Coronavirus: Children attacking parents 'who refuse to let them out during lockdown'

George Martin
Updated ·2 min read
POOLE, ENGLAND - APRIL 27: Decorated rubbish bins are seen showing support for the NHS and staying at home on April 27, 2020 in Poole, United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who returned to Downing Street this week after recovering from Covid-19, said the country needed to continue its lockdown measures to avoid a second spike in infections. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
Decorated rubbish bins showing support for the NHS in Poole, Dorset. (Getty)

Children are reportedly attacking their parents because they are not being allowed out during the coronavirus lockdown, a House of Commons committee has heard.

Victims Commissioner Dame Vera Baird told the Commons Justice Committee on Tuesday that there had been reports of a “new kind of domestic abuse” emerging during the stay-at-home order.

“There’s some suggestion of abuse by older children on parents which is probably suggestive of kids wanting to go out and not being allowed to,” Dame Vera said.

“We’re talking teenagers, and that is a worry,” she added.

CARDIFF, WALES - APRIL 02: A man rides his bike passed a terraced house painted with a rainbow in support of the National Health Service (NHS) on Gwendoline Street in Splott on April 2, 2020, in Cardiff, Wales. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 45,000 lives and infecting hundreds of thousands more. (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)
A man rides his bike passed a terraced house painted with a rainbow in support of the NHS in Cardiff. (Getty)

She told MPs: “This is a newer kind of domestic abuse which is probably suggestive of kids wanting to go out and not being allowed to. We are talking teenagers.

“That is, I think, a worry and there’s a sense in which there’s a spike likely to emerge of this kind of domestic abuse complaining which is just coming through now.”

Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice

Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world

Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area

6 charts and maps that explain how coronavirus is spreading

Dame Vera also told the committee there has been “quite a big spike” in calls to helplines about anti-social behaviour during the coronavirus lockdown.

Dame Vera told the committee: “There’s quite a big uptake in help for dealing with anti-social behaviour.

“It looks like, if I can put it this way, people are getting more frustrated and slightly angrier at things like noise nuisance, which perhaps isn’t a surprise given what’s going on.

“But that is a big upturn, quite a big spike in calls about anti-social behaviour.”

Dame Vera said the government had been guilty of “poor leadership” in dealing with the pandemic and warned there would be a “tsunami of complaints” as soon as the lockdown is lifted.

She called on the government to prepare for an increase in domestic abuse cases and said that, even through her testimony was anecdotal rather than data-driven, “there were some real features emerging”.

Despite home secretary Priti Patel promising extra funding for abuse headlines over Easter, Dame Vera said that money had not been received.

“The worry is that it will get worse and worse and domestic violence does tend to escalate when it’s not stopped,” Dame Vera added.

“Sexual violence is also extremely worrying, two-thirds of sexual abuse happens inside the home.”

Coronavirus: what happened today?

Click here to sign up to the latest news, advice and information with our daily Catch-up newsletter