FOR many of us, family life has changed significantly during lockdown periods. Child care arrangements had to change as grandparents were kept at bay, many parents were working from home and home-schooling, whilst trying to keep teenagers with incessant wanderlust locked behind closed doors.

The low level of tension in many households caused by the restrictions – who can and cannot attend weddings and funerals, periods of self-isolation, conflict between those who break the rules and those who don’t – are tricky enough in any family, but imagine how much harder that will have been for those living with controlling or abusive partners.

For them, lockdown has been a never-ending prison from which there appeared to be no escape. The egg-shell treading, the knowledge that even a slight look askance could elicit a tide of rage or violence, the persistent micro-management from clothes to how many glasses of wine have been taken and the complete loss of self, must have made lockdown utter hell for some.

Calls to domestic abuse helplines and to children’s charities have increased during lockdown and, quite rightly a light was quickly shone on the so-called “Shadow Pandemic” – the plight of those who overnight found themselves trapped indoors with an abusive partner.

In Scotland, police figures for the second quarter of 2020 showed a 7.6% rise in recorded incidences of domestic abuse compared to the same period in 2019. We’ve all been indoors much more to hear neighbouring partners screaming at one another and children crying softly in the background.

For most, a gentle ‘are you okay?’ from us the next day is enough to confirm that it was a once-in-a-blue-moon row, but at other times the shame of admitting the situation, or the fear of opening a can of worms that can’t be closed or the coming to terms with the fact someone you love can do this to you, is just too much to bear.

In Scotland there was speedy legislation – the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act was introduced in October 2020 and became law in May 2021. This created new types of protection notices that offered immediate protection from domestic abuse, whereby a suspected abuser could be removed from the victim's home and banned from re-entering for two months.

The new act also added a reason for ending a secure tenancy when a tenant had been abusive to their partner or ex-partner, allowing the abused person to continue living in the house. There have been online, print and TV campaigns advising victims of help that is available to them.

But, with the the easing of restrictions we should not automatically assume that things will be better for domestic abuse victims. According to the Social Care Institute for Excellence: “During lockdowns, perpetrators may experience an increased sense of control. This could be threatened as lockdowns ease and perpetrators may intensify coercive control or engage in new, more harmful behaviour to re-exert control.”

The concept of lockdown with its clear cut rules and strictures has been a useful structure for those wanting to affect control within families but, as the rules ease, and as we are told to take responsibility ourselves, this becomes more muddied and more open to conflict.

In lockdown, resorting to tracking devices and apps is not needed as perpetrators can watch every move under their nose. It’s chilling to imagine what some, including children, have lived through, but it’s equally worrying to think what the breaking of that routine might bring.

During lockdown many victims will have put on hold their plans to seek help because services have been constrained, or they have not being able to speak to their GP face to face or they fear that their partner might find out. As restrictions ease, they may begin to seek help again which can cause the perpetrators to feel a loss of control. The worry is that this triggers an escalation in abuse.

The figures from the easing of lockdown last year show that there was an increase of calls to helplines after the lockdown, as victims were able to find private places from which to call. As friends, neighbours, and colleagues we need to stay alert to this possibility and not let our guard down just because the easing of restrictions appear to mean fewer people are having to stay behind closed doors.

We need to remind ourselves of the spectrum of domestic abuse from coercive behaviour and psychological torture, to surveillance and stalking, physical and sexual abuse and murder, and it’s a fight for us all.

This all matters massively because there is a real danger that, as lockdown eases, the spotlight on domestic abuse might be lifted as other post pandemic issues take precedence for funding. Emergency grants of around £350 million were made available by the Scottish Government to women’s aid and rape crisis services at the start of the pandemic but it is unclear as to whether or how that will be continued.

Sadly, like a disease that can’t be neutralised by a vaccine, domestic violence is part of the power structure of our society. It is predictable, but somehow stubbornly indestructible, and support for its victims is as important outwith lockdowns as within.

Scottish Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline 0800 027 1234