(COR0198)

Supplementary written evidence submitted by Imkaan (COR0198)

 

Impact of COVID 19 on Frontline Black and Minoritised Women and Girls Services

 

Research by Imkaan

March to September 2020

 

1. Context

 

At the start of lockdown Imkaan’s members transitioned their frontline services to an online environment and established COVID emergency refuge protocols. Imkaan commissioned research to document this process to help us understand the experiences of members and Black and minoritised women and girls using services.  We commissioned to better understand how frontline services for Black and minoritised women were coping with the COVID emergency. We also wished to document compound trauma from an intersectional perspective that is, the delivery of trauma-informed approaches in a transitioned working environment and the impact of cumulative trauma of racism on Black and minoritised staff and women and girls using services.

 

The first research was completed in July 2020 (Stage 1) and documented the first three months of lockdown and focused on the costs of transitioning services, demand and referral data and the establishment of safe pathway to support. The second research was completed in August 2020, approximately six months after lockdown to consider longer-term factors such as sustainability, staff coping and the impact of transitioned services on women and girls. The next research is due in June 2021.

 

2. Summary of Findings Stage 1 Research

 

 

3. Summary of Findings – Stage 2 Research

 

4. Referrals and Future Surges

 

 

5. Need and Demand

 

 

6. Changing Patterns of Abuse

 

 

7. Changes to Services

 

8. Issues Related to Digital and Alternative Working

 

9. Staffing

 

 

10. Racism

 

 

11. Recovery

 

12. Housing

 

 

 

 

13. Future Lockdown

 

14. Funding and Costing

 

 

 

January 2021