10 years as a Churchill Fellow
In 2016 I travelled to the US and Australia as a Churchill Fellow to explore innovative responses to financial abuse, understand how different stakeholders work together to address it and evaluate the potential for transferring the learning gained to the UK. See my report and recommendations here (and update on progress here and below).
By happy coincidence, fellow Churchill Fellow and great friend Guddy Burnet and I happened to be in the same city, at the same time. Little did we know then that our professional paths would continue to cross back in the UK after I founded the charity Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) and Guddy co-founded the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance and pioneered the Whole Housing Approach.
Ten years on, and we are celebrating all the Fellowship has given us by bringing together #VAWG Fellows for the very first time at a one-day conference on 2 December, in London. Community, connection and collaboration: addressing violence against woman and girls will take place on 2 December and showcase our collective learning. It will also provide a space to discuss how the work of VAWG Fellows has informed, aligns with, and can build on, the cross-governmental VAWG strategy published in December 2025.
Progress on recommendations
The biggest learning was the need to place financial abuse within the broader category of economic abuse - recommendation one. The Westminster Government recognised this in January 2019.
Recommendation two spoke to the need to name and define economic abuse in legislation. This was achieved via the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
Recommendation three was addressed through the development of the Whole Housing Approach pioneered by Gudrun Burnet. Operating across a range of accommodation settings and tenure types, the model includes financial support through flexible funding with a focus on economic abuse.
Recommendation four was addressed in updated 2022 NSE guidance which encourages VAWG commissioners to identify and promote wider touch points in their community, such as financial institutions.
Pending.