Ms Sarah Benson:

From the point of view of Women's Aid, there is a similar trajectory. We have employed a dedicated project lead specifically to deal with a service offering. We consult on policies. We also have model policies that build on the collaborative work we have done with Vodafone and in initiatives in the UK, such as the employer's initiative on domestic abuse. Through my discussions with senior people in a wide range of companies I found that over the course of the Covid pandemic, several things became more visible. One is that when people were working at home employers started to see their employees being interfered with, where somebody was persistently disrupting them by doing things like plugging out the Wi-Fi. In some cases it made it visible that their home was not a good workplace but neither was it a good home life. While there are no deep data on the reasons that employee assistance programmes have been taken up in recent years, domestic violence does feature as something for which employees have sought support. These are people in work who are seeking the therapeutic aspect of an employee assistance programme. However, it does not give them options in the context of their workplace.

I very much echo what Ms Mernagh and Ms Mulqueen have said. There is a normative impact of any legislation. There are those who will just do it anyway and there are also those who will say it is something the State is taking seriously but is being pragmatic about and is situating it as a practical resource and support in the same way as other workplace entitlement and initiatives. Employers will follow. Some who never thought of it before will say it makes sense. Others will not be as eager. Once there is legislative statutory leave, employers must then create a policy for it to sit within. This also speaks to the discussion on confidentiality. We know it is exceptionally difficult for a survivor of any kind of abuse, such as childhood abuse, to be the one who has to offer it up. Ms Graham spoke about it. If people do not know what the reaction will be and what the response will be, they will not say something. If they have an employer who circulates, even in a desultory manner, a new policy on the leave and it states people are guaranteed confidentiality it is a commitment from an employer, however enthusiastic or not, that will give an assurance. All of these things lock together.