Agenda Alliance responds to the Autumn Budget

Across the country, women and girls with multiple unmet needs are still facing the fatal consequences of over a decade of austerity and underfunding in public services, the impact of a global pandemic, and the rising cost-of-living crisis. Their needs stretch across departments, and require a joined-up approach to their support.

In today’s Autumn Budget statement, Labour’s first since returning to power, we welcomed the Labour Government’s acknowledgement of the dire state our public services are in, and the Chancellor’s commitment to fund essential services. Measures set out included funding increases for local authorities on homelessness and social care, and much needed investment in education and our NHS.

Although steps such as these are important, to create long lasting systemic change for women and girls facing the greatest needs Government must prioritise funding to the specialist organisations providing life-saving support. These services provide vital support across housing, mental health and suicide prevention, criminal justice, domestic abuse, substance use, and youth services every day, but without long-term investment, they will not survive.

Whilst we are hopeful that some measures already announced, such as reducing the numbers of women in prison and the ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, have the potential to create systemic change for women and girls with multiple unmet needs, any forthcoming strategies must be accompanied by sufficient investment to make these ambitions a reality.

The task of supporting women and girls with multiple unmet needs, whilst requiring investment in the short-term, will have a long-term positive impact on future spending. Only by Government taking a preventative approach to women and girls’ needs will we end the cycle of harm so many are drawn into, and invest in the futures of those at the sharpest end of inequality.