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Our Take On UK’s Violence Against Women and Girls (2025- 2030)
At RSVP, we welcome the Government’s recently published Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. We are relieved it has finally been released, following several postponements, making it long overdue. We are relieved, because actions to reduce and respond to VAWG are needed now more than ever.
Growing numbers of children and adults require specialist support from organisations like RSVP. Yet, despite us being open 7 days a week, the need for support is growing faster than our service capacity, resulting in survivors facing more distress as they wait even longer for support. The need for an ambitious strategy is clear and urgent. However, long‑term ambitious goals must not ignore the rapidly widening gaps in specialist support that require attention and action now.
Key Concerns about the VAWG Strategy
- Education alone cannot counter the scale of pornography harms:
Expecting parents, carers and teachers to offset the influence of multi‑million‑pound porn platforms, designed to push violent, misogynistic content to children, is unrealistic. We need stronger action on the platforms themselves and a society that stops profiting from the sexualisation of women and girls. Young people also need ongoing, specialist‑led reflective spaces to explore and unpick what they’ve seen. Evidence‑based programmes, like Time to Talk delivered by Safer Together and other by the specialist sector, must be prioritised. - Teachers are not specialists, and cannot be expected to carry this work alone:
Improvements to Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RHSE) are welcome. However, disclosures, trauma and creating safety for young people to have complex conversations requires specialist skills and survivor‑informed practice. Properly funded specialist services must work alongside schools, supporting already overstretched teachers, who are not fully trained to respond to abuse and misogyny. - NHS referral expansion without resourcing specialist services will lead to increased distress for survivors:
Health already refers around a third of survivors into specialist organisations like RSVP. We are concerned that rolling out “Steps to Safety” nationally will increase referrals to our sector even further, with no additional resource provided to meet this rising demand. Without investment, survivors will simply face longer waits and experience greater distress. - Commitment to provide “holistic, tailored support” can only happen with long‑term funding:
The Strategy sets out a vision for a coordinated, responsive system over the next decade. Without secure, ring‑fenced funding though, these commitments will remain aspirational, and fail to become reality. Survivors need support now, they cannot wait years for a system that works. - Children under 16 are missing from the Strategy’s headline measure of VAWG:
The goal to halve VAWG relies on data that excludes children under 16, despite high numbers being subjected to sexual abuse in childhood. This omission risks masking the true scale of abuse, and leaves a significant group of children invisible in national targets. - Child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors are still waiting for the promised “standalone response”:
The Strategy acknowledges that CSA requires its own specialist approach, yet provides no timeline. After years of delays in implementing the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Our Final Thoughts:
Investment in the specialist sexual abuse sector is long overdue and essential. For decades, services like ours have been asked to do a lot with very little. Now, more than ever, we are being stretched beyond capacity. During Covid, additional funding recognised our work as vital and an emergency service. Now, we need the same level of prioritisation again if we are to avoid letting survivors down.
Proper funding means we can respond well, reduce distressing delays and ensure every survivor gets the support they need, when they need it, in order to rebuild their lives with hope and confidence after sexual abuse. - Education alone cannot counter the scale of pornography harms:
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Garfield Weston Foundation Supports RSVP
Birmingham and Solihull sexual abuse charity was awarded £30,000 in February 2025 by the Garfield Weston Foundation towards core costs.
Rape and Sexual Violence Project (RSVP) is delighted to announce that the Garfield Weston Foundation have awarded £30,000 towards the core running costs of the charity. Core costs are vital to charities as the charity can decided where to spend the money, in RSVP’s case the funds will support our wellbeing services.
Lisa Thompson, Chief Executive of RSVP, said: ‘We are now in our 47th year of supporting survivors of rape and sexual violence, we cannot do this essential service without donations and grants from individuals and organisations like the Garfield Weston Foundation. We hope that this is the start of a long-standing relationship with the foundation.”
About Garfield Weston Foundation:
Established in 1958, the Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded grant-maker that gives money to support a wide variety of charities across the UK. The Foundation’s funding comes from an endowment of shares in the Weston family business – a successful model that still exists today. The Weston family have a consistent aim. The more successful the family businesses, the more money the Foundation can donate.
Each year the foundation gives away its income and donations have continued to grow. Since it was established it has donated over £1.5 billion, of which over half has been given away in the past ten years. In the most recent financial year the Foundation gave away over £100 million to just under 1,800 charities across the UK.
11/03/2025
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Introducing Our New Head of Fundraising & Partnerships
At the end of April, Cara Donald, our previous Head of Fundraising left to take on a new role at the national charity, Papyrus. We wish Cara all the best in her new role, we know she will be fabulous and thank her for everything she has achieved at RSVP through her role as Head and before that, through her role as Specialist Trainer.
Following the sad feelings about Cara leaving, the great news is that we have recruited quickly into this role and from 24th June, we are delighted that Paula Dower will take on the Head of Fundraising and Partnerships at RSVP. We can’t wait to give Paula a big-hearted welcome to RSVP.
Paula has worked in the charity sector since 2000 and for DASH (Disability Arts in Shropshire) since 2004, first as General Manager and Operations Director from 2012, when she began fundraising, raising over £1million through Arts Council England and grant-making trusts. While fundraising was part of Paula’s role, her focus on finance also ensured liquidity. Her organisational development skills saw DASH morph and grow through many changes during her time.
She has worked with a variety of stakeholders on numerous projects including volunteers, artists, council staff, Higher Education research staff, voluntary organisations, arts centres, galleries, museums, Arts Council England, trusts and foundations. One of her favourite projects was PROCESSIONS in 2018. Selected as one of one hundred organisations in the country to create banners to celebrate the first votes for women. Led by Paula, the DASH banner was created by over one hundred women and girls, who proudly paraded their banner in Cardiff shouting “WE ARE HERE!” on 10th June 2018.
Paula says: “It was such a fantastic day, and I was so happy to have been able to provide the opportunity for their voices to be heard.
I am thrilled to be working for RSVP to support and develop services to ensure survivors’ voices are also heard and believed.
As a survivor myself I know the importance RSVP’s work, and I feel really proud to be one of the team.”
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Outstanding Charity of the Year nomination
We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the Asian Business Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) award for Outstanding Charity of the Year.
We’re in very good company! Other shortlisted charities Muslim Aid, Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, Sense and Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer.
The winner will be announced at the annual dinner and awards event at The National Motorcycle Museum on Saturday, 7 December.
Thank you so much to the chamber for shortlisting us, and showing your big-hearted support to people subjected to sexual violence.
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Good News-Male Survivors Partnership
We are delighted to announce that the Home Office has agreed funding to enable 10 organisations to work towards the Independent Accreditation Programme for the Quality Standards for Services Supporting Male Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence, at no cost to the agency.
We are extremely excited that RSVP has been selected to be one of the agencies funded. We can’t wait to start working alongside the Male Survivors Partnership in conjunction with LimeCulture CIC. These standards, once gained, will apply to our counselling service giving extra reassurance to the male survivors we support.
Thanks to the Home Office, Male Survivors Partnership and LimeCulture CIC for this amazing opportunity.
Read more here.
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Cuddly Donation.
THANK YOU!!!
We would like to say a huge thank you to a young person who recently kindly donated a bundle of cuddly toys to RSVP.
We were able to give these to children and young people who use our services which resulted in lots of big smiles.
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In at the deep end!
Six brave fundraisers are taking on a massive challenge for RSVP. On 20th October, they’ll be swimming with sharks, without a cage!
They all have fundraising pages online and we’re hoping they’ll smash their fundraising targets.
Thanks to all the fundraisers (and those supporting them), your support makes a big difference.
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5 Ultra runs in 4 months!
We’re so grateful to Nicola for her incredible fundraising efforts. She is completing 5 different ‘ultra runs’ in just 4 months. Her final, and biggest, challenge takes place this week at the Thames Ultra – a whopping 184 miles!
Nicola has already smashed her target, and if you want to donate to her fundraising page and show your support, just go to LocalGiving.
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Wish granted!
Thank you to the generous folk who have granted our wish and bought essential children’s therapeutic resources from our Amazon wish list. They’ve gone straight into Vicky’s Room – our children’s and family room.
There’s lots of other items on the wish list, including books, feelings flash cards and admin items. It’s a really simple and direct way to support us in our 40th year. You can browse the wish list here.
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The Peak District Challenge
If you want to take on a new challenge AND raise money for RSVP in our 40th year, why not take on the Peak District Challenge?
21-22 September, you would face a raise against time to complete a picturesque running/trekking challenge in the beautiful Peak District. There are 5 levels of difficulty you can choose from, read about them here.
All you need to do is register at www.peak-district-challenge.com and select RSVP as your chosen charity to receive sponsorship money. And then it’s time to get your friends and family involved by securing donations. We can help promote your challenge on social media, and will be rooting for you the whole way!
