Hotel and hostel chains which offered the UK government thousands of rooms to ensure domestic abuse victims could flee violence during the coronavirus lockdown say their gesture has been snubbed.
The chains, which asked not to be named, wanted to help solve the absence of refuge places as domestic violence soars.
Jennifer Nadel, co-director of Compassion in Politics, described the government’s response as “foot-dragging at its most unnecessary, irresponsible and lethal”.
The offer from two hotel chains and a hostel with tens of thousands of rooms comes as the National Domestic Abuse Helpline reports a 25% increase in calls since the lockdown began.
Domestic abuse killings have trebled, with at least 16 suspected deaths compared with an average of five in the same period over the past decade.
Campaigners say a written offer of hotel rooms was made earlier this month.
On 9 April, the domestic abuse commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, and the victims commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Vera Baird, wrote to ministers stating: “We call on you to offer a hotel … free of charge, to women fleeing domestic abuse where they have been unable to access refuge.”
When the home secretary, Priti Patel, made an announcement on domestic violence last Saturday, she said: “Where a victim, and their children, do need to leave, we will ensure they have a safe place to go. That’s why we are looking at alternative accommodation to best support the work of refuges.”
The hotels and hostel have still not been contacted.
Sandra Horley, the chief executive of charity Refuge, said: “It is incredibly generous of hotel chains to offer their rooms but such an offer is not straightforward. Perpetrators have ingenious ways of tracking women down and it is essential that women have access to safe, secure, specialist refuge accommodation.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Our priority is to make sure refuges’ services stay open and are accessible. We are also looking carefully at all safe and appropriate accommodation options which could provide support.”
