Cuts to funding for victims’ services is a “false economy” which costs more to the taxpayer than it saves, a charity has warned, saying that services are now at a “crisis point” in Britain.
Analysis by Victim Support, which helps people affected by crime across England and Wales, suggests that for every £1 invested in the charity’s services up to £10.80 is saved such as through reduced cost to health services, keeping people in work and better wellbeing.
The organisation warned that fewer victims will receive support this financial year after cuts have left services on the brink of crisis, on top of rising costs and increased employers’ national insurance contributions, according to a new report.
The Ministry of Justice announced that core police and crime commissioner budgets, , which commissions victim services, would be slashed by 4.2 per cent, as well as announcing a freeze to ring-fenced domestic abuse and sexual violence funding, in December last year – cuts that have been branded “ethically wrong and economically reckless”.
Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones had said the government inherited a criminal justice system under immense pressure and “a black hole in the nation’s finances”.
“We must now make difficult decisions to ensure we can deliver the justice victims deserve, through our courts and across the system,” she said.
But the chief executive of Victim Support, Katie Kempen, said the cuts are “ethically wrong and economically reckless”, telling the PA news agency: “What I’m seeing when I’m out in my services is that my staff are stretched, that our services are stretched, that everything is just stretched to the point where we’re really on the brink.
“We know that we support victims. We help keep them in employment, we help keep their wellbeing up. We help them to stay in their homes. We help them to stay in the criminal justice system.
“And what this research is telling us is that actually investing in victim services saves money elsewhere across the state and across the economy.”
The cuts come as the crown court backlog is at a record high of more than 78,000, with trials listed as far as 2029 and victims facing lengthy delays.
Victim Support is calling for the cuts to be reversed and for sustainable long-term investment into the service, amid the rising demand for help.
Of the backlog, Ms Kempen added: “It means that we’ll be supporting victims for years.”
The research evaluated Home Office data on the economic and social cost of crime and research on improvements from support for 4,495 Victim Support service users in 2023, to find the economic return of services totalling £10.80 for each £1 invested.
The costs focused on three categories identified by the Home Office of physical and emotional harm, lost output and health services.
Ms Kempen said: “This report makes one thing crystal clear: the government’s cuts to victims’ services funding are a false economy.”
It came after multiple charities warned that the cuts would have “dire consequences” for victims of domestic and sexual violence,
In December, Rape Crisis England and Wales, Victim Support, Welsh Women’s Aid, Imkaan and Women’s Aid Federation of England, penned a joint letter to the prime minister warning him that the move will put the government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) “in jeopardy” and would leave them “no choice” but to make redundancies and reduce “lifeline” support services for victims.
Victims’ Commissioner Baroness Helen Newlove has repeatedly raised concerns over victims’ services, and urged last month that “support can be the difference between a victim staying engaged or walking away from the justice process”.
In July, charity Rape Crisis England and Wales said three of its centres have been forced to close in the last 12 months and severe underfunding means that two-thirds of their centres could be forced to cut vital services soon.
For Victim Support, Ms Kempen said: “We’re bringing in waiting lists, we’re supporting people for less time, or we’re needing to bring in triage so that we see the people who are at greatest need.
“But we’re not able to see as many people as we would like to, or that we have done in the past.”
In the year 2024-25, Victim Support was contacted by more than 655,000 people and offered information and support.
People being supported by the charity can range from helping victims escape dangerous relationships, giving advice to survivors of sexual violence, or fraud victims who have lost their life savings and to help them try to get the money back.
Support can range from a phone call to support over many years.
In the charity’s report, Support That Saves, domestic abuse survivor Gemma – not her real name – describes her specialist caseworker as a “life raft” as she returned to work where she saw her abuser every day.
The 57-year-old had met her partner at work and was left traumatised as she ended the abusive relationship, but could not afford to quit her job.
Gemma said: “I don’t think I’d have a life if she hadn’t got hold of me and put me back together. I wouldn’t be in a full-time job, supporting myself.”
The Ministry of Justice was contacted for comment.
