Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Thousands of people experienced domestic abuse in Nottinghamshire during the pandemic as services saw an ‘unprecedented’ number of cases.
The figure comes as Nottinghamshire County Council is given £1.54m from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government to support survivors.
Between April 2020 to the end of December 2020 Nottinghamshire domestic abuse services supported more than 1,900 survivors, 99 per cent of these were women.
Nottinghamshire County Council reported in 2019 that 20,464 people in Nottinghamshire experienced domestic abuse in the previous 12 months.
Councillors at the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee approved a approve the three-year commissioning plan put forward by Nottinghamshire County Council on July 26.
Councillor Scott Carlton (Cons), Chairman of the meeting, said: “This funding will be used to improve the support available to survivors of domestic abuse, and their children to place them in safe accommodation.”
Rebecca Atchinson, Senior Public Health and Commissioning Manager, said: “The services have seen an unprecedented number of survivors accessing their support.
“They’ve also heard of some quite traumatic issues which have been happening in some people’s homes.
“We are aware that those services are challenged at the moment. They are working very hard to ensure that those services continue to meet the demand going forwards.
“I cannot assure you to say that services will be able to meet demand if it continues to rise at the rate it has been rising.”
A County Council representative said “The Council would be working with services to avoid this, working alongside domestic abuse services. Any survivor seeking support will receive the support he or she needs”.
