Waltham Forest's Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) specialist services have secured funding until 2027, ensuring continued support for survivors of abuse. Funding for these services is secured through a combination of income generation from training delivery and external grants, including the London Crime Prevention Fund, with external grants confirmed until between 2027 and 2029. The VAWG Specialist Services report to the Communities and Public Protection Scrutiny Committee does not provide a comparison to previous funding levels.
The Communities and Public Protection Scrutiny Committee met on Wednesday 19 November 2025, to discuss the council's ongoing commitment to tackling VAWG and community safety. The committee reviewed the Violence Reduction and Community Safety Summer Plan and Safer Streets 2025, and discussed specialist services commissioned and delivered by the council for individuals who have experienced or are at risk of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
The council's approach to VAWG incorporates both directly delivered and commissioned specialist services, based on the 'Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy'. Commissioned core services include advocacy and therapeutic support for survivors. The commissioned service, delivered by Solace Women's Aid, provides practical support, including assistance with safety planning, housing, legal options, and police reporting. Referrals to the Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) provider remain consistent at over 1,000 survivors annually.
The Solace Therapeutic Marketplace delivers a range of therapeutic services via a single referral route, fulfilling the council's statutory duty under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to provide counselling and therapy for adults and children, including play therapy for children recovering from trauma and abuse.
The Waltham Forest VAWG Model is described as a framework that adopts a holistic approach to preventing and intervening early with VAWG. The model promotes community mobilisation and ownership through training delivered across non-traditional community settings. Examples of these settings include:
- LBWF Independent Living Service
- Crate St James businesses
- LBWF Registrars
- LBWF Options and Assessment Team
- Lloyd Park Children's Charity
- NELFT
- Early Help practitioners
- A residential home for children with autism
The VAWG Health Project is an in-house model that replaced the externally commissioned IRIS service (Identification and Referral to Improve Safety), delivering a cost saving of £16,000 in its first year. It partners with the broader Waltham Forest health sector to extend identification and is centrally coordinated by a designated senior VAWG worker to strengthen the health sector's role in early identification and referral. Since January 2025, the project delivered 33 VAWG training sessions, reaching 443 health professionals. Feedback has been positive. The VAWG Specialist Services report does not mention any drawbacks.
The council also delivers a programme of work across schools and colleges, including assemblies, pupil workshops, and staff training. Key topics covered include Language and Behaviours, VAWG Awareness, Sexual Harassment and Banter, Healthy Relationships, Grooming and Exploitation, and Consent and Boundaries.
Waltham Forest has a track record in delivery and innovation in local authority approaches to VAWG, for example, the DRIVE Programme, which focuses on high-risk, high-harm, and/or serial perpetrators of domestic abuse. The borough has also been offered the RISE CIFA Programme (Culturally Integrated Family Approach), a culturally-informed structured 1:1 programme for perpetrators from racialised and minoritised communities.
The short-term financial stability of the VAWG specialist service has been confirmed until contract expiry in 2027, and that almost all internal resource and personnel are funded via income generation through training delivery and external grants, such as the London Crime Prevention Fund.
