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30.01.2025 / Press releases / Solace
Workers in Solace Women’s Aid’s Tower Hamlets Solace Advocacy and Support Service (SASS) team, who are members of UVW, are calling for the community and supporters to gather outside the Town Hall at 5:30pm on Thursday 6 February for a rally to save the service they provide, which is threatened by redundancies.
Tower Hamlets has the second highest rate of domestic abuse in London, and 70% of all domestic abuse victim-survivors are women, yet the team of domestic abuse support workers have been told they will be cut by a third.
Bosses at Solace appear to be attempting union busting, by contacting workers who appeared in a photograph published by UVW claiming a social media policy may have been breached, with implications they might take disciplinary action. UVW believes the photograph is a protected trade union activity and has called on Solace to retract their implied threat and take action to remedy the situation created by their attempted union busting.
The charity is contracted to provide support to survivors of domestic abuse with the council. The value of the contract has almost doubled to £1.4m from 2024 to 2026, up from the £783,452 it received between 2021 and 2024. Solace claims the council withdrew expected funding.
Kischa Green, senior Independent Domestic Abuse Advisor for Solace Women’s Aid and UVW member, said:
“Personally, I am a survivor of domestic abuse, I’ve been through it twice and I feel sad and disappointed. I have supported Solace as a feminist organisation, it is essential for survivors of domestic abuse and I am proud to be part of this service. I have three children and am a single parent. I pay for nursery fees, it’s more than my rent and that’s with government help. I have to have a regular income with nursery fees, and bills to pay. Everything is moving really fast, I haven’t processed it all, it feels triggering, I feel rejected and I don’t feel valued.
“I feel like I am being punished for a mistake I didn’t make. We have the second highest domestic abuse rate out of other London boroughs, we get lots of referrals. If we don’t have enough staff, service users will not get support as our capacity reaches maximum, and this means women will be at risk, as we won’t meet the demand.
“It’s an impossible position, either we don’t increase our workload or we do and risk burnout. If staff are overworked and burnt out, things might get missed or forgotten about. Service users could be at risk. I trusted this is a feminist organisation and I thought I’d be safe. I advise all charity workers to join a union for your own protection.”
Isabel Cortés, assistant general secretary for United Voices of the World, said:
“These brave women need feminists and trade unionists from across London to join them. We need Tower Hamlets to take action to protect survivors of domestic abuse. Cutting this team by a third is not just a funding decision – it puts women’s safety at serious risk, leaving countless women and families without the vital, life-saving support they rely on. This is not simply about protecting jobs, it is about defending women and ensuring the most vulnerable members of our community are not abandoned. Domestic abuse is a national emergency and Tower Hamlets council has a duty to act to safeguard those who are most at risk. To fail them now would be to fail our collective responsibility to protect and support those in their darkest moments. The Solace workers are a lifeline for survivors of domestic abuse in Tower Hamlets. We’re calling on the community to raise their voices outside the Town Hall on Thursday 6 February.”
For more information contact the UVW comms team.
Workers in Solace Women’s Aid’s Tower Hamlets Solace Advocacy and Support Service (SASS) team, who are members of UVW, are calling for the community and supporters to gather outside the Town Hall at 5:30pm on Thursday 6 February for a rally to save the service they provide, which is threatened by redundancies.
Tower Hamlets has the second highest rate of domestic abuse in London, and 70% of all domestic abuse victim-survivors are women, yet the team of domestic abuse support workers have been told they will be cut by a third.
Bosses at Solace appear to be attempting union busting, by contacting workers who appeared in a photograph published by UVW claiming a social media policy may have been breached, with implications they might take disciplinary action. UVW believes the photograph is a protected trade union activity and has called on Solace to retract their implied threat and take action to remedy the situation created by their attempted union busting.
The charity is contracted to provide support to survivors of domestic abuse with the council. The value of the contract has almost doubled to £1.4m from 2024 to 2026, up from the £783,452 it received between 2021 and 2024. Solace claims the council withdrew expected funding.
Kischa Green, senior Independent Domestic Abuse Advisor for Solace Women’s Aid and UVW member, said:
“Personally, I am a survivor of domestic abuse, I’ve been through it twice and I feel sad and disappointed. I have supported Solace as a feminist organisation, it is essential for survivors of domestic abuse and I am proud to be part of this service. I have three children and am a single parent. I pay for nursery fees, it’s more than my rent and that’s with government help. I have to have a regular income with nursery fees, and bills to pay. Everything is moving really fast, I haven’t processed it all, it feels triggering, I feel rejected and I don’t feel valued.
“I feel like I am being punished for a mistake I didn’t make. We have the second highest domestic abuse rate out of other London boroughs, we get lots of referrals. If we don’t have enough staff, service users will not get support as our capacity reaches maximum, and this means women will be at risk, as we won’t meet the demand.
“It’s an impossible position, either we don’t increase our workload or we do and risk burnout. If staff are overworked and burnt out, things might get missed or forgotten about. Service users could be at risk. I trusted this is a feminist organisation and I thought I’d be safe. I advise all charity workers to join a union for your own protection.”
Isabel Cortés, assistant general secretary for United Voices of the World, said:
“These brave women need feminists and trade unionists from across London to join them. We need Tower Hamlets to take action to protect survivors of domestic abuse. Cutting this team by a third is not just a funding decision – it puts women’s safety at serious risk, leaving countless women and families without the vital, life-saving support they rely on. This is not simply about protecting jobs, it is about defending women and ensuring the most vulnerable members of our community are not abandoned. Domestic abuse is a national emergency and Tower Hamlets council has a duty to act to safeguard those who are most at risk. To fail them now would be to fail our collective responsibility to protect and support those in their darkest moments. The Solace workers are a lifeline for survivors of domestic abuse in Tower Hamlets. We’re calling on the community to raise their voices outside the Town Hall on Thursday 6 February.”
For more information contact the UVW comms team.
Isabel: 07706 987443
Jim: 07749 765264
Cristina: 07548 759340
Isabel: 07706 987443
E-mail: comms@uvwunion.org.uk
Notes for editors
United Voices of the World is an anti-racist, member-led, direct action, campaigning trade union and we exist to support and empower the most vulnerable groups of precarious, low-paid and predominantly BAME and migrant workers in the UK. We fight the bosses through direct action on the streets and through the courts and demand that all members receive at least the London Living Wage, full pay, sick pay, dignity, equality and respect.
For more on the Solace worker’s fight to save their jobs:
Workers at Solace Women’s Aid set to strike to save Tower Hamlets’ domestic abuse support services
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