Poor broadband and mobile coverage in parts of North Yorkshire is making it more difficult to tackle domestic abuse, according to a charity.
IDAS, which has an office in Skipton, is the largest specialist charity in Yorkshire supporting people affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Olivia King and Kerry Rose from IDAS gave a presentation to councillors at a meeting of Skipton and Ripon area constituency committee last Thursday where they gave details about the services it provides, including safe accommodation, one-to-one support for survivors and a confidential helpline.
The charity received 25,000 calls to their helpline last year which is a figure they said is increasing every year.
But reaching people is made more difficult due to poor broadband or mobile phone connections in the Dales and other rural parts of North Yorkshire.
Ms Rose said: “It’s something rural communities really struggle with. We’re saying to people, if you’re in trouble, call the police, and they’re saying to us, we can’t because we’ve got no service and the broadband is rubbish — what can I do?
“So we have to be quite creative in trying to keep them safe when they can’t even call the police. That becomes a worry.”
Ms King said the issue of poor broadband is one that older clients struggle with in particular.
She said: “Some of these people have additional needs such as dementia which prevents them from accessing the internet, or they just dont want to. They like their phone and they don’t have internet access because they don’t want it.
“That does make it more difficult in those further out communities where there are worse transport links. Some people have nothing for miles. Signal and broadband is one of the main things that crops up as feedback from survivors.”
North Yorkshire Council is aiming to complete the fourth phase of its Superfast Broadband programme by March next year, with 200,000 premises, many of which in rural areas, benefitting from vastly improved internet connections since the project was launched in 2012.
The IDAS helpline is 0300 0110 110.
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