On average, a woman is killed every three days and that nearly 900 women were victims of domestic homicide over the last ten years, most killed by a current or former partner.
This International Women’s Day, the UK government has restated their target of halving violence against women and girls in the UK within the next decade. A new announcement from the Home Office articulates how ministers plan to achieve that goal. At the centre of these plans is a cross-government approach to violence against women and girls, coordinated through the Safer Streets Mission Board.
This mission is linked to the UK government’s Plan for Change, which aims to improve confidence in policing and the criminal justice system, and ensure that victims are better supported throughout the process.
In the Plan for Change, several practical measures are highlighted. New Domestic Abuse Protection Orders have been launched in selected areas, with powers that can include banning contact, imposing electronic tagging, mandating behaviour‑change programmes, and removing time limits on how long an order can last.
It also includes the new criminalisation of spiking, with training for up to 10,000 staff so they can recognise and respond to incidents more effectively. Additional measures focus on stalking, such as expanding the use of Stalking Protection Orders and improving routes for victims to find out the identity of online stalkers, alongside a wider commitment to address the influence of online misogyny on men and boys.
The policy announcements were pairs with symbolic actions. The Home Office lit its buildings in suffragette colours and displayed the names of 95 women suspected of being killed by men in the last year, provided by the Femicide Census. Jess Phillips, now Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, read the names from the government front benches and described the pledge to halve violence as a top priority, while organisations such as Killed Women welcomed the commitment but stressed that continued and urgent action will be needed to protect more women and recognise “hidden homicides” in future.