Circa 50% of females feel unsafe on UK’s streets as app usage rises

The survey of 2,000 adults was conducted by Opinium between 18 and 22 October and its findings emerge as Mitie and WalkSafe announce a new partnership specifically designed to support safer communities, particularly so for those people travelling alone.

Back in July, the National Police Chiefs’ Council declared an ‘epidemic scale’ of violence against women and girls due to an increase of related crimes in this area of circa 37% in five years. Many people say they experience an increased sense of danger when walking in the dark, as further shown by the 81% surge in the use of the WalkSafe app since October.  

The threat awareness when walking in the dark differs between men and women. Over half of women (51%) cite being followed by a stranger at the top of their list of fears, with awareness of the threat of sexual assault also running high for over one-third (34%) of them.

In contrast, just under one-fifth (17%) of men fear being followed by a stranger and less than one-in-20 (4%) list sexual assault as a concern. Meanwhile, being mugged or becoming a victim of knife crime concerns two-fifths (40%) and over a quarter (28%) of men respectively.

Changing routines

Two-thirds (65%) of those individuals surveyed said they don’t change the timings of their routine, leaving the house and returning home at the same time all year round.

However, for many people, when the clocks go back this means leaving the house or returning home in the dark. As such, almost three-quarters (69%) of survey participants said they’ve made changes to feel safer or otherwise avoid walking in the dark.

The most common changes made are walking a different route (34%), taking a taxi or public transport (28%) and driving a short distance to avoid walking (24%), with people spending (on average) an extra £100 per month. More than double the number of women (15%) are prepared to go even further and miss social events altogether to avoid walking in the dark compared to their male counterparts (7%).  

Duty of Care

Seven-in-ten (71%) respondents are calling for more to be done to improve safety on the streets. Two-thirds (65%) believe that the Government and local authorities can do more to protect people and better publicise their existing street safety initiatives.

Further, one-fifth (19%) think employers could do more to improve safety for their colleagues, while this figure rises to over 36% for those individuals who leave the house and/or return home in darkness.

With the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 introduced in October, organisations are looking for additional ways in which to prevent harassment and create environments where people feel safe.

New partnership

In a commitment to create safer communities, Mitie and WalkSafe have entered into a partnership designed to enhance personal safety. WalkSafe’s award-winning technology combines journey-sharing features and a national Safe Space map providing information based on both police data and data from other app users to help people plan their route and seek support at designated safe havens in their local area should they need this.

The partnership will see Mitie develop enhanced services for the WalkSafe Pro version of the app, which organisations can provide to their colleagues. This is designed to provide additional support to app users through Mitie’s 24/7 specialist Security Operations Centre.

In practice, colleagues will have the option to speak with trained operatives who can provide reassurance, give immediate advice and, where appropriate, call the Emergency Services.

Emma Kay, founder of WalkSafe, said: “I started WalkSafe to empower people to take precautionary measures designed to protect their own safety. It’s something about which I feel strongly after experiencing harassment in the street myself. With Mitie, we will take WalkSafe one step further thanks to the support of its connected Security Operations Centre.” 

Kay added: “With app users surging in number since the clocks changed, we want to do everything we can to ensure people arrive home safely in the dark. Mitie is bringing its security intelligence services to bear. Together, we can add a layer of protection that has not been available before. With this new partnership, we hope to revolutionise the way in which employers can take care of their colleagues, ultimately making them safer.”

Tackling the epidemic

Jason Towse, managing director of the Business Services division at Mitie, explained: “Our friends, families and colleagues should all be able to travel safely, whether on transport networks or simply when walking home, yet violence against women and girls and minority groups is increasingly prevalent across the UK.”  

Towse continued: “One-fifth of the UK’s workforce expect their employer to help make sure they arrive home from work safely. We most certainly want to help organisations protect their people. In developing this support in partnership with WalkSafe, we’re looking to tackle this epidemic and enable safer communities in which we can all live and work.”

*Further information is available online at www.mitie.com and www.walksafe.io