Reviewed and updated 22 August 2026.
By Aneeta Prem MBE
The Government’s current violence against women and girls strategy is called Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls. Published in December 2025, it sets an unusually clear national ambition: to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
The ambition matters. But a strategy should be judged by what changes for the person who needs help, not by the strength of its language.
What the strategy promises
The strategy is built around three broad pillars: prevention and early intervention, relentless pursuit of perpetrators, and support for victims and survivors.
It also has an action plan for the 2026–2029 spending period and a performance framework intended to measure progress rather than rely only on announcements.
That is important because violence against women and girls is not one offence. The Government’s headline measure combines domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking among people aged 16 and over, while supporting measures include female homicides, repeat domestic abuse, sexual harassment, online harms, protection orders, police-recorded crime, charging, prosecutions, victim attrition and criminal-justice timeliness.
The baseline is now measurable
The strategy sets a baseline of 11.3% of people aged 16 and over — around 5.4 million people — experiencing domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking in England and Wales in the year ending March 2024.
For the year ending March 2025, the combined measure was 10.6%, around 5.1 million people.
The Government’s target is to halve the baseline by the year ending March 2034.
That gives journalists, Parliament, campaigners and the public something concrete to test. The challenge is to make sure a falling headline percentage is matched by safer lives and not simply changes in reporting, recording or survey behaviour.
Prevention must start before a crime is complete
The strategy places greater emphasis on prevention, including healthy relationships, consent, misogyny, harmful online influences and early intervention with young people.
This is where schools matter.
In forced-marriage and FGM safeguarding, prevention also means recognising when a child’s choices are narrowing: sudden withdrawal from education, travel plans, family surveillance, threats linked to reputation, pressure to accept a relationship or marriage, or fear about speaking openly.
Education should help young people recognise abuse. It must also connect to adults who know what to do next.
Raneem’s Law is a policing initiative, not a separate Act
One of the Government’s operational changes is what it calls Raneem’s Law. Despite the name, it is not a separate Act of Parliament. It is a policing initiative created in memory of Raneem Oudeh and her mother, Khaola Saleem, who were murdered in 2018 after repeated concerns and calls to police.
The initiative began in February 2025 by embedding domestic-abuse specialists in 999 control rooms in five police forces. On 24 June 2026, the Government announced phase two in 12 further forces, taking the announced rollout to 17 forces in England and Wales. The Government says it intends to extend the approach across every police force in England and Wales by 2029.
The principle is sound: when somebody reaches the police at a moment of danger, specialist understanding should be available early rather than after repeated failures.
The measurement questions are straightforward. Does specialist input improve risk assessment? Are high-risk cases identified earlier? Are safeguarding actions faster? Do victims receive appropriate referrals? And are outcomes consistent between forces?
Forced marriage and FGM cannot be treated as side issues
Family-enforced abuse can involve several people, overseas travel, immigration pressure, financial control, surveillance and fear of family or community consequences.
A standard domestic-abuse model may miss that complexity if professionals do not ask who else is involved and what may happen if relatives are contacted.
The strategy’s broader “whole of society” approach is therefore useful, but specialist competence remains essential.
In forced-marriage cases, unsafe family mediation can increase danger. In FGM cases, professionals also need to understand their statutory safeguarding and reporting responsibilities.
Support is part of justice
A victim who has nowhere safe to live, no independent advice, no realistic financial route out and no confidence in the justice process may withdraw even from a strong case.
That is why support cannot be treated as a softer policy separate from enforcement.
The strategy’s success should be visible in practical access to specialist advocacy, healthcare, safe accommodation, legal advice and trauma-informed support.
Victim attrition is rightly included in the performance framework. If people repeatedly disengage because the process is unsafe, slow or overwhelming, that is evidence about the system.
What I would watch over the next three years
The strategy already provides a useful measurement framework. I would pay particular attention to:
- whether prevalence falls without a collapse in reporting;
- whether female homicide and repeat domestic abuse decline;
- whether police-to-CPS referrals, charging and prosecution become more timely and effective;
- whether victim attrition falls;
- whether protective orders are enforced when breached;
- whether children and young people show measurable improvement in attitudes and harmful behaviour;
- whether online abuse is being prevented and enforced against, not merely described;
- and whether specialist services can actually meet demand.
Where charities fit
Government does not have to invent every intervention from scratch. Specialist charities have years of experience in helping schools, families and professionals recognise abuse early.
I co-founded Freedom Charity with Lord Toby Harris in 2009. Its work has included forced-marriage and FGM education, the Red Triangle campaign, Not in My Name, safeguarding resources and the books But It’s Not Fair and Cut Flowers.
The lesson resources developed to accompany those novels received the PSHE Association Quality Mark. That kind of specialist experience should inform implementation, while still being tested against evidence and current safeguarding standards.
Final word
The 2025 strategy is stronger because it makes an outcome promise that can be measured.
Now the country should resist judging it by the number of initiatives launched.
The test is whether fewer people experience violence, fewer women are killed, victims stay safer through the justice process and professionals recognise danger earlier.
If those measures move, the strategy is working. If they do not, the answer cannot be another rebrand.
Sources and further reading
- GOV.UK: Freedom from Violence and Abuse strategy
- GOV.UK: VAWG action plan
- GOV.UK: Raneem’s Law first phase, February 2025
- GOV.UK: Raneem’s Law phase two, June 2026
