Refuges for battered women must treat men

Charities for battered women have been threatened with the loss of their funding unless they help male victims of domestic violence, under new equality laws.

Women's Aid, the domestic violence charity whose patrons include the prime minister's wife, Sarah Brown, says its female-only services are essential to reassure battered women and children that they will be safe. However, some local authorities are demanding that services such as counselling and outreach be opened to both sexes.

Fiona Mactaggart, the former Home Office minister, said some refuge services had lost grants or contracts in what she said was an "unintended consequence" of changes in equality law...

"There are some stupidnesses developing in the system that nobody intended."