome. However, the Government must now confirm whether it intends to make the scheme permanent, as the committee’s report calls for.
The committee’s recommendations should be looked at in the light of the urgent need to stamp out domestic abuse altogether. Those of us who are committed to that want to see progress.
Where appropriate, offenders should also have the chance to undertake rehabilitation, in order to lower the number of repeat offenders. In Scotland, reoffending rates remain stubbornly high.
We must also help young people to understand the dangers of domestic abuse and to recognise when a relationship is becoming abusive.
With regard to those issues, I note that the Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced by my colleague Pam Gosal, is currently being scrutinised by the Criminal Justice Committee. I urge the Scottish Government to support the bill’s important proposals on those issues when the time comes.
Domestic abuse victims deserve and need proper support from the Scottish Government. Those individuals should not have to suffer for a single day longer than is necessary. We hope that the Scottish Government will take the findings of the report seriously and implement some or all of those common-sense proposals to support victims of domestic abuse wherever possible. That is the least that we can do as a Parliament to support them as they progress through a difficult time.
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