Contact Priti Patel.
Reason: On Thursday May 21st, the government plan to have a Hidden Harms Summit. Priti Patel, Home Secretary, has indicated that this includes all groups, including men! This is an important break with what has been happening for years where men have been left out of government action.
Please write to her thanking her for this and bringing her attention to the published data. Draft letter below.
Contact details
Priti Patel Home Office public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF
Draft letter
Dear Ms. Patel,
Thank you so much for mentioning male victims of Domestic Abuse when you announced the Hidden Harms Summit. Male victims have been suffering in silence for decades with little support either from the government or from the dominant DA organisations.
The biggest killer of men aged 18-60 in the UK is male suicide – quite a few of the 4,900 male suicide victims a year could be saved with additional support in areas like domestic abuse.
Around 2 million individuals in the UK are subjected to domestic abuse a year – 1.3 million women and 695,000 men. This equates to 65% female victims and 35% male victims.
However, while there are around 300 organisations in the UK dedicated to supporting female domestic abuse suffers and 4,500 safe-house spaces dedicated for women – there are ONLY 3 organisations dedicate to supporting male domestic abuse suffers and ONLY around 40 safe-house spaces dedicated for men.
I believe the under-funding and provision of domestic abuse services for men in the UK is one of the biggest example of inequalities in Great Britain – 99% of support for females and 1% for men. I request that the £76m dedicated for domestic abuse be allocate fairly to both male and female victims in relation to Office for National Statistics ratios and not in a way that continues to disregard male sufferers.
Please note: that males are also only half as likely as females to report domestic abuse and that the official ONS statistics do not take this in to account. Were males to report domestic abuse on the same level as females the issue of domestic abuse in the UK would be recognised as one that affects both males and females equally.
Thank you.