Out of Sight, Out of Mind.
Imkaan launches a new campaign. New research shows Black and minoritised women are being left out of specialist mental health support. Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) are failing to fund specialist ‘by and for’ VAWG services, and Imkaan is calling for urgent government action.
24th March 2026
Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) are failing to fund specialist violence against women and girls (VAWG) services led ‘by and for’ Black and minoritised women.
Imkaan’s new research report exposes deep inequalities in commissioning and calls for urgent government action.
This report launches Out of Sight, Out of Mind - Imkaan’s new campaign, of the same name, calling on the government to address inequalities in the commissioning of therapeutic support for Black and minoritised survivors from specialist ‘by and for’ VAWG services.
Our joint letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, signed by organisations across the VAWG, mental health and racial justice sectors, sets out the changes needed in response to these findings.
Why this matters?
Black and minoritised victim-survivors of violence against women and girls need access to specialist, trauma-informed support that understands the realities of abuse, racism and inequality.
But our latest research shows that the services best placed to provide that support - specialist VAWG organisations led ‘by and for’ Black and minoritised women - are being systematically overlooked and underfunded.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind report brings together new evidence, frontline insight and urgent calls for change. It highlights how health commissioning is failing Black and minoritised women, and why that must change.
What does the research show?
This research is based on Freedom of Information requests sent to all 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) across England. Of those, 41 responded.
Our findings reveal that specialist ‘by and for’ VAWG services are being shut out of health funding and overlooked in commissioning decisions - including when it comes to therapeutic and mental health support for Black and minoritised victim-survivors.
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Not one respondent had commissioned a ‘by and for’ VAWG service to provide therapeutic support to Black and minoritised victim-survivors.
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Only 13 ICBs commissioned mainstream VAWG services, while only one commissioned a specialist ‘by and for’ service to deliver any support at all.
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ICBs provided at least £2,790,672 to 18 mainstream VAWG organisations, while only £47,000 was allocated to one specialist ‘by and for’ organisation.
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Our research identifies problems with Black and minoritised women being able to access appropriate support, alongside a fragmented approach to VAWG across public bodies, with VAWG still routinely not being treated as a health issue.
KEY FINDINGS
We know from our previous research,
Why Should Our Rage Be Tidy?, produced with Women and Girls Network and the University of Warwick, that Black and minoritised victim-survivors often face dehumanising, re-traumatising and pathologising responses when seeking help for abuse-related trauma.
Women told us that specialist, trauma-informed support from ‘by and for’ Black and minoritised VAWG organisations made a profound difference to their recovery and wellbeing.
The sooner victim-survivors can access that support, the better their chances of healing, safety and long-term recovery.
And yet, decades of chronic underfunding mean these specialist services are too often expected to meet deep and urgent need without the sustained investment required to do so.
Why specialist ‘by and for’ support matters
Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have a crucial role in planning health services, overseeing commissioning and managing NHS budgets. They also have responsibilities to reduce inequalities in health services.
But Imkaan’s research shows that specialist ‘by and for’ VAWG services are not being recognised, funded or meaningfully engaged in the way they should be.
That means Black and minoritised women continue to be left out of the mental health support landscap - despite clear evidence of need, and despite the expertise that already exists within specialist frontline organisations.
The problem with the current system
What are we calling for?
As part of Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Imkaan is calling on government to:
Ensure that Integrated Care Boards fund and collaborate with Black and minoritised VAWG services.
Strengthen scrutiny and oversight into mental health support for Black and minoritised victim-survivors of VAWG.
These changes are necessary if Black and minoritised women are to access the specialist support they need; and if commissioning decisions are to stop reproducing the very inequalities the health system says it wants to reduce.
“BLACK AND MINORITISED WOMEN HAVE BEEN LEFT OUT OF THE MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT LANDSCAPE.”
- Executive Director of Imkaan, Ghadah Alnasseri
“This vital new research illustrates what we have often heard from our frontline member organisations: Black and minoritised women have been left out of the mental health support landscape, leaving them unable to access the life-saving specialist help that can set them on the path to recovery. Therapeutic support is essential to survivors’ mental health, yet the specialist ‘by and for’ VAWG services that deliver this for Black and minoritised women are almost entirely shut out from health funding.
Integrated Care Boards have a crucial role to play in tackling VAWG and so the Health Secretary must ensure that they fund the life-saving work that specialist ‘by and for’ VAWG services can offer women, and ensure greater scrutiny of these commissioning decisions to ensure that Black and minoritised women do not continue to be overlooked.”
What happens next?
This report is part of a broader effort to push for change in how mental health support is understood, commissioned and delivered for Black and minoritised victim-survivors of VAWG.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind brings together research, advocacy and action to ensure that specialist ‘by and for’ services are no longer treated as optional, peripheral or invisible.
The next step is clear: government and health leaders must act on the evidence.
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