THE coronavirus pandemic has made life “particularly difficult and dangerous” for women and children experiencing domestic abuse, according to a new report.

The research from Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) found that the pandemic has resulted in “increased risks of harm” for them and made seeking help more difficult.

For women experiencing domestic abuse and still living with their abuser, lockdown meant spending extended periods of time confined at home with them and little opportunity to call supportive family, friends or organisations. Children were left without their usual safe spaces during school closures.

The new report, based on surveys of SWA’s 36-member service providers in June 2020, found the pandemic has had huge impacts on refuge accommodation, child contact and access to justice.

The charity is calling for “urgent action” to tackle the problems.

Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of SWA, said: “For women, children and young people experiencing domestic abuse, the pandemic has been particularly difficult and dangerous.

“Our 36 local Women’s Aid groups have responded with a degree of speed, dedication and innovation that is to be commended – especially given that they have done so in the face of difficulties that very often could have been avoided.

“As lockdown and other measures ease, we are expecting a substantial increase in demand for services. Urgent action is required by the Scottish Government, the judiciary and local authorities to remedy the problems we’ve set out in this new report and to facilitate effective service provision.

“Better planning is also needed so that, if lockdown measures continue to be required going forward, previous problems affecting domestic abuse service providers and survivors will not be repeated.”

The research found that pandemic-related safety measures have decreased emergency refuge spaces, and many local Women’s Aid groups report that the need for refuge is far outstripping capacity.

The report said that many local authorities and housing associations stopped allocating new homes during lockdown, often meaning that children and women in refuges had no place to move on to.

Abuses of child visitation and contact arrangements were seen across many regions, while handovers for child visits have also become increasingly dangerous for women and children experiencing domestic abuse.

The report said that changes to the criminal justice system, such as the increased use of undertakings and bail, have resulted in greater risks to women whose abusers might ordinarily have been remanded in custody.

It also warned that the backlog of cases resulting from courts closures will have an ongoing and debilitating effect on women’s access to justice.

The charity said that the early injection of funding from the Scottish Government helped Women’s Aid groups across the country to rapidly transform their services to continue providing support during the pandemic.

However, it said that inconsistent applications of Scottish Government guidance by different local authorities caused immense challenges for groups in obtaining key-worker status, personal protective equipment and accessing school spaces for the children of the all-female workforce.

It has made a number of recommendations, including calling for an urgent review of specialist refuge accommodation to ensure sufficient provision, action by schools to support children with experience of domestic abuse and the use of virtual courts to reduce waiting times.