UK has the highest death toll in Europe – Public Health is a matter of life and death

The United Kingdom has overtaken Italy with the highest official death toll from the coronavirus, Covid-19 in Europe. New figures released on Tuesday, 5th May 2020 show that this is the trend, we ask, what does this mean for London and Inner London Local Councils?

London is a vast geographical area and has a complex demography. The inner London boroughs are more diverse, in general and the outer London boroughs are more suburban.

The incidents of coronavirus in the capital have been measured by the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS reports that overall, London had 85.7 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 population, almost double the rate of the next worst-affected region which is the West Midlands at 43.2 deaths per 100,000.

Nick Stripe, head of health analysis and life events at the ONS, said: “By mid-April, the region with the highest proportion of deaths involving Covid-19 was London, with the virus being involved in more than 4 in 10 deaths since the start of March.”

The figures for the top ten London Boroughs are:

BoroughSMR
Newham144.3
Brent141.5
Hackney127.4
Tower Hamlets123
Haringey119
Harrow115
Southwark108
Lewisham106
Lambeth104
Ealing103

If we look even closer within each London borough, we can see the how each Super Output Area is affected. Super Output Areas are a small area statistical geography covering England and Wales. Each area has a similarly sized population and remains stable over time.

The following interactive map allows you to see the number of deaths in each area. You can zoom in and out or enter a post code.

Number of deaths involving COVID-19 in Middle Layer Super Output Areas:

The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is an overall measure of deprivation based on factors such as income, employment, health, education, crime, the living environment and access to housing within an area. [NB There are differences between England & Wales]

Age-standardised mortality rates, all deaths and deaths involving COVID-19, Index of Multiple Deprivation, England, deaths occurring between 1 March and 17 April 2020

Looking at deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19), the rate for the least deprived area was 25.3 deaths per 100,000 population and the rate in the most deprived area was 55.1 deaths per 100,000 population; this is 118% higher than the least deprived area.

In the least deprived area (decile 10), the age-standardised mortality rate for all deaths was 122.1 deaths per 100,000 population. In the most deprived area (decile one), the age-standardised mortality rate for all deaths was 88% higher than that of the least deprived, at 229.2 deaths per 100,000 population.

The bar chart shows how much higher each decile is compared with the least deprived decile for all deaths and deaths involving COVID-19.

For deciles 4 to 9, the percentage increase in age-standardised mortality rate of deaths involving COVID-19 is similar to that of overall deaths.

The rate of deaths involving COVID-19 is more than twice as high in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived

Local responses will involve contact tracing. This graphic from Public Health England gives a brief description of the process.

contact tracing is part of a public health approach

Professor Allyson Pollock of Public Health at Newcastle University has been campaigning to raise the profile of a more localised approach, in a letter she has said that a massive increase in testing and tracing should be the next phase, but decades of cuts and reorganisations have whittled away the necessary regional expertise.

In the letter the dynamic nature of the pandemic across the country is aptly described as “not homogenous. It is made up of hundreds, if not thousands, of outbreaks around the country, each at a different stage.”

Her approach champions “classic public health measures for controlling communicable diseases such as contact tracing and testing, case finding, isolation and quarantine. They require local teams on the ground, meticulously tracking cases and contacts to eliminate the reservoirs of infection. This approach is recommended by the WHO at all stages of the epidemic.”

The history of public health is important including the recent changes in the Health & Social Care Act 2012. This abolished local area health bodies, created Public Health England to fulfil the Government’s duty to protect the public from disease and charged local authorities with improving public health.

As public health returned to local government, with a sleight of hand, the Government introduced the current programme of public health funding cuts. In 2019/20, the London’s share of the Public Health Grant had fallen to £630 million, representing a per head funding reduction from £80.75 in 2015 to £68.61 in 2019, a fall of 15% and the biggest regional reduction in England.

“Investing in public health is also hard for governments because the benefits accrue to their successors and there is little to show for spending at the end of the five-year election cycle.”

“Cutting public health funding would be an act of self-mutilation. If controlling spiralling demand is the priority, for goodness sake don’t cut public health.”

Luke Allen
Researcher, Global Health Policy, University of Oxford in the conversation

A localised response requires political will, expertise and attention to detail.

Public Health funding and status needs to be revitalised and restored. It is a matter of life and death.

Lewisham’s COVID-19 Transport Consultation

Lewisham Council have launched a public consultation on its COVID-19 Transport plans saying:

“The London Borough of Lewisham is taking emergency action to help the public safely make the essential trips they need to on foot or by bicycle. Enabling people to keep two metres apart will help protect the health and safety of the public and minimise pressure on the NHS.

Tell us your ideas to help us create better spaces for walking and cycling in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

You can view the proposals and make a response using the map at the website here

Lewisham Council want to know where pedestrians and cyclists need more space

According to new analysis by the Bartlett School of Architecture, two thirds of pavements in London are not wide enough for people to observe the Government’s advice to stay two metres apart.

A new research group involving Bartlett researchers, have analysed every street in Greater London and found that only 36% of pavements were at least three metres wide – the minimum requirement for members of the public to follow social distancing rules.

While some may opt to walk in the road, this is not possible for people with pushchairs or with mobility impairments. Our research shows that there is an urgent need to reallocate street space in London so everyone can use streets safely. 

– Dr Ashley Dhanani, _Streets researcher and Research Associate at The Bartlett School of Architecture’s Space Syntax Laboratory 

Their new map can be viewed here

A Hi-Res version is here

Lewisham has only 36% of streets with 6 metres or more, of non road space according to the academics this is the amount of space needed for social distancing. This places Lewisham 19th out of 33 London Local Authorities.

Experts have analysed London streets and ranked boroughs

‘Stop the baseline’ tests at 4 years old

The Department for Education plans to press ahead spending £10 million rolling out exams for every four-year-old entering school. Overwhelmingly the evidence, and consensus from experts around the world, says these kinds of tests on young children are both pointless and damaging.

If so-called Baseline Assessment goes ahead in September 2020, every four-year-old will be tested in their first six weeks in school, using a 20-minute one-to-one test. The results will inevitably be unreliable, as two previous expensive and abandoned trials proved. At four years old children are just too young for this kind of high-stakes testing.

Campaigners, Trade Unionists, parents and teachers are in fierce opposition to the move.

Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary NEU explains why four year old testing should be scrapped.

Cllr Alan Hall has signed a letter to Nick Gibb, School’s Minister, saying: “When children are coming back unsettled into new schools, we will be failing in our duty of care if we begin testing them at this time. Research has shown that the test results are unreliable and at four years old, children are just too young for this kind of high-stakes testing.”

The full text of the letter is here:

Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools Standards

We oppose your plans to spend £10 million rolling out Baseline Assessment for four-year-olds entering school. Overwhelmingly the evidence, and consensus from experts around the world, says these kinds of tests on young children are both pointless and damaging.

Successive governments have tried to establish baseline testing, but time and again they have failed.

We know that assessment of children’s learning is essential to good teaching and to helpful conversations between teachers and parents. There are better alternatives for ensuring the quality of schools without subjecting young children to testing.

Testing such young children is fraught with problems. It cannot provide a valid account of their learning, because they will not be able to show their true abilities in a test taken out of the context of familiar relationships and practical experiences.

There is no evidence that early testing can reliably predict children’s later achievements. Developmental psychologists have shown that children’s well-being, confidence and self-regulation are central to their future learning, but these cannot be tested by baseline.

Children will suffer through being labelled at a young age, particularly disadvantaging the most vulnerable children – those with special needs, those suffering the effects of poverty, the summer-born, and those whose first language is not English. The tests risk children’s well-being and confidence by interrupting the crucial early period when they are forming relationships and settling into school.

And many schools will ‘teach to the test’, so that early years education will become more narrow and formal. This is not good for children. Children deserve an education that places them at the centre. Children are more than a score.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Alan Hall

Please sign the petition here

COVID-19 Support for Schools needed now

The National Education Union has asked local councillors to sign a letter about the COVID-19 measures in schools to the Secretary of State for Education.

Cllr Alan Hall has signed this letter, saying: “I would like an assurance that families eligible for free school meals (FSM) will be given food vouchers during summer holidays and that the Government will work with local authorities to protect vulnerable children at this time. Schools should be reopened only when it is safe to do so, for both staff and students.”

He went on to say: “I am supporting calls from the teaching profession that Local authorities – including Lewisham Council – be given a role in coordinating with schools, trade unions and the DfE on a safe end to school closures.”

Cllr Alan Hall supports the NEU and their five tests need to be met before schools re-open

The full text of the letter is here:

Dear Rt Hon Gavin Williamson CBE MP,

As local councillors, we are writing to raise concerns in relation to current school closures.

The first issue is our concern about the impact school closures are having on disadvantaged students and their families

Students eligible for free school meals (FSM) have had mixed experiences when applying for the Government’s voucher scheme, with some unable to access vouchers to which they are entitled. We would like your assurances that all families with children eligible for FSM will receive vouchers for the full period of school closure, including school holidays. This may need to be in retrospect for families who have not yet been able to access their vouchers.

We would ask that the Department for Education (DfE) continues to work with local authorities who are at the forefront of supporting families facing unprecedented food insecurity in the current climate.

As you will know, holiday hunger is an issue for many families and we would like your assurances that families eligible for FSM will be given food vouchers to sustain them during the summer holidays. We believe that this should become a permanent fixture within our school system, so no child need go hungry during the school holidays again.

We also have concerns about support for vulnerable children and the increased calls to domestic violence helplines nationally. We would ask that the Government continue to work with local authorities and schools to ensure vulnerable children do not ‘slip through the net’ and the necessary financial support is available to councils to support families fleeing domestic violence.

Finally, we are concerned by the current speculation on the end to school closures. We find current speculation unhelpful but would like to support the calls from the teaching profession that schools only be reopened when it is safe to do so, for both teachers and students.

We also ask that local authorities be given a role in coordinating with schools, trade unions and the DfE on a safe end to school closures.

We hope that the Government will continue to collaborate closely with local councils to support families and schools as we weather the current crisis and its aftermath. This will require an end to austerity and a new, long-term, funding settlement for local authorities and schools, to ensure they are best equipped going forward.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Alan Hall

Trade Unionists stand together

Highest covid death rates – Lewisham in top ten

New figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that London Boroughs have the highest COVID-19 mortality rates in the country.

London has the highest COVID-19 deaths

The ONS have produced an interactive map. This shows age-standardised mortality rates for all causes and deaths involving COVID-19 in local authorities in England and Wales, deaths occurring between 1 March and 17 April 2020.

Standard Mortality Rates are used to make ‘like for like’ fair comparisons between boroughs, regardless of the actual age of their residents. This method is recognised by the World Health Organisation. It is measured as a ratio – per 100,000 of the population. Full details are here

Ranking the London Boroughs by Standard Mortality Rates (SMR) produces this table of the ten highest COVID-19 deaths in the country:

BoroughSMR
Newham144.3
Brent141.5
Hackney127.4
Tower Hamlets123
Haringey119
Harrow115
Southwark108
Lewisham106
Lambeth104
Ealing103

The ONS reports that overall, London had 85.7 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 population, almost double the rate of the next worst-affected region which is the West Midlands at 43.2 deaths per 100,000.

Nick Stripe, head of health analysis and life events at the ONS, said: “By mid-April, the region with the highest proportion of deaths involving Covid-19 was London, with the virus being involved in more than 4 in 10 deaths since the start of March.”

Back in 2015, Cllr Alan Hall described the cuts to public health as a “a cruel con-trick that will backfire on all of society – This damages not only the poorest communities but it damages all of us that use the NHS – it’s cutting to the bone.”

A casual glance at the table shows that the most diverse boroughs are generally higher up the table.

As The Guardian reported that the NHS looks to take BAME staff off the frontline for their safety revealing that one in five of NHS staff in England are from a BAME background, as are about half of all doctors in London. Surely, social care workers and other Council staff should be risk assessed as well?

Cllr Alan Hall asks the question – should Councils do the same?

In Lewisham, the lack of PPE has been raised. Cllr Alan Hall wrote to the local Director of Public Health to ask about the supply to social care workers.

A dispute erupted between a private contractor and hospital cleaners at Lewisham Hospital. It should be remembered that cleaners and porters are part of the infection control regime in an acute hospital. The Government issued a Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance which states that “infection prevention” should be interpreted as including cleanliness.

The Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign are making six demands to the Government and collecting signatures for a petition, to ‘turn claps into action’ see:

Sign the petition supported by the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign here:

International Workers’ Memorial Day – Lewisham

On 28th April, all around the world the trade union movement comes together and marks International Workers’ Memorial Day.

This is the time to remember those who have lost their lives at work, or from work-related injury and diseases. To renew our efforts to ‘fight for the living’ and demand safer working conditions.

Workers Memorial Day is commemorated throughout the world and is officially recognised by the UK Government. We remember those we have lost and we organise in their memory.

This year, the theme is the Coronavirus. There is a pandemic and the Trade Union Congress has said that tens of thousands of workers worldwide have died. More have fallen ill or continue to go to work risking their lives. Many workers are still attending work ill-equipped and without necessary safety measures in place.

We could not have a starker reminder of the important role of trade union health and safety reps in saving and protecting workers’ lives, than the current crisis we are living through.

In Lewisham, we are no exception. The Lewisham Trades Council – the local TUC – has held a socially distanced show of support for all those affected.

Firefighters showed their respect outside fire stations.

The London Ambulance Service observed the 11am mark of respect at their HQ and across the capital.

Bus workers from New Cross Bus Garage released a short film. The film which starts with a poem by Carolyn Pelling, a New Cross Bus Driver. 

I wake to my alarm to start a new day
I shower and dress and set out on my way
I make a coffee and fill my flask
Then leave the house not forgetting my mask
I arrive at work my day is the same
Driving a bus via a London bus lane
Keyworkers to work , they rely on us
So that’s why we drive our red London bus
Drivers have died due to Covid 19
A space on the rota where once they have been
So on this day at 11 a.m. We fall silent and remember them
The drivers of New Cross Bus Garage pay tribute to and celebrate all the extraordinary dedicated workers.

Credits: Camera: Damian Daniel Edit: Matt Robinson Cat & Owl Films www.catandowlfilms.co.uk Narration: Alexa Bauer Music: Candy by Cameo

As the Lewisham Trades Council assembled outside Lewisham Hospital, a cleaner from the same Trust was in a disciplinary hearing with their GMB union representative, Helen O’Connor over a lack of PPE.

The cleaner who works near the entrance of the Queen Elizabeth’s hospital, in Woolwich told The London Economic he wasn’t entitled to wear a face mask, despite “people walking in and out coughing and sneezing” near him. The 57-year-old said he requested a mask as he lives with his brother who is self-isolating as he has two serious lung conditions.

The President of the GMB and Lewisham resident, Barbara Plant issued a statement saying: “Tuesday 28th April is International Workers Memorial Day, when every year members of trade unions all around the world organise events to remember those who have lost their lives, whether it be gathering for speeches, lighting candles, planting memorial trees or taking part in a minutes’ silence.

This gives us the opportunity to reflect on the many people who are killed, seriously injured or made ill while simply doing their jobs.

Sadly this year many of our colleagues, friends and family have become ill or tragically died from Covid-19 as they bravely kept going to work during the pandemic to ensure we have food and essential deliveries, we’re cared for, our children are educated and people who need to get to and from work can do during this time.”

We will remember the dead and fight for the living.

International Workers’ Memorial Day at Lewisham Hospital

Time to demand a wholly public NHS and to create a public National Care Service

Dr Tony O’Sullivan, a former consultant community paeditrician at Lewisham Hospital and Co-Chair of Keep Our NHS Public has released a video explaining why the herd immunity strategy was dangerous, the need for proper personal, protective equipment known as PPE for care workers, teachers, transport staff as well as NHS employees. He argues for serious policy changes.

Dr Tony O’Sullivan, former paediatrician at Lewisham Hospital and Chair, Keep Our NHS Public explains why policy needs to change now.

At the start, Dr O’Sullivan quotes Richard Horton, the editor of medical journal The Lancet when he says: “Coronavirus is the greatest global science policy failure in a generation. Austerity blunted the ambition and commitment of government to protect its people. The political objective was to diminish the size and role of the state. The result was to leave the country fatally weakened.”

Further question raised by Richard Horton, editor, The Lancet.

The years of austerity following the financial crash in 2008, have “undermined the ability of the NHS to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Specifically, the ideology of the free market, the ‘decimation’ of social care, ‘cruelty’ of universal credit and the ‘vicious hostel environment that has ended universal access’ to the NHS “endanger our entire population facing this national crisis” says Dr O’Sullivan.

Dr O’Sullivan explains and discusses herd immunity. A common implication of the term is that the risk of infection among susceptible individuals in a population is reduced by the presence and proximity of immune individuals – this is sometimes referred to as “indirect protection” or a “herd effect”. Immunity is often given by a vaccine or recovery from the infection itself.

In a quick calculation, Dr O’Sullivan reveals that 400,000 deaths in theory would result in a herd immunity policy that is thought to have been pursued by the Government in the early days of the pandemic:

“Some-one thought that was a price worth paying in order to keep the economy open” he says.

Dr Tony O’Sullivan supports and encourages concerned citizens to take action by signing a petition supported by Keep Our NHS Public and the Socialist Health Association.

“That’s why we’re calling on the UK Government and devolved governments to urgently take the following measures to protect NHS workers and the general public:

  1. COVID-19 testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) must be available for all NHS and social care staff now
  2. Those relying on social care (or ‘Direct Payments’) must be given immediate support if carers go sick 
  3. NHS support staff (including those outsourced) must receive at least living wage, paid sick leave for illness or self-isolation and an increase in statutory sick pay 
  4. Bring private health resources into public service without compensation to fight COVID-19 and aid NHS response 
  5. Make all information that the Government is basing its strategy on wholly available for public scrutiny
  6. An immediate end to legislation enforcing eligibility checks and charging in the NHS, including those related to residency status or national origin, allowing all patients to use the NHS without fear.”
To sign the petition follow the link here

Councillor Alan Hall agrees that we need to fund the NHS fully. We need to fund and fully integrate, in the public service, the NHS and social care. The links have never been clearer. We need to fund public health properly. The savage cuts continue and it’s time to stop this.

Dr O’Sullivan concludes with this message:

“Coronavirus is a tragedy. The response is a political scandal. But out of this, we need to seize the opportunity to learn from these mistakes and call on the public to demand a return to a wholly public National Health Service and to create a wholly public National Care Service.”

Pay and Protect Care Workers Now

Councillor Alan Hall has joined campaigners from Citizen’s UK calling for a real living wage for care workers. In London, the Living Wage is £10.75 per hour. This is calculated to include higher housing, childcare and transport costs in the capital.

Not only that, the current public health emergency – covid-19 – has raised the need for World Health Organisation recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) for all care workers.

“For years now care workers in this country have been given the short-straw. I’m glad the Government has finally started to recognise the immense contribution care workers make, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis. 

But I’m sure you’ll agree, care workers deserve much more than a badge right now. ” – Bob Padron, Managing Director of Penrose Care, Living Wage Employer since 2012

Lewisham Council promotes the London Living Wage and leads on public health in the borough. It should be at the cutting edge of this campaign.

The full text of the letter to Helen Whately MP – the Minister of State with responsibility for Care is here:

Dear Helen Whately, MP,

The welfare of our care workers

I am writing to you regarding the plight of care workers. For too long they’ve been overlooked and forgotten and now the COVID19 crisis has reminded everyone of the vital work they do.

I know that you, like me, will be overwhelmed with pride in the way our NHS and social care workers have responded. As you clap for carers, I hope in your role as Minister of State for Care you can help right this historic wrong and ensure our care workers and care providers get a financial settlement from government that ensures they can pay the real living wage.

As thousands of workers continue to put their lives in danger, every care worker should receive a real living wage, now and forever.

The real living wage is £10.75 per hour in London and £9.30 in the rest of the UK.

Not only this, please will you to ask the Government to step in and source and provide World Health Organisation recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) for all care workers? They need this.

I believe this issue is now a moral one as well as a public health priority, we must care for those who are putting themselves at great risk to care for the most vulnerable in our society.

Please take urgent action now.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Alan Hall

To add your name and join this Citizen’s UK campaign, follow the link

‘Open schools when it is safe’ say campaigners

In the light of speculation on the re-opening of schools and colleges, the joint General Secretaries of the National Education Union have called on Boris Johnson as Prime Minister for clarity on how the Government will make such a decision.

Speculation grows about the re-opening of schools and colleges – a call for parents to support publishing plans has been made

Councillor Alan Hall has added his name to a letter to the Prime Minister supporting students, parents, teachers and the public call for publishing the plans before opening schools and colleges, the full text of the letter is here:

To The Prime Minister:

We, the undersigned, oppose any re-opening of schools before it is safe to do so. As a matter of urgency and certainly well before any proposal to re-open schools is published, please can you share with teachers and parents:

  • Your modelling of the increased number of cases and mortalities amongst children, their parents, carers and extended families, and their teachers and support staff as a result of the re-opening of schools.
  • Whether such modelling is based on some notion that social distancing could be implemented in schools (we ask this because many teachers think this would be a foolhardy assumption)?
  • Would your modelling be based on concrete plans to have regular testing of children and staff, availability of appropriate PPE and enhanced levels of cleaning – with all of which we are currently experiencing severe difficulties?
  • Whether your modelling would include plans for children and staff in vulnerable health categories, or living with people in vulnerable health categories not to be in school or college?
  • Your latest evidence on which people are most vulnerable to permanent consequences or death from the virus, for example the evidence of the impact on those who live in crowded accommodation, those with different comorbidities, those from different ethnic groups and of different ages and both sexes.
  • Are you developing plans for extensive testing, contact tracing and quarantine in society as a whole?
  • Teachers see that countries successfully implementing such strategies have many fewer cases and many many fewer mortalities than we do in the UK. Would you intend these plans be in place well before schools are re-opened, which seems essential to us?
  • If you are not developing such plans what is your overall approach and is it dependent on an assumption that those who have had the virus are then immune?
NEU has launched a petition to get the plans published

Domestic Violence surge

As predicted by the United Nations, the rates of domestic violence have surged with the coronavirus lockdown measures.

The New York Times reports that “there was every reason to believe that the restrictions imposed to keep the virus from spreading would have such an effect,” according to Marianne Hester, a Bristol University sociologist who studies abusive relationships.”

It goes on to say: “hotlines are lighting up with abuse reports, leaving governments trying to address a crisis that experts say they should have seen coming.”

In London, the Victims’ Commissioner has tweeted:

Solace Women’s Aid and the Public Interest Law Centre have written an urgent letter to Robert Jenrick MP, the Secretary of State for Communities, Housing & Local Government calling for “urgent measures…to ensure that those who are at risk of domestic abuse are properly protected and supported during the current outbreak of Covid-19. It is widely acknowledged that during this time of nationwide lockdown, domestic abuse has, and will, increase. We are deeply concerned as to the absence of a robust response from the UK Government regarding this issue.”

The letter has been signed by Trade Unionists and over 15 organisations working in the field. Their key demands include:

  1. Immediately provide a separate emergency fund to Local Authorities to ensure they are able to adequately house survivors of domestic abuse in hotels or other appropriate locations, as has been allocated for rough sleepers. Any such funds must be accessible and appropriate to meet the needs of the diverse range of women fleeing abuse. This demand is in addition to the need for the Government to deliver emergency funding to refuges and guarantee their sustainable long-term funding future
  2. Introduce an urgent statutory instrument to amend the Housing Act 1996 to include within the ‘categories of person in priority need’ those who have had to leave accommodation because of violence or threats of violence from another person, without having to also satisfy the vulnerability criteria and temporarily suspend the eligibility criteria to include those with no recourse to public funds
  3. Introduce a safe system of coordination, developed in conjunction with specialist VAWG providers and with Local Authorities, to allocate hotel spaces alongside specialist support to those deemed in priority need as a result of domestic abuse
  4. Publish clear information for domestic abuse survivors (in the form of targeted adverts on television and social media) to ensure the above is brought to their attention. This communication must be accessible to all communities, including in different languages
  5. Publish guidance for Local Authorities on any new measures and, vitally, on the relaxation of the Government’s guidance on ‘Staying at home and away from others (social distancing)’ to disapply it in cases of domestic abuse
  6. Provide training materials to all Local Authorities to ensure they adequately train their staff on any new policy, procedure and/or guidance
  7. The above actions to be made both accessible and exercisable to all women regardless of their immigration status. In terms of wider concerns relating to No Recourse to Public Funds, we would endorse wider demands made by The Joint Council of the Welfare of
    Immigrants and Project 17, Migrant’s Right Network and Public Interest Law Centre.

The End Violence Against Women Coalition has been briefing saying that predictions on the likelihood of increased domestic abuse, sexual violence, assaults on girls, online abuse and the invisibility of many women and girls during the crisis.

EVAWC calls for abuse experts to feed into the Government’s COBRA planning immediately, emergency funding for the charities which protect and support victims, public awareness campaigns aimed at potential perpetrators and at neighbours/family/friends rather than solely aimed at victims and the abolition of the “no recourse to public funds” rules which stop migrant women accessing refuges.

End Violence Against Women Coalition Director, Sarah Green said:

“We must not get to the end of this public health emergency and look back on it as a period when a ‘secondary’ predictable disaster was allowed to happen.”

Cllr Alan Hall says: “Hotels to be used to take the overspill from refuges. Local Authorities could open up ‘empty properties’ to be used to accommodate those fleeing.“

Lewisham Council lists domestic abuse services on its website here

The National Domestic Abuse hotline has seen a 25% increase in calls & online requests for help in past week

During the lockdown there’s also been a daily rise in people going on the helpline website & last wk that figure was up by 150%

The helpline is open 24/7

If you’re in Lewisham, you can call the Athena Service on 0800 112 4052 or email lewishamvawg@refuge.org.uk or visit https://www.refuge.org.uk/our-work/our-services/one-stop-shop-services/athena/