The complex intersection of child poverty and intimate partner violence

A to B: Men are more likely to begin abusing their partners during pregnancy. A recent study of mothers of young children in Scotland found that around 14% had experienced domestic abuse, while another study found that 17% of pregnant women surveyed in the north of England had experienced abuse.

B to C: IPV is one cause of poverty, as those who experience it will incur large costs as they try to leave their partners. A survey by Women’s Aid and TUC found that at least 52% of people living with their abuser cannot afford to leave. ONS estimates that 1 in 11 households experiencing homelessness or the threat of homelessness cited IPV as a cause. Finally, economic abuse – such as controlling a partner’s finances - is often a component of IPV and is very common, with some estimating that as many as 1 in 6 British women have been victims of economic abuse.

A to C: Parenthood is expensive and mothers face a disproportionate financial penalty. Mothers, whether coupled or single, are more likely to be employed part-time or not at all due to caring duties.

What this means is that mothers in poverty are more likely to be victims of IPV than mothers not in poverty. One Scottish study revealed that as many as 1 in 3 mothers experienced IPV if they were in the youngest age category and the lowest income category. If we only look at the income category, 20% of the poorest mothers experienced IPV.

Impact on child poverty

Children experiencing poverty are therefore more likely to have mothers who are experiencing IPV. This juncture, too, is complex, as there is evidence that fathers and mothers spend differently on their children. A recent (2025) study on household accounting found that mothers were more likely to spend money on child-related expenses, with fathers continuing to make expensive purchases for themselves. An older study found that children are far less likely to experience food insecurity when the household income is controlled by the solely by the mother, rather than by the father or jointly controlled.  

While some level of child poverty will likely be alleviated by the strategies set out last December, the substrata of deep, persistent child poverty linked to mothers with multiple disadvantages may remain unmoved. And this is without further examining the intersection between disability and IPV, or between race and poverty. With that framing, we’ll now take a point-by-point look at the strategies the government is taking to reduce child poverty as described in the 2025 paper. 

Policies that don’t go far enough

Boosting income and job creation – While certainly necessary, it will not be a sufficient measure to address child poverty . While mothers are less likely to become enmeshed in the cycle of abuse and poverty if their income is higher, four obstacles will blunt the effectiveness of this channel if it is pursued in isolation:  

First, the simple fact that many victims of IPV are prevented from working by the abusive partner. This may take the form of threats, physical injury and restraint, stealing car keys, or refusal to do childcare while the mother goes to work.

Second, the high prevalence of economic abuse. Recalling that around 1 in 6 British women experienced economic abuse in the past 12 months, a significant proportion of mothers will face barriers supporting the financial needs of their children even with a higher wage.  

To mitigate these two obstacles, income and job creation should be paired with education on how to spot abuse, including economic abuse. Such educational programmes are most effective at a local level.

High cost of leaving an abusive partner. When victims do seek help to leave, the main policy response is to remove the mother and her child/ren from their own home. The cost of leaving an abuser is estimated to be anywhere from £17,600-26,500. Recently, Women’s Aid estimated that it could cost a victim as much as £50,000 to leave, meaning a rise in living wage may still be insufficient to cover the cost of exiting the relationship. The largest costs were 1) hiring a lawyer and 2) housing. Pro bono legal advice and programmes to help move the perpetrator, rather than the victim, into new housing, can help mitigate this. These interventions, like education, are best implemented locally, where they can be most responsive to the specific needs and culture of a place.

Gendered job creation. Job outcomes are highly gendered and there is a danger to further entrench women in low-paying, unstable sectors. The recent Youth Guarantee December 2025 update guarantees 350,000 jobs in construction, hospitality and social care. These are heavily gendered sectors, with construction having high wages and being dominated by men, and health and social care having low wages and being dominated by women. Recalling the Scottish study which found 1 in 3 young mothers in poverty had experienced IPV, it is critical that youth job creation programmes be analysed through a gender equality lens before being rolled out.

Along with increased wages, changes to Universal Credit have been proposed, the most publicised being the removal of the two-child benefit cap. There is evidence to suggest that the effect of this policy on reducing child poverty levels could be less than predicted. The benefit system can be a tool to keep a woman trapped rather than a hand to help her out. This is because the Universal Credit system expects couples who live together to file a single claim, making it easier for an abusive partner to control the finances. A mother in this situation will have less access to income from benefits than income from work. In fact, before becoming Prime Minister, Keir Starmer advocated for splitting the UC payments between couples as a default in order to protect against financial abuse. A child whose father is using money to control their mother is unlikely to see their situation improved through increased benefits.

Positive changes

Two of the new reforms will work through the intersection of IPV and child poverty. Reforms to child maintenance payments, which are payments made by a former partner to assist with the costs of raising a child after a divorce when they are no longer a primary caregiver, will make it more difficult for the former partner to exert control over the mother through delays or refusals to pay.

Second, the rollout of 30 free hours of childcare per week is a very welcome change, and something that the Women’s Budget Group has advocated for. In addition to allowing mothers greater access to work, it can free up much needed time to prepare to leave the abusive partner.

Moving forward

The Scottish Government, which has made great strides in reducing its levels of child poverty in recent years, is explicit about the way in which child poverty is linked to women’s inequality. They note that local, person-centred approaches are effective in tackling the gendered nature of child poverty while wide-ranging national approaches often fail to understand the problem through the gendered lens. Local and combined authorities have the opportunity to address multiple problems simultaneously by joining up their violence against women strategy with their child poverty strategy, and some places have started already.

NECA’s child poverty action plan recognises gender inequality across multiple channels:  the need for transport infrastructure to be safe for women and girls for employment programmes  to succeed, the need for improved wages in the foundational economy where women are over-represented, and the introduction of an accelerated retrofitting programme aimed at women with children to address fuel poverty in the rented sector.

Lambeth Made Safer’s Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2021-2027 set up a single point of support, called the Gaia Centre, which puts victims in touch with holistic support including children’s services, and the Sanctuary Scheme. This scheme helps victims and their children to stay in their own home instead of being chased out by the fear of additional violence – with housing costs being one of the largest expenses incurred by IPV victims when they leave the relationship.

Finally, Wigan Council worked closely with abuse victims to create an awareness campaign titled Love is Not Abuse, which launched in 2021 and remains ongoing. The campaign, which won the Local Government Chronicle’s 2022 Campaign of the Year award, disseminated information about what abuse is and how to recognise the early signs. By collaborating directly with survivors in the community, Wigan Council was able to tailor their message to a wide variety of people who may not have otherwise recognised themselves as abuse victims.  

Conclusion

We’ve seen that child poverty cannot be separated from violence against women, and that intimate partner violence can in many cases lead directly to children’s poverty and even homelessness. It is painful to know that a parent, who should be their child’s number one advocate, could in fact be undermining their safety. But to ignore this fact not only misses an important opportunity to join up public services in a more effective and holistic way, it also lets families down when they are most vulnerable.