Written evidence submitted by Guide Dogs for the Blind (COV0054)
Guide Dogs response
April 2020
Summary
About Guide Dogs
Guide Dogs provides life-changing services to support the independence of people with sight loss in the UK. Alongside our services, we campaign to remove barriers that prevent blind and partially sighted people living their lives. Current estimates suggest over two million people with sight loss are living in the UK of which around 350,000 are registered as blind or partially sighted.
Although we have had to pause the provision of some of our face-to-face services during the coronavirus outbreak, we have launched a Coronavirus Sight Loss Information Line, offering practical support in response to an influx of concerns raised by people with sight loss, their friends and their families.
Accessing food and essential goods during the coronavirus outbreak presents a unique series of challenges for people with sight loss. Without public transport or access to lifts or sighted guiding from friends or relatives, just getting to a supermarket can be difficult.
“I’m scared of going to the supermarket. I can’t do the two-metre distance and I have to pick up everything to find things I need. There are no buses to get there and I don’t feel comfortable walking through town.” Guide dog owner
People with sight loss often rely on a combination of touch and guiding from another person to navigate. They are also unlikely to be able to follow visual aids or altered shop layouts for social distancing. The availability of staff assistance in store has also been reduced due to staff workload and concerns about transmission. This makes maintaining a safe distance from other shoppers in busy supermarkets difficult, if not impossible.
Some blind and partially signed people have reported turned away from supermarkets, causing considerable distress:
“The whole situation has been like a bad dream, it’s bad enough trying cope with Covid-19 pandemic but having the additional stress of being denied access to shops or getting no support when shopping has turned it into a nightmare.
“Earlier this month I attempted to get some food shopping from a store in town, I had a list of items I needed but the security guard said they didn’t have the staff to help. Furthermore they said I also wasn’t allowed in with my guide dog Inca as they said I can’t socially distance. I explained that I live alone and have no one nearby to help but they still refused me entry.
“I then walked up to another well-known food retailer in Brookland Square. Again a security guard said sorry you can’t come in because you cannot social distance. Again I asked if someone could get my shopping but was refused.” – Guide dog owner
The challenges of shopping in supermarkets, even during hours set aside for vulnerable customers, means that access to online delivery slots is critical for people with sight loss to source food and essential goods. However, we have already many reports that people with sight loss are unable to access online shopping because they are not considered a priority group.
“It’s absolutely impossible to get an online delivery slot. Me and my husband are completely blind and rely on online shopping for our groceries. We need urgent action to allow blind people access to priority slots online. Priority hours in supermarkets don’t work for us at all.” Guide dog owner
In England, the government has created a register of clinically extremely vulnerable people who are advised to shield themselves by not leaving their home and minimise contact with other members of their household. This allows access to food packages from local authorities and other assistance, and has also been shared with supermarkets to help them identify customers who need priority access to deliveries.
We know that some people with sight loss had existing arrangements with supermarkets for deliveries which predated the coronavirus outbreak. However, when the government allowed supermarkets access to the register, many supermarkets limited access to delivery slots to these groups alone, excluding many people with sight loss.
While we welcome the government and the supermarket sector working together to make sure the most vulnerable can access food, we are concerned that the current approach does not cover all of those who need support. We recognise that supermarkets are overwhelmed by demand for online shopping that these should be prioritised according to need. Although people with sight loss without additional conditions have not been advised to shield, the risks and challenges they face shopping in person make access to supermarket deliveries vital to obtain food and essential goods.
Guide Dogs sent a joint letter in conjunction with other sight loss charities raising our concerns on 27 March. In late April we were invited to consult with Defra’s food vulnerability group to examine how to expand priority access to supermarket deliveries beyond the extremely vulnerable group. We welcome the creation of this group and we hope that work to identify customers in need of priority access can continue using existing data.
Recommendations:
We call on central and local government to urgently work with supermarkets to ensure that people with sight loss have priority access to deliveries of food and essential goods.