Looking Ahead: Our 2026 Strategic Priorities

As we move into 2026, our Tech and Economic service is preparing for another busy and impactful year. Referrals continued to rise throughout 2025, and this growth reflects both increasing awareness of tech-facilitated abuse and economic abuse, and the need for specialist, survivor-centered support.

In response, we remain firmly committed to delivering trauma-informed, accessible, and culturally sensitive services that prioritise survivor safety, choice and autonomy.

Over the coming year, our focus will be on strengthening our response, driving innovation, and influencing change at both practice and policy levels.

Key priorities include:

Deepening our understanding of tech and economic abuse by developing a typology of online abuse, mapping risk factors, and identifying patterns in how perpetrators misuse technology to cause harm.

Enhancing survivor support through emergency digital support packages and the development of new digital tools to reach more survivors.

Raising awareness and building capacity by developing and delivering training.

Strengthening prevention efforts with workshops focused on tech abuse and young people, economic abuse and digital literacy.

Driving learning and influence by publishing annual impact reports, sharing trends and findings, contributing to legislative and policy recommendations, and engaging with the tech sector to reduce harm caused by the misuse of technology.

Expanding research and collaboration through developing new research initiatives and the development of an Advisory Group to help guide and shape the service over the coming years.

Together, these priorities reflect our commitment not only to responding to harm, but to prevent it- working alongside survivors, partners, and the tech and financial sector to create safer digital spaces and economic futures for survivors.

2025: A Year of Learning

Supporting survivors is at the heart of everything we do in the Technology Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment Team here at Refuge…but it’s not all we do.

With each new survivor story and referral, we listen and learn about how abuse is evolving in the 21st century. And where does all of that insight go? Right into our specialist, accredited training packages.

2025 was not just a year of support, it was a year of learning with our training programmes going from strength to strength. We delivered a total of 82 training sessions which ranged from half day CPD sessions on evidence gathering and the criminal justice system to one hour Lunch and Learn’s on medical technology facilitated abuse.

These sessions were attended by over 2800 individuals, including: 1737 police officers (across 5 national police forces), 5 local councils (123 individuals), 290 VAWG professionals across 7 organisations, 45 healthcare professionals and 590 professionals from the Ministry of Justice.

2025 also saw the launch of our open access sessions, with seven delivered across the year to over 250 individuals across 72 VAWG, statutory and for profit organisations.

As we look ahead to 2026, we are excited to meet and learn alongside many more professionals. Whether you are supporting survivors directly or wish to expand your understanding of technology facilitated and economic abuse, our specialist expertise along with real-world case studies will provide practical insight into the realities of the frontline and how we can best support survivors. But don’t take it from us, listen to our training attendee’s:

“This is amongst the best TFA training [we have] had. Delivered by people with current specialist knowledge”

“Great to actually attend training that is useful to my role and informative in general”

“Real case studies helped highlight just how real and severe these situations can be”

“Refreshing to have an expert conducting the training in an easily understandable and friendly manner”

For training questions or enquiries, please contact techabusetraining@refuge.org.uk.

Refuge’s Tech Safety Summit 2026: Connecting In-Person and Online

Refuge’s UK Tech Safety Summit, originally a fully virtual event focused on tackling technology-facilitated abuse and economic abuse, is evolving for 2026 with an exciting new hybrid format. Offering both in-person attendance in the UK and online access for participants.

The Summit will host experts, policymakers, tech specialists and survivor advocates committed to confronting emerging digital harms and sharing best practices in tech safety.

Attendees can expect expanded networking, live Q&A with leading experts, practical resources, and collaboration opportunities to strengthen cross-sector approaches to online safety and survivor support.

Stay up to date with the latest news at https://refugetechsafetysummit.vfairs.com/