Issue - meetings

The Committee gave consideration to a report of the Director of Public Health which outlined a number of issues which disadvantaged women in Oldham, focusing on women’s access to mental health services. The report drew on research undertaken with women experiencing poverty and mental health illness by Oxfam and Inspire Women in 2019/20, together with a brief summary of the emerging national picture in relation to mental health during and post-pandemic.

Members were informed that the Council, together with other partners in the Equality Advisory Group, had developed an Equality and Diversity Strategy which aimed to tackle inequalities across all ten of the protected characteristics defined under the Equality Act 2010. Evidence had shown that it was generally the least affluent communities and people on the lowest/fixed incomes who had been hit the hardest by the pandemic. Women, together with younger workers; disabled people; lone parents; people in low-paid employment and people of BAME heritage were included in this group. Often disadvantage was compounded as women were more likely to work part-time

or in lower paid employment and/or be a lone parent.

It was recognised that Covid had impacted hugely on mental health and wellbeing. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) had found that an estimated one in five adults experienced some form of depression during the coronavirus pandemic, which was double the pre-pandemic rates.

In Oldham feedback from TOG Mind and Positive Steps in 2020 indicated increased demand across all services, especially in relation to counselling services and the impacts of social isolation.

Domestic violence had escalated during the pandemic and more children had been taken into the care of the local authority, as financial and other pressure on families increased. In Oldham, this had been most obvious in relation to high-risk domestic abuse, reflected in the demand on the Independent Domestic Violence Adviser (IDVA) team.

The Domestic Abuse Partnership was leading on the refresh of the Domestic Abuse Strategy which, following a needs analysis, identified areas for development or improvement. There was much ongoing activity to ensure that women experiencing domestic violence received the support they needed.

Members noted that it was timely as the country emerged from the pandemic, that there was further exploration of the issues that placed women at a particular disadvantage in society, to better understand their nature and scale and, working across the system, take action to reduce and/or mitigate against the impacts of this disadvantage. The Leader had recently established a Women’s Taskforce to better understand and address the issues facing women in the borough. The Mayor had also identified her support for tackling women’s disadvantage, supporting Inspire Women along with other charities working to promote healthy living through the Mayor’s Charities Fund.

Phase 1 of the LIFT project had identified four challenges to economic empowerment, including mental health, where women reported that they found it difficult to access support, which then led to further escalation and additional impacts on their family life. In turn this created a vicious circle of worsening  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8