With more staff working from home during the pandemic, the need for employers to be aware of domestic abuse and provide practical and emotional support and signposting of specialist services has never been greater.
The office has traditionally offered an escape for some victims of domestic abuse, but lockdown has changed this. Domestic violence support charity Refuge reported a 700% increase in visits to its National Domestic Abuse Helpline website during the initial lockdown between April and June 2020.
The January publication of the Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Workplace Support for Victims of Domestic Abuse report aims to provide better guidance for employers who may be supporting the 2.3 million people who suffer domestic abuse each year, wherever they may be working.
The report follows a review of existing workplace support. It also aims to reduce the £14bn economic cost of domestic abuse, such as reduced productivity or lost output.
And it’s not just women who are suffering. A third of the 2.3 million victims are men.
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