Outbreak of coronavirus at Sheffield refuge

There are two refuges in the city with 36 flats and two crash pads for emergency referrals but they were full during lockdown as domestic abuse cases increased.

Julie O'Rourke, of Women's Aid, told a council meeting: "We had an outbreak of Covid at a refuge but managed to keep it quite contained.

"We had an increase in women phoning us, four or five women each day, asking about domestic abuse and saying partners had used Covid as a way of controlling them.

"We had a lack of women moving on and there was a bottleneck but hopefully that now is moving and we will have plenty of space for the next spike."

Council officer Alison Higgins said housing lists had been suspended nationally during lockdown which had added to the pressure.

She said: "It's up and running again now but it meant there was quite a lot of blockage in the system.

"When people were in the refuges it was harder to move them on, and therefore free up spaces for new people to go into the refuges.

"Fortunately, at the beginning of lockdown, we secured some government funding and we were able to use it to find extra accommodation which was sorely needed."

Sam Goulding, of the charity IDAS, added: "We see 110 referrals a week and received 148 referrals in one week during lockdown. There was also an increase in families members and friends asking for advice and support for their loved ones."

Roshni, a charity working with Pakistanti, Bangldeshi and Indian women, said it had seen a threefold increase in cases during lockdown and was supporting 40 to 50 women every week.

Shireen Reman of Roshni said: "We've seen an increase in domestic violence cases coming through and also had lots of counselling referrals but we don't have the capacity to take so many referrals on.

"We have been working right from the minute that we went into lockdown, we have stepped up and we're a small team so our workload has drastically increased. We feel overwhelmed at the moment."