Covid: Police with Tasers accompany social worker on visit

Social work is aimed at helping people who are suffering from social deprivation

A social worker says police with Tasers escorted him to see a family during lockdown because "the risk is so high".

The man said he had "seen levels of abuse I have never seen before" during the Covid pandemic.

He is worried there is not enough help for families struggling in isolation and children at risk of abuse.

The Welsh Government said it was working with councils to tackle any future impact from the pandemic.

Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services Julie Morgan acknowledged these are "unprecedented times" and said there was a "great deal of strain on services".

The social worker, who wanted to remain anonymous, looks after vulnerable children and said he believed lockdown was "crippling people".

"We have a pandemic of deprivation, of poverty, of abuse, of parents drinking too much, of parents struggling to cope with isolation and home-schooling," he said.

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"I have seen levels of abuse I have never seen before. In the last two months I have had two police escorts, I have had police with Tasers because the risk is so high," he said.

"I genuinely believe this pandemic is crippling people.

"We are facing a crisis every second of the day - we are getting more reports than ever, but we are even more worried that there are many more that are simply not being reported."

'Children forgotten about'

The social worker said the pandemic had made a bad situation worse, adding: "You cannot measure bad. You cannot attach a word to describe what it is like for the forgotten families.

"My biggest worry is that we now have a generation of children who, in such a short space of time, have been forgotten about.

"I'm not sure the Welsh Government is taking the well-being of the people of Wales enough into account in their response to the pandemic," he added.

"I do not care how much the government says it is putting into social services, but that money is not getting into children's services, it is not getting to the front line, no way.

"We need to prepare ourselves for what is coming in the next few months and years."

BASW Cymru has called for a road map for schools returning

BASW Cymru national director Allison Hulmes called for a clear road map for children to return to school and more social workers taken on.

"There are so many children who wouldn't have been vulnerable prior to the pandemic but have become vulnerable as the pandemic has unfolded," she said.

"Our fear is that there will be an absolute tsunami of need which will translate into increased referral and increased demand on the profession."

Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services Ms Morgan said help had been increased - with the Welsh Government funding a support line and schools remaining open for vulnerable children.

"We are in the middle of a pandemic and that means you have to balance the health of the whole community against being able to have face-to-face meetings with families, for example. And those are very difficult decisions to make."