A £5m funding gap for women’s centres will lead to more women being imprisoned and derail government reform plans, experts warn.
Women’s centres work with thousands in crisis, playing a central role in keeping vulnerable women out of prison. But two significant streams of government funding will end in March 2025, even though ministers have announced plans to reduce the number of women being locked up.
The National Women’s Justice Coalition (NWJC), whose 26 member organisations provide services including intervention programmes and community sentences, has told the Guardian they face a deficit of at least £5.1m in 2025 – and need an extra £500,000 to meet the increase in employers’ national insurance. With about 50 women’s centres in England and Wales, the funding deficit across the sector as a whole is expected to exceed those figures.
“Demand is growing at the time we’re facing this cliff edge,” said Rokaiya Khan, the chief executive of Together Women, a group of seven centres that supported 3,800 women in Yorkshire last year. “I have seen over the last 12 months more women in crisis, more women presenting with more complex needs, more women in dire straits with housing … and violence against women and girls is on the increase.
“When there are gaps, more women get arrested and end up in prison and on remand. You’re paying £50,000 a year to keep them in prison, when with £5,000 we could support a woman and help solve the prison crisis.”
There are more than 3,600 female prisoners in England and Wales – projected to rise to 4,200 by November 2027. About two-thirds are imprisoned for nonviolent offences and 55% are survivors of domestic abuse. And while women make up just 4% of the prison population, they account for over a quarter of self-harm incidents, the NWJC says.
Last month, the government announced a sentencing review expected to explore alternatives to short custodial sentences, which disproportionately affect women. Meanwhile, the lord chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, has announced plans to reduce the number of women in custody, establishing a Women’s Justice Board, which will meet in early 2025, focusing on early intervention and community solutions.
However, the NWJC fears these plans, which have been welcomed by the women’s centre sector, are “doomed to fail”.
Abbi Ayers, the NWJC’s director of strategic development, said: “Any plans for women’s justice will only be successful with women’s justice organisations at their heart, but without urgent, significant and long-term investment, many of these organisations will not survive.”
Emerging from grassroots feminism in the late 1960s, the women’s centres are a network of small charities providing a one-stop service – food, counselling, and support with debt, domestic violence, addiction and homelessness, as well as companionship and signposting to other services.
After the Corston report in 2007, following the deaths of six women at Styal prison in Cheshire, new women’s centres were set up and the sector has worked with police, the probation service, prisons and the Ministry of Justice, providing trauma-informed, gender-responsive intervention, courses, and community sentences that are alternatives to custody.
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Not all the women who use women’s centres are involved with the criminal justice system. But a significant proportion of funding for many centres is provided by the government for their work with female offenders. Experts believe each centre is capable of supporting 650 women a year with £1m in funding.
But with core cost grants, which have not increased for six years in parts of the country, and diversionary funding due to run out in months, the sector fears losing experienced staff and the closure of some centres.
Research has shown diversion services are as effective at preventing reoffending as prison-based interventions, but significantly cheaper, while interventions specifically designed for women were 42% more effective than gender-neutral ones.
Ayers says women’s centres will be needed “more than ever before” as the government tries to address the prisons crisis.
“But without additional ringfenced funding, they will not be able to meet the demand and will face a cliff edge of funding in 2025,” she added. “Women will be left without support, reoffending and recalls will increase, and well-meaning reforms will be doomed to fail.”
Amid the uncertainty, Nikki Guy, the chief executive of Stockport women’s centre, expects demand to surge over Christmas. Her organisation had six times the number of families seeking help over Christmas 2023 than the previous year, so it began preparations early this year.
“If you come in here, it doesn’t matter what you’re here for, you’re just here with a group of women,” she said. “That’s what the beauty of women’s centres is.”
“This is our safe space,” Anne, taking part in an art session at the Stockport centre, said. “When I’m on a downer, this is where I head to. If you start to cry, they will cry with you. There’s nowhere else you can get all this in one place.”
Approached by the Guardian for comment, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The lord chancellor announced her ambition to reduce the number of women in custody, creating the Women’s Justice Board to explore alternatives to prison for women, examine their unique challenges and offer the support needed to rebuild their lives.
“Following the budget five weeks ago, we are now determining how to allocate our funding for the next 18 months. We will provide the certainty our charity partners are looking for as soon as possible.”
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