Before it started with a colleague idea, it started with a list of sobering facts. Domestic abuse causes misery: it can affect anyone, at any time, with violence against women and girls in particular having been described by the National Police Chiefs’ Council as a national emergency. One in 12 women are affected every year, with recorded offences up by 37 per cent over the past five years[1]. Our own research has found that almost half the population (48%) have either experienced domestic abuse or know someone who has.[2]

Against this backdrop, it is clear that financial services firms have an important role to play, particularly mutuals, and especially those mutuals like Nationwide with a strong high street presence. Action is needed collectively across the sector, and we stand to learn a lot from one another. Abuse and controlling behaviour can include taking over someone’s financial life. Among other behaviours, this might include a perpetrator controlling their partner’s access to cash or to their own accounts, spending their money, putting debt in their name, or checking transactions. According to our poll of 2,000 people, 26 per cent of those who experienced domestic violence – or who know someone who has -- said that financial abuse was at the root.

All it took to make this impactful change was a colleague idea, and a small group of likeminded colleagues who had a passion to make a difference and help people in abusive situations. Given the prevalence of domestic abuse across the UK, as a sector we have a responsibility to our customers to do our part and help prevent abuse where we can. A trip to the shops or the local bank branch can be one of the few times a victim goes unobserved by an abusive partner. That’s why at Nationwide we partnered with the abuse prevention charity Hestia to launch Safe Spaces in over 430 of our high street branches for anyone to use.

By asking a member of staff to use the space, individuals can use a private room with access to a phoneline and the chance to discreetly contact family, friends, or specialist support from charities or from Nationwide’s own team. All Nationwide colleagues working in the branch have received specialised training to spot the signs of domestic abuse so they can help offer support and resources in the most appropriate way.

We’ve already begun to hear about the huge impact of these safe spaces on people’s lives, with individuals able to get in touch with the police and start to regain control over their own lives. It didn’t take a big financial investment on our part, or an intensive tech upgrade, or a massive resource input. All it took was to listen to our colleagues’ ideas, and working with experts in their field, take them to their logical conclusion – working with Hestia on essentials like the training materials, the information we provide in the safe spaces, even down to the details like the window stickers. The key question for us was to understand how best we could contribute, with more banking branches on UK high streets than any other brand. Listening to external expertise was vital in achieving that.

Without the support of charities like Hestia and other high street firms offering Safe Spaces, it would be exponentially more difficult for people going through abuse to access the basics that help someone rebuild their life.

We think that there are lessons to learn for the whole sector, and it’s worth remembering the history of the building society movement. Many of the original building societies of the 19^th and 20^th centuries were rooted directly in a town, or a small cluster of towns – in a word, a community. To be a modern mutual, then, it’s not enough to deliver the commercial basics and digital service that customers have come to expect. We need to go further than that, and make sure we’re doing what’s right to help our communities. and that means anyone within our communities, whatever their circumstances.