Reviewed and updated 22 August 2026 to reflect the final cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy and subsequent implementation announcements.
By Aneeta Prem MBE
Violence against women and girls is often described as a national emergency. That description matters only if it changes what happens when a woman asks for help, when a child shows signs of abuse, or when a professional has one opportunity to act.
The Government published its final cross-government strategy, Freedom from Violence and Abuse, on 18 December 2025. Its ambition is to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The strategy is built around three broad aims: prevention, pursuing perpetrators, and better support for victims and survivors.
Those aims are important. The real test is delivery.
What the strategy now commits to
The accompanying action plan covers the 2026–29 spending-review period and sets out measures across education, policing, criminal justice, online abuse and victim support.
Among the commitments are stronger prevention work with children and young people, specialist responses to rape and serious sexual offences, better management of perpetrators, improved use of protection orders and a national rollout of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders.
The strategy also recognises online abuse as part of the same safeguarding landscape rather than a separate digital problem.
Raneem’s Law: what it actually is
Despite the name, Raneem’s Law is not a separate Act of Parliament. It is the Government’s name for a policing initiative created in memory of Raneem Oudeh and her mother, Khaola Saleem, who were murdered in 2018 after repeated calls to police for help.
The first phase embedded domestic-abuse specialists in 999 control rooms in five police forces. On 24 June 2026, the Government announced a second phase covering 12 more forces, taking the announced rollout to 17 forces in England and Wales.
The Government has committed to rolling the initiative out across every police force in England and Wales by 2029. The aim is practical: specialist domestic-abuse expertise should be available earlier, when calls are assessed and decisions about risk and safeguarding are first made.
That is important progress, but rollout is not the same as universal access. A named initiative must still be judged by what happens to victims in real calls, across every force.
Why the first response matters
For many victims, the first disclosure is fragile. A woman may have spent months or years calculating whether it is safe to speak. A young person may have only minutes alone with a teacher, doctor or police officer.
If that first response is dismissive, confused or culturally hesitant, the person may not ask again.
This is especially important in forced marriage, FGM and so-called honour-based abuse, where risk can involve several relatives, overseas travel, surveillance, financial control or intense pressure not to involve authorities.
The professional response must be curious enough to understand the pattern and confident enough to act without blaming the victim or stereotyping a community.
Protection orders must work in practice
The Government’s action plan commits to rolling out Domestic Abuse Protection Orders across police forces and courts in England and Wales and to improving data, guidance, enforcement and monitoring.
That direction is welcome. But an order protects only when the system around it works: applications must be accessible, breaches must be recognised and acted on, and victims must understand what protection is available.
Implementation therefore matters as much as legislation.
Specialist support cannot be an afterthought
Women experiencing domestic abuse, sexual violence, forced marriage, FGM or family-enforced control do not all need the same service.
Some need emergency accommodation. Some need an independent advocate. Some need an interpreter who is not connected to their family or community. Some need specialist legal, immigration, health or safeguarding advice.
The Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s 2026–29 strategic plan has also warned that frontline services remain underfunded. A national ambition to reduce violence will fail if the specialist organisations expected to help victims cannot sustain the work.
What success should look like
Success is not a press release or a target on a government webpage. It is a woman believed the first time. It is a child noticed before they disappear from professional sight. It is a protection order enforced. It is information shared lawfully between agencies. It is a survivor reaching specialist help without having to explain the danger repeatedly.
It also means publishing enough data for the public to see whether national commitments are being delivered consistently across the country.
Where Freedom Charity’s work fits
Through Freedom Charity, my work has focused on forced marriage, FGM, dishonour abuse and safeguarding education. These forms of abuse sit within the wider VAWG landscape but can require very specific professional understanding.
There is no contradiction between culturally informed practice and decisive safeguarding. Good practice does both: it understands context without allowing culture, family reputation or fear of causing offence to excuse abuse.
Final word
The 2025 strategy created a national framework and the 2026 implementation work has begun. That is progress.
But women and girls experience systems one decision at a time. The measure that matters is whether the person in danger is safer because the strategy exists.
A national emergency requires national ambition, but it also requires reliable action in every local response.
Sources and further reading
- Home Office: Freedom from Violence and Abuse strategy
- Home Office: VAWG action plan
- Home Office: Raneem’s Law phase two
- Domestic Abuse Commissioner: strategic plan 2026–29
