Investment theme: Moving on from abuse
Purpose:
To contribute to taxi fares for women that require public transport to get to a supermarket more safely for the next 4 weeks
Year of grant: 16/4/2020
FR Number: FR-0052846
Amount awarded: £1400
Location: livingston
Full description
We are seeking a contribution of 5k towards additional transport costs for clients as a result of COVID -19.
Our client group already have significant financial challenges due to their experiences of domestic abuse, many having fled and living in temporary accommodation (aswell as those accommodated by ourselves) and also for clients who are still living in an abusive situation where financial control and abuse is part of the package of co-ercive control and abuse that they are facing. The majority of women we support do not have access to their own transport so are heavily reliant on public transport to obtain essential provisions including food, medication and provisions for their accompanying children. In addition, around 25% of women we support have child contact arrangements to continue to facilitate which need to be continued even within the restrictions of COVID 19. This client group already have concerns for their safety and now due to COVID 19 they have additional concerns as to if they become unwell that they will not be able to continue to care for their children so seek to minimise the time they are outwith the household for any reason atall. COVID 19 now necessitates the use of private cabs for our clients to meet their basic needs. Whilst women are encouraged to use the on-line shopping provisions for food, there is a significant demand on this service across all the usual stores and a number of our clients are also not IT literate, we are also supporting a number of clients who are social work funded clients (and have applied to the home office as destitute due to domestic abuse) and have no access to any online banking provisions. We are currently supporting 22 women and 17 children by offering weekly casework support sessions (albeit remote due to COVID 19), these are women and children both within our accommodation and those who have been decanted into alternative accommodation due to COVID 19, alongside those who are still being supported as part of a resettlement programme having now secured permanent accommodation due to COVID19. In addition, we have a caseload of outreach clients who remain in contact with us for advice and support due to still living in the abusive situation. At the moment we are supporting 13 additional women in this capacity. We have also received information from the local authority and local housing associations that all permanent housing will be suspended during lockdown so no women will move on from our caseload during this time which would also be unprecedented were we not in a COVID-19 situation.
