By NELC issue redundancies to senior social support workers
North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC) have reportedly issued redundancies to senior social workers and officers who support the regions domestic abuse victims, as well as children under the care of the local authority.
This comes amid a spike in calls to domestic abuse helplines and reports to the Council during the coronavirus crisis.
But, the council claim that “everything should have been done” to ensure that the necessary roles remain.
The decision was make redundancies was made in a meeting of North East Lincolnshire Council’s appointments committee on Tuesday, May 12.
It is believed that four Conservative councillors on the committee voted in favour of the redundancies while the three councillors from the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrats, voted against it.
A council official said:
They said:
“I am horrified that these vital posts have been removed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“These officers did vital work protecting the most vulnerable, who will require even more help once this begins to lift.
“In North East Lincolnshire and across the country there has been a rise in domestic violence and abuse and to lose an officer whose role was focused on that is scandalous.”
Officers who have been made redundant are understood to include Paul Morris, advanced practitioner for violence against women and girls and Alison Dear, service manager for through care and the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH).
The redundancies come just weeks after Councillor Ian Lindley, the authority’s portfolio holder for children, education and young people, raised concerns about a rise in domestic abuse during lockdown. He said:
“One of the areas of concern – and it is an area of growing concern – is the psychological effects our families are facing in terms of the lockdown. It has been a significant period of lockdown and with the lockdown comes other challenges.
“We have financial worries, families clearly not being able to do what they normal do and not be able to earn what they normally earn. We have a disruption to routine.
“We have families living together on top of each other 24/7 and I think that is one of the most challenging aspects of this whole crisis that we face.
“Sadly as a result of that, we have seen an increase in domestic abuse, which was to be expected, we knew that was going to happen, because this is what happens when families are living in close quarters 24/7.
“As a side aspect of that, unfortunately we have seen mental health issues, resulting in an increase in suicides and attempted suicides, nationally and locally, and it is a major concern.”
The council said the move was made because the roles had been funded through external sources and this money was no longer available.
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