Women fleeing domestic abuse with children with disabilities are struggling to find suitable refuge accommodation, a report by Women’s Aid says.
Just 14.3% of women with disabled children supported by the charity were placed in a refuge by the end of their case.
The findings come from Women’s Aid’s 10th Nowhere to Turn report, which looks at data from its No Woman Turned Away project, a scheme that supports women trying to leave abusive relationships.
More than 250 women were helped by the scheme in 2025, with 85% finding housing.
But Women’s Aid said some women faced additional barriers because of their circumstances, including disability, mental health or substance use needs, an offending history, having no recourse to public funds, multiple children or older male children.
No refuge recorded by the project was able to accommodate women with male children aged over 14. This meant 13 women and their children were unable to access a safe place to stay.
Women with mental health and substance support needs, as well as those with offending histories, were also less likely to be placed in a suitable refuge.
Four in 10 women supported by the programme said they experienced further abuse while waiting for a refuge space and some 13.4% said they were too scared to leave their homes.
Fara Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, described domestic abuse as a ‘heinous crime’ and said it is ‘heartbreaking to see that so many extremely vulnerable women are struggling to access help and support.’
‘It is especially difficult to see that in many cases, women were failed by statutory agencies, often due to their lack of knowledge about the complexities and dangers of domestic abuse,’ Nazeer added.
‘More must be done to ensure that local authorities who come into contact with vulnerable women receive mandated, specialist domestic abuse training to ensure that rights of women are respected and protected.’
The report also highlighted an increase in cases where perpetrators used aspects of a woman’s identity against her – the number of women reporting this rose from 9.9% in 2024 to 24.5% in 2025.
Immigration status was the most common reason, followed by religion.
Most women supported by the project reported experiencing controlling or coercive behaviour. The figure climbed to 92.5%, compared with 81.1% the previous year.
There were also more than 100 cases where services failed to provide help, or gave survivors advice or assistance that was incorrect or inappropriate.
Image: Shutterstock
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‘There is no justice for women’: a story of domestic abuse and systemic failure
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