A Salford domestic abuse charity has criticised a new 24/7 national hotline for survivors of sexual assault and rape.
The hotline has been introduced through the charity Rape Crisis and is the first of its kind in England.
Statistics show that a woman is more likely to experience sexual violence than she is to have breast cancer.
Jane Gregory, the manager of Salford Survivors Project, said: “Yet we only have two rape crisis centres in Greater Manchester, one is St Mary’s and the other is Rape Crisis Trafford.”
This helpline was introduced to try and increase rape convictions, as it’s found that those who have an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (IVSA) are 49% less likely to withdraw from the criminal justice process. Although with low numbers of convictions, Ms Gregory believes that this is not enough.
This is not the first 24/7 helpline, there are 24/7 domestic violence helplines, however some people believe these are not up to standard, as they often are picked up by answering machines due to how busy they are.
Ms Gregory said: “When someone has plucked up the courage to talk to someone and tell their story, the last thing they want to do is to leave a message on a helpline.”
She believes that this hotline will only work if it is manned correctly and adequately, as they often get overwhelmed very easily due to the demand for these services.
Maddie Amos, the chair from Salford University’s Feminist Society, has also criticised the introduction of the hotline, as she believes that it benefits non-disabled people more than those with disabilities.
Ms Amos said: “I think especially in the disabled community, I can’t speak for other communities, but I am a disabled person who struggles with communication a lot of the time.
“A lot of disabled people really struggle with communicating or rely on careers who possibly are the ones who are putting them in danger.
“I think a lot more needs to be done to help those who aren’t as able-bodied or as privileged as those who maybe can use those sorts of helplines.”
This news comes just over a week after the Reclaim the Night March in Manchester, hosted by Manchester Metropolitan Students to try and tackle gender-based violence and make streets safer for women.
Ms Amos attended this with other members of the feminist society to allow for a friendly face if someone is feeling overwhelmed during the march.
They followed: “I personally like going to marches, because I’m very political but also because I feel as though singularly my voice cannot be heard but when people get together and protest it can make something a lot bigger.”
Marches like this enact change but this change is not enough for the people of Salford, who believe we have a long way to go before we see real benefits to these services.
In response to the criticisms, a spokesperson from The Ministry of Justice said: “There is a live webchat service which is entirely written, and we have done a lot of beta testing and increasing staffing levels so they will be able to handle the calls we are expecting it to handle.”
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