Domestic abuse advisors pause strike action

Tower Hamlets is London's second-highest ranked borough for domestic abuse cases

Planned strike action by Tower Hamlets domestic abuse support workers has been paused while further talks take place.

Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) from the charity Solace Women's Aid were due to start strike action over proposed redundancies on Friday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Solace has also decided to pause the redundancy process until 3 March so the charity can continue discussions with staff, the United Voices of the World (UVW) union and Tower Hamlets Council to try and resolve the dispute.

The workers, who are members of UVW, had returned a 100% vote in favour of strike action following a 92% turnout.

'More deaths'

UVW previously said the proposals would mean the team could be cut by a third and warned that it would have a "catastrophic impact" on its users.

Tower Hamlets is the second-highest ranked borough for domestic abuse cases in London.

Last Thursday, hundreds of people gathered for a rally outside Tower Hamlets Town Hall in support of the workers.

Protesters have opposed redundancies

The crowd heard from IDVAs, union members, local councillors, the campaign group Sisters Uncut and the Independent MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Apsana Begum.

One anonymous worker said: "It's heartbreaking because we should be building services, we should be investing in these services rather than taking them away, crime is going to go up and we're going to have more deaths.

"It's going to have an effect on the workers who will be burnt out because you're setting up a system where we'll be failing and we won't be able to provide the best standard of support to the victims."

The service, which receives funding from the council, provides free emotional support to high-risk survivors of domestic violence, which includes advocating, referring and providing them with information.

Workers help to tackle systemic barriers faced by victims, such as navigating immigration restrictions and financial and legal challenges.

Between April and December 2024, Solace workers managed 1,139 referrals and supported 227 victim-survivors.

A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council said: "The union has confirmed their members have decided to suspend planned industrial action for this period of time, while talks take place to try to find a resolution."