Coronavirus: How do we help domestic abuse victims trapped with abusers during lockdown?

The Independent spoke to frontline service providers and experts about how best to support victims during the coronavirus crisis

Ms Ingala Smith, who has been tracking the numbers of women killed by men for an annual census on femicide in the UK, urged people to keep in touch with friends and family who have partners 'who are controlling and put them down' (Getty)

Calls to the UK’s national domestic abuse helpline have soared during the country's coronavirus lockdown, and police report there has been a rise in domestic violence incidents directly linked to the Covid-19 crisis.

The surge of violence raises questions about the best way to help domestic abuse victims trapped at home with their abusive partners whose behaviour may be worsened by the upheaval of the pandemic.

The Independent spoke to frontline service providers and experts about what can be done to help women cooped up with their abusers.

Karen Ingala Smith, who has been tracking the numbers of women killed by men for an annual census on femicide in the UK, said: “Coercive control is entrapment and lockdown gives controlling men another excuse, in some cases an excuse to do what they have been trying to do for months or even years.

“Coronavirus and lockdown do not cause or create violent men, but they can give violent, abusive and controlling men new tools and new excuses. Being locked in with an abuser can make it harder for a woman to reach out and access support because it can be easier for men to block them from action or convince them that if they do there will be no one there.”

Ms Ingala Smith, who is head of Nia, the charity behind the census that provides services for women, children and young people who have experienced male violence, urged people to keep in touch with friends and family who have partners “who are controlling and put them down”.

“You might not have seen something that you would easily identify as abuse but you might have noticed behaviour and attitudes that make you uncomfortable,” she added. “Ask how things are going at home. If someone disclosed abuse, encourage them to either contact the police or a specialist women’s organisation.”

Ms Ingala Smith called for the government to recognise additional forms of support need to be brought in for domestic abuse victims amid the coronavirus crisis.

“We have identified hotels that are willing to offer accommodation,” she said. ”We need to be able to provide staff to support the women and children who need support where they are based.”

She called for restraining orders which are expiring to be automatically extended and for the police to actively monitor known dangerous men and women and children known to be at risk of harm from them — as well as demanding staff in shelters for domestic abuse victims are given personal protective equipment.

The National Centre for Domestic Violence has urged victims to set up court-protected safe zones in their own homes — explaining injunctions called Non-Molestation Orders (NMOs) can be used to mark out an area that abusive partners are not allowed to enter. Infringing an NMO, a court order which often restricts where abusers can go or who they can approach, can be punished by up to five years in jail.

Mark Groves, the centre’s chief executive, said: “The only sensible option for some victims will be to set up an official safe zone within their own home via a Non-Molestation Order where it would become a criminal offence for their partner to enter. We have helped victims to do this in the past.”

But Suzanne Jacob, chief executive of lead domestic abuse charity Safe Lives, fiercely criticised the advice and argued it places far too much onus on the victim.

She said: “If it is that unsafe, you want the abuser to be removed from home. The victim, whether adults or children, should be able to inhabit that space securely. There is no reason for them to have to limit themselves to one room or another.

“We need to focus on the person causing harm rather than limiting further and further what victims and survivors can do and constantly trying to push them into situations of fleeing. They need to be able to stay safely in their own home with their things around them.”

Ms Jacob argued the chancellor’s recent £750m pledge in emergency funding for charities across the UK was not sufficient. Charity sector bodies previously estimated charities will lose out on a minimum of £4.3bn of income over the 12 weeks — with some arguing the figure could be radically higher.

She called for clarification about how the money would be used to help the domestic abuse sector, which has already been ravaged by government cuts.

Ms Jacob said: “The worry is a very tiny amount will be going to lots of different places and there will be nowhere near enough to provide for life-saving domestic abuse services.”

Cuts have meant there is already a chronic shortage of bed spaces in refuges, with local authority spending on refuges cut from £31.2m in 2010 to £23.9m in 2017, forcing several to close their doors in recent years.

In England and Wales, two women every week are killed by a current or former partner.

Charlotte Kneer, chief executive of Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid refuge in Surrey, urged people to listen out for signs of domestic abuse during the pandemic.

Ms Kneer, a domestic abuse survivor whose violent partner was jailed for seven years in 2011, said: “If you hear a neighbour screaming, it’s tempting to want to stay out of their ‘private business’. However I would tell anyone that it is their responsibility to call the police.

“We have moved past the days where what happens behind closed doors is no-one else’s business. Also, if you have a loved one that you think may be going through it try and set up a code phrase that they can say in a normal telephone conversation or via text that lets you know you need to alert the police that they are in danger. This needs to be something really bland that isn’t going to alert the abuser.

“What we need is funding to keep services that were already stripped to the bone in operation but also a plan for increasing support for victims through outreach and refuge services.”

Mandu Reid, leader of Women’s Equality Party, is calling for Domestic Violence Protection Orders to be extended to cover the full length of the government’s lockdown and court fees to be waived to ensure police forces do not bear the costs, while Sadiq Khan has asked the home secretary to urgently launch a national working group that brings together police, service providers, funders and other government departments, to urgently introduce additional support for domestic abuse victims.

Writing in The Independent, the mayor of London said: “Ministers must put in place a coordinated response to ensure domestic abuse organisations receive the support they need to maintain services throughout this crisis, and that victims are reassured that fleeing abuse is an acceptable reason to be out of the home.”

The Labour politician also raised concerns about survivors of domestic abuse who have no recourse to public funds.

This comes campaigners recently told The Independent women who have insecure immigration status are at grave risk due to being barred from “safety and support”. Domestic abuse survivors who do not have access to public funds are refused help by the authorities, which means they are denied support to leave their partners and refused refuge space.

A government spokesperson said the announcement of funding by Rishi Sunak was "an important step" to supporting charities' vital work, adding: “If someone is in danger they should call the police and can disregard orders to stay at home if they need to seek immediate refuge.”

Anyone who requires help or support can contact the National Domestic Abuse Helpline which is open 24/7 365 days per year on 0808 2000 247 or via their website https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/