57 VAWG organisations write to Prime Minister opposing Earned Settlement proposals

Today (14th October 2026), 50+ organisations working across the violence against women and girls (VAWG) and migrant sectors have written the Prime Minister raising our concern about the impact of the Earned Settlement Proposals on victim-survivors of VAWG and calling for urgent action to halt these harmful proposals. 

The End Violence Against Women Coalition and our partners in the VAWG sector have consistently warned that extensions to the route to settlement for people migrating to the UK, and the introduction of an earned model of settlement, would mark a significant escalation in state-sanctioned violence against Black, minoritised and migrant victim-survivors. 

Impact of earned settlement changes on migrant victim-survivors of VAWG

VAWG organisations have consistently raised the alarm at how wider immigration policies are preventing women and girls from seeking safety and putting them at greater risk of harm. 

Women with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) are already three times more likely to be subjected to VAWG. Migrant victim-survivors are prevented from accessing support and safety due to the hostile environment policies, and perpetrators often weaponise this to exert control over them. 

The Earned Settlement changes will have a severe and disproportionate impact on victim-survivors of VAWG. They risk increasing long-term abuse, exploitation, poverty, destitution and criminalisation for women, whilst further restricting their access to safety and justice. This is directly at odds with the government’s plan to halve VAWG in a decade. 

Migrant rights are women’s rights – we are clear that for the VAWG Strategy to succeed these need to be central. 

Storybook 

End Violence Against Women Coalition, Hibiscus, Latin American Women’s Rights Service and Southall Black Sisters have also today launched a storybook to illustrate how these dangerous proposals would affect migrant victim-survivors of VAWG. Drawing on frontline experience supporting migrant women, we have created four composite stories that bring to life the real vulnerabilities faced by migrant victim-survivors of VAWG. These stories illustrate how the earned settlement proposals will increase the already dangerous situation the migrant victim-survivors are facing – empowering their abusers to entrap, isolate, silence and control them and then penalising them for the actions of their abusers. 

Please support us in calling for the government to scrap the Earned Settlement proposals and to ensure that all victim-survivors, regardless of immigration status, can access long-term support and safety. 

Read the letter here. 

Access our storybook here.