Growing number of domestic violence victims now seeking help in UK

Calls to domestic violence helplines in the United Kingdom have risen sharply since novel coronavirus lockdown measures were put in place 12 months ago.

Refuge, a charity which provides support for women and children experiencing domestic violence, recorded more than 13,000 calls and messages to its specialist National Domestic Abuse Helpline services each month between April 2020 and February 2021.

That is up by an average 61 percent, compared to the period from January and March 2020, just before lockdown began.

The charity said the figures are a "worrying trend, particularly as being isolated with an abusive partner is likely to have made reaching out for support more challenging".

Refuge revealed 72 percent of those supported by the helpline were women experiencing violence and abuse.

Lisa King, Refuge's director of communications and external relations said: "For women and children experiencing domestic abuse, home is not a safe place. Lockdown measures, where women have been isolated and confined with their perpetrators more than ever before, have compounded their exposure to violence and abuse."

The charity said the calls were from women who were being terrorized in their own homes, those who were afraid to seek treatment for their injuries in case they overburden hospital staff, women whose court cases had been delayed, some making plans to flee the home, and others with no home to go to.

Nearly one in five of the women said their abusers had threatened to kill them.

Although women of all ages called Refuge, the charity said the largest number of callers were aged between 30 and 39.

In 2020, the helpline team made 4,481 referrals to secure refuges across the country, enabling women to flee abusive partners.

Refuge's digital support has also increased during the pandemic, with the charity's helpline web platform seeing a seven-fold increase between April 2020 and February 2021.

"In November we extended our live chat service hours as lockdown progressed, and in response to the growing numbers of women accessing this confidential 'silent' support," King said. "More than 5,200 'live chat' conversations have taken place since the service launched."

Around 37 percent of live chat users were women aged 16 to 25, and the service was also used by concerned friends, neighbors and family members worried about somebody experiencing domestic abuse.