Councils are to receive a £19m funding boost from the Government to help deliver safe accommodation for those affected by domestic abuse.

The investment will be delivered under the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Duty, as part of the Government’s Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy that will be rolled out later this week.

While local authorities are already due to receive £480m as multi-year funding to provide domestic abuse support, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has confirmed that the £19m boost will enable councils to help an additional 4,900 households, with the entire sum estimated to support nearly 140,000 people across the next three years.

The announcement is part of a wider Government investment valued at over £1bn, designed to support domestic abuse survivors. It follows recent data which revealed that more than one in 10 people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness were escaping domestic abuse.

In a statement published yesterday, the MHCLG explained that the ‘commitment to safety and stability’ is central to the scheme, which will ensure that both survivors and their children can access safe accommodation in confidential locations.

As well as arranging access to refuges, councils will also be tasked with delivering ‘tailored move-on support to help women secure long-term housing and rebuild their lives’, and Sanctuary Schemes that will see advanced security measures and specialist care provided for those who opt to stay in their homes.

Homelessness Minister Alison McGovern said: ‘No one should have to choose between staying in an unsafe home or facing homelessness.

‘We’re treating violence against women and girls as a national emergency, with a clear commitment to halve it in the next decade.’

Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, said the mission of halving VAWG ‘means bearing down on abusers but also giving survivors the support and resources they desperately need to rebuild their lives’.

She added: ‘This funding will ensure victims remain safe while preventing their abusers from inflicting further unnecessary suffering.’