Domestic abuse in Liverpool is a “ticking time bomb”, experts and frontline workers have warned.
With referrals coming “thick and fast”, the pandemic threatens to cast a long shadow over many households across Merseyside.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, incidents of domestic abuse have spiked with many people confined to their homes, trapped with perpetrators of abuse.
Leading Merseyside domestic abuse charities like Merseyside Domestic Violence Service and Liverpool Domestic Abuse Service have spoken to the ECHO about what they’ve seen.
Central funding for both charities runs until March and both are alarmed about what they would do afterwards, as they call for better, longer term support from the government.
Jacqui Nasuh, the CEO and founder of Merseyside Domestic Abuse Service said: "The situation in Liverpool was critical already and lockdown has made it worse.
“We’ve never seen anything like it."
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Caroline Grant, Director of Policy and Development at Liverpool Domestic Abuse Service echoed those worrying sentiments.
She said that from March to September 2020, her charity had as many referrals as they had had the entire previous year.
She added: “Our waiting list are treble what they’ve been."
When the first lockdown began the number of referrals dropped as people were trapped in their homes, unable to seek help.
Once it ended, Merseyside Domestic Abuse Service experienced a massive surge in referrals, and had to bring in new staff.
Both charities have seen how the pandemic has exacerbated the issue of domestic abuse and put more people in harm’s way, giving abusers more control.
Jacqui had seen new instances of domestic abuse that had never happened before:
She said: “We took calls from children and young people, from the neighbours they ran to to help, because children were at home during the day when violence was taking place.
“I’ve never received calls like that before. Children and young people were reaching out, that was heartbreaking. They were witnessing violence in their own home."
This isn’t the only first that the pandemic has brought.
Economic issues have long exacerbated tensions within households and led to abuse.
But for the first time Jacqui’s seen families in Liverpool relying on student maintenance loans.
She said: “It’s causing conflicts. You’ve got these people locked down with each other and it’s causing fights."
As well as this, Jacqui said there’s been a significant rise in child to parent violence during lockdown.
She added: “We’re going to hit a crisis point, where ordinary families who are not normally in dispute, will do so. It’s causing great conflict.
“It’s a ticking time bomb, no one realises the impact. We’re going to be hit with issues, we’re already seeing it now."
Another issue lockdown has exacerbated is for domestic abuse survivors.
Liverpool Domestic Abuse Service has found that historical survivors of domestic abuse seeking support had increased by 172%.
Caroline said: “This is significant because the impact of domestic abuse on long term mental health is often under reported so provisions and support is never prioritised.
“The lockdown experiences meant a lot of our survivors are becoming retraumatised by current events.
“All too often the media and government responses forget what goes on once the ambulance, police and courts have gone.
“You’ve still got a survivor that’s left there and has got to pick up the pieces of their lives,” She adds, “We ask: how do we build that person up?”
Trapped in the house with perpetrators of domestic abuse, so many mainly women’s lives are being upended.
One woman had been beaten by her partner, and due to the bruises couldn’t appear on a webinar for work, so she began to worry she’d lose her job.
She refused to report her partner because they’d have nowhere to go - a common issue, Jacqui says.
They’ve seen growing issues within Merseyside’s BAME community but despite this, a drop in calls from members of those communities.
Now, as well as coping with the ongoing crisis, Jacqui is worried about the “aftermath” of the pandemic, and the long shadow it could cast over so many households.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Critchley called domestic abuse an “abhorrent and under-reported crime.”
He said: “This year particularly has been challenging for everyone, but for victims of domestic abuse who are suffering from continued cruelty and violence it must be intolerable.”
As well as ringing 999, those who need help can use the ‘Ask for Ani’ scheme at pharmacies including Boots.
He added: “Domestic abuse is a complex issue and can take many forms including psychological, financial, sexual, emotional and physical.
“Every domestic incident is unique and the background to each one can be very complex, it is not just people who are married/in a relationship, domestic abuse can be a child on a parent and vice versa and we don’t deal solely with female victims.”
Caroline pointed out how lockdown has been tough for everyone, but for so many suffering domestic abuse, they’ve lived their lives in lockdown, had their every moment controlled as they lived under fear.
The pandemic has sharpened and intensified this for so many people.
