Funding women’s access to justice

Read the full report here.

Formed in 2008, the Corston Independent Funders' Coalition (CIFC) is a group of independent funders, including Esmée, working together to enable women’s access to justice through supporting women-centred, holistic and trauma-responsive approaches to diverting women from crime.

Together with fellow CIFC members, we want to be open and transparent about our funding and resources. We hope it’s also helpful in understanding the funding landscape for women’s access to justice, as well as serving as a call to action for those interested in learning more and collaborating.

Key findings

The report shows that between 2021 and 2024, CIFC members have collectively invested:

• £15.5m to supporting justice-impacted or at-risk women and girls – mainly focusing on funding influencing and systems change, and building the evidence base for the effectiveness of women and girls’ specialist services.
• £25.4m for work linked to combatting violence against women and girls, supporting women affected by sex work, trafficking and/or modern slavery as well as to broader rights work such as funding advice services and campaigns on economic rights.
• £9.3m towards criminal justice reform which was not gender specific, with a notable focus on young people; as well as an additional £7.1m for non-gender specific criminal justice services.
• £21.1m for prevention/early help work – most of which (£19.3m) was for family support, with the remainder going towards family justice.

In addition to the above, CIFC members and friends have provided nearly £2m of co-funding for strategic initiatives and alliances that have the potential drive systemic change in the criminal justice system for women and girls. For example, CIFC members have collaborated to continue to provide funding for key sector networks, Agenda Alliance and National Women’s Justice Coalition; as well as co-funding three strategic pieces of policy/research work led by The Howard League for Penal Reform, Prison Reform Trust, and Agenda Alliance.

More recently, the JABBS Foundation for Women and Girls and the Henry Smith Foundation announced a new joint fund to expand the Effective Women’s Centre Partnership. The Partnership aims to build the evidence base for the effectiveness of Women’s Centres as an alternative to custodial sentences in reducing reoffending, interrupting pathways into the criminal justice system, and addressing the needs of women facing disadvantage.

Nearly 20 years on from the publication of the Corston report, this mapping report shows CIFC members continue to play a crucial role in realising its vision which advocated for the need for a holistic, woman-centred approach.

What next and how to get involved

We’re really grateful to Beth Crosland for their work on the report as well as all the funders for sharing their data. As a result of this work, we are looking at how we can more accurately capture who and where our funding is reaching to help inform future funding.

CIFC members are also keen to explore the following questions and topics:

• How to better de-silo funding for justice impacted women and girls, and funding for combatting VAWG
• Learning from best practice in relation to funding flows and models at local and regional levels
• Working out what good looks like in terms of vibrant, sustainable funding for specialist services for women and girls
• Increasing understanding of the needs of girls at risk and how to provide better early intervention support
• What a cross-government budget for women and girls would look like
• How to strengthen and sustain an inclusive feminist movement

If you’re interested in exploring this with us, or want to share your thoughts about the report, please get in touch with Beth Crosland, CIFC Coalition Development Manager, by email to beth.crosland.cifc@jabbswomenandgirls.org.uk; or you can provide feedback via this form.