It shouldn’t have taken so long for abuse prevention to be part of coronavirus planning – but we are finally getting somewhere

Thankfully, it appears we are finally being proactive in protecting vulnerable partners and children, writes Jess Phillips

National figures show that under the current government, demand for women’s services has risen by 83 per cent while funding has fallen by 50 per cent (iStock)

For about three weeks now I have been bemoaning the lack of a joined-up, integrated coronavirus crisis strategy for domestic abuse and child abuse.

I cannot believe from the get-go the Cobra meetings deciding and being advised on the possible need for lockdown and isolation did not include leading thinkers and strategists on safety in people’s homes. Why on earth were the domestic abuse commissioner, the victims commissioner and the children’s commissioner, not core to much of this planning.

We are now 12 days into Covid-19 lockdown and weeks into the crisis and finally I think we may be getting somewhere with regards to, at the very least, making the case for the need for the housing, safety, health and welfare of people who are simply not safe at home.

Priti Patel, in a rare moment of visibility from the home secretary, stated that that victims of violence must not fear leaving their homes if they were not safe there. She also announced £1.6bn pounds of government funding that would be allocated to voluntary agencies through local authority grants to manage in the crisis.

You would be mistaken for thinking, because she made the two statements together, that the money was going to the support and protection or rehousing of victims of violence in their homes. It isn’t. It is the money for all voluntary agencies to do all things across the country.

There is absolutely nothing in the allocation of that money to local authorities that states that they have to spend even one penny piece on the provision of domestic abuse or protecting vulnerable children. I imagine the vast majority will be going, quite rightly, to the massive community efforts to distribute food and welfare to the vulnerable and isolated whose health may be affected.

We need more. There needs to a proper root and branch strategy from the government about those who are not safe at home. It’s not that complicated – here I will write it now: there needs to be specific targeted increases in accommodation through void properties and hotel accommodation where properties are not sufficient. Working with specialist local agencies to provide support which the government fund centrally for that specific purpose. It must be open to all victims who need support and not come with usual caveats about access to public funds.

Following this there needs to be a huge publicity campaign across the country that tells victims of abuse that if they are not safe, they should call the police who will come to their aid and there will be somewhere to go. Until we do the first bit, we cannot confidently make this claim. Remember, 60 per cent of women and their children who sought refuge before this crisis were turned away.

The police are currently seeing a drop in a number of their usual crime types by virtue of us all being at home, and can definitely turn their resources to this messaging and effort. It would be significantly more helpful than having a pop at people on social media and the current messaging. I have genuinely seen more said in the public domain scolding people who go out and buy sodding Easter eggs than I have about people abusing their families.

Perhaps this is the fault of a bored, overreactive mass on social media but the point stands. My local police force is looking to do a big publicity campaign in supermarkets and other places on this, but forgive me for thinking perhaps this should have been something that was thought about nationally.

But hey, let’s have some reasons to be cheerful: if voices – like mine and those of other MPs, people in councils and police forces and people working to protect women against violence – are being heard, we may actually be getting somewhere.

On the daily call that MPs can currently dial in to, which I must say is brilliantly chaired by Penny Mordaunt and a real resource for MPs in this time of distancing, I put to her that there needed finally to be a joined up approach and some thought over the need to include victims of violence in their homes. I am certain it is not falling on deaf ears, and perhaps in week three of isolation we will see some posters going up in the local Asda.

Maybe this could be the thing that we talked about instead of toilet roll and if someone was a sinner for buying a packet of mini eggs. Let’s let the vulnerable kids in our communities have both safe houses and an Easter egg.

Jess Phillips is Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley