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Feeling the strain: assaults on frontline staff

Inside Housing’s annual survey reveals that verbal and physical assaults against frontline housing staff are on the up. Nathaniel Barker assesses the impact

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“I felt like I was running for my life,” remembers Daniel (not his real name), casting his mind back to an attack from which he is still recovering.

One evening last year, the London-based night support worker had been visiting a tenant on a supported housing estate for people with mental health issues and histories of drug addiction. As he knocked at the tenant’s front door, waiting to be invited inside in order to assist him with his medication, Daniel was set upon from behind.


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“I was hit in the neck,” he says. “I fell, and when I stood up I had to run. There was no issue between me and the guy [a neighbour of the tenant he was visiting] that I was aware of. He was always around and sometimes I would help him with his medication.”

So forceful was the attack that Daniel later admitted himself to hospital because of a “serious pain” where he had been struck.

“It left me really scared of my job; I always feel that someone is waiting to hit me.”

Sadly, Daniel is not alone. Since 2009, Inside Housing has been tracking incidences of verbal and physical abuse experienced by frontline housing workers.

Through Freedom of Information requests to every local authority in the UK and to the 180 largest housing associations, a disturbing picture has emerged. A total of 321 organisations responded – 294 councils and 27 housing associations.

The data, which is of course not exhaustive, showed there were 3,566 assaults carried out against staff in 2016/17. That is about one every 35 working minutes. Of these incidents, 3,327 (93%) were verbal in nature and 239 were physical.

Examining figures for the 178 landlords which responded to our survey both this year and last shows a rise in the number of cases. Recorded assaults are up 14%, from 1,719 to 1,960. This change is chiefly due to a rise in verbal assaults – which leapt 18%. Recorded incidents of physical assaults for these providers decreased from 171 to 134, a drop of 22%.

Inside Housing also carried out an anonymous survey of frontline housing workers in order to go beyond the raw data and gauge experience on the frontline of housing services. The 293 respondents were quizzed – among other things – on their experiences of assaults, whether they feel more or less safe than previously, whether they feel the government’s welfare reforms have had an effect and whether they think their employers are doing enough to keep them safe. And, for the first time, we asked if being assaulted on the job is having an impact on housing workers’ mental health.

The incidents reported were varied and troubling, with 189 (65%) saying they were verbally assaulted in 2016/17. For some, this was an occasional occurrence, though several indicated they suffer abuse on a daily basis. Respondents recall racial abuse, being spat at, having furniture thrown at them, receiving death threats and being told they would be responsible for the assaulter’s suicide.

These kinds of incidents can have severe lasting psychological effects. Daniel is a seasoned housing worker, with nine years’ experience, but says he still experiences flashbacks to the attack. “It left me really scared of my job; I always feel that someone is waiting to hit me,” he says.

One housing officer we spoke to was so frightened of the tenant who abused her that she asked for absolutely no details of the incident to be reported, in case he was able to recognise her from the account. She still works on the estate where he lives and sees him around frequently, though the two no longer interact directly.

Shockingly, one in six (17%) frontline housing workers who responded to our anonymous survey has suffered lasting health impacts as a result of being assaulted by a tenant. Of these, 91% say the effects are mental health-oriented, with respondents mentioning symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, depression and even post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I do not believe anyone would have an idea of the situations we face all day unless you worked in the job,” says one housing management officer who works in Northern Ireland.

“There have been times after being verbally assaulted where I have thought to myself the job isn’t worth it, even though the majority of the time I enjoy working with the public.”

Another respondent, a housing manager in the East Midlands, says being kept hostage and physically assaulted by a tenant led to a breakdown – and that mental health issues have left him approximately £40,000 in debt.

John Gray, London housing association branch secretary at Unison, calls this trend “horrendous”. “It’s not surprising that when housing officers have years and years of continued low-level abuse, that is going to have an effect on their mental health,” he says. “Wouldn’t it on anybody?”

Growing concerns

A possible explanation for the overall rise in assaults could be changes to recording methods. Indeed, this was given as a reason by two housing associations we contacted that have experienced particularly significant rises in assault numbers.

Yet there appears to be more to the increase. Just four respondents to our survey (1.4%) say they feel safer doing their job in housing than a year ago. More than a third (34%) feel less safe, while 65% say they feel no difference. This represents a change from last year’s survey, when a lower proportion (28%) said they felt less safe and more said they felt the opposite (3%).

The reasons behind these increasing impressions of vulnerability are wide-ranging and complex. For some, the introduction of Universal Credit and the benefit cap have had an effect, with 46% of respondents saying welfare reform has heightened the risk of them being assaulted, and a further 33% suggesting it may have been influential.

“People are so frustrated with the system and see us as part of it. We are having to give bad news more often, which increases our risks,” says one housing officer from Wales, in a fairly typical response.

“As local government and third sector services shrink or disappear, housing staff are left trying to manage the problems of customers.”

Others cite the added responsibilities shouldered by housing providers for tenants because of cutbacks on other services.

“As local government and third sector services shrink or disappear, housing staff are left trying to manage the problems of customers,” says one respondent. Two more mention more contact with tenants suffering from mental health issues, and another believes reduced police resources mean housing officers are more likely to have to confront criminal activity and anti-social behaviour.

“Because other public services are stretched thinner and thinner, things will be passed to housing staff that might not normally be part of their role; things that they may not be equipped to deal with,” says Melanie Rees, head of policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing. “It is about making sure that they are adequately trained and skilled to deal with those things.”

Following his attack, Daniel was disappointed with his employer’s response. The tenant was evicted, but Daniel was left to deal with the police himself after reporting the incident. He eventually chose not to press charges having received no assurance from his housing association that he would be assisted with the legal process.

This is an extreme scenario, but he is not the only housing worker left feeling abandoned by his boss. According to our survey, 22% of those who reported assaults are unhappy with how their employer handled the situation. Some respondents say incidents are not followed up, while others mention a lack of support for workers who receive abuse. Several say they have no idea what happened after they made complaints.

“They just roll their eyes as if it’s the norm and we should put up with it,” says one homelessness and housing solutions officer in the North West of England, who had a drinks can thrown at her while pregnant.

Failure to investigate

That sentiment is echoed among many other frontline housing staff. Of those who did not report all assaults against them, an eyebrow-raising 19% say it would be a waste of time because nothing is ever done, while 54% say these incidents are just part of the job.

“We come across this all the time,” says Saskia Garner, personal safety policy officer at the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, who penned a report on worker safety in the housing sector last year. “We would always say that actually it is not acceptable to feel unsafe every day in your job and that you just have to manage. And from an employer’s point of view, it does not make sense to ignore these issues because it affects how effective your staff are and makes them more likely to move on.”

Mr Gray agrees, and says this feeling needs to be challenged. “It’s not part of the job. It happens, but if employers did their job properly it wouldn’t happen nearly as much. A lot of conflict is avoidable or can at least be managed if employers review their policies on this properly and have a robust response.”

“It is about making sure that they are adequately trained and skilled to deal with those things.”

Melanie Rees, head of policy, Chartered Institute of Housing

And Ms Rees adds: “This is never OK. The idea that it is just part of the job is something we really need to change, for employers and staff as well.”

Just over half (52%) of respondents say their employers are doing enough to protect them against further incidents. That leaves 20% who say they are not, and another 20% who say the response is only sufficient some of the time. With that in mind, perhaps the vigilant approach outlined by Mr Gray would be a good start to cutting down on assaults.

Paul Sultana, head of health and safety at WM Housing, certainly thinks so. He says that disregarding a minor verbal assault can be a “green light” for tenants to abuse other staff, possibly with more serious consequences.

In an attempt to reduce assaults, the organisation has begun to make sure it follows up on every reported incident, as well as introducing remote systems to make it easier for staff to log complaints. “We need to be firm and open and nip it in the bud,” adds Mr Sultana.

These sound like blindingly simple solutions to such a complex problem. But Mr Sultana admits his team “haven’t always had these processes in the past”, and our anonymous survey certainly suggests that’s true for other providers. While some of the factors behind assaults – cuts to services, welfare reforms – are out of the sector’s hands, an attitude change towards these incidents might be needed.

Surely few would disagree that frontline housing staff do vital work supporting some of the most vulnerable people in society. But the question remains: who is looking out for them?


“A man threatened to come over the top of the counter glass to ‘do me in’. He said: ‘I’m not afraid to go to jail again if I go mental’, and ‘I’ll cut your throat if you interfere with my property again’.”

Housing officer, Northern Ireland

“You fill in paperwork but nothing ever happens; verbal abuse is just part and parcel of the job.”

Housing officer, East of England

“I do believe there should be some sort of counselling or ‘time out’ zone needed, as sometimes you can be dealing with aggressive people for a few hours and it can have an impact on your mental health, depending on what was said. I have seen colleagues cry over abuse and there has been no time out or help offered to them.”

Housing officer, Northern Ireland

“Nothing was done by my employer. In fact the person responsible for the assault made a formal complaint about me and I was investigated.”

Housing officer, West Midlands

“No action ever gets taken against tenants. We just put up with it.”

Housing officer, North West of England

“I cannot shake the job at the end of the day and at weekends. I am regularly tearful and have recently suffered a panic attack.”

Housing officer, Wales

“We have no way of recording these situations and I feel body cameras would be very beneficial.”

Repairs and maintenance worker, West Midlands


 

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