Northamptonshire Councillor reveals the stress of the job
A new survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) has found that over a fifth of councillors nationally have received a death threat or a threat of violence
A councillor from Northamptonshire says he knows of colleagues who aren't standing again for re-election due to abuse they suffer in the role.
David Smith Cabinet member for Planning and Communities at West Northants has been speaking to us as a new survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) has found that over a fifth of councillors have received a death threat or a threat of violence (22%) due to their role, whilst 23 per cent of councillors have suffered abuse serious enough to report to the police.
David tells us it can be a mental strain:
"It's responsible work that you're doing, we become councillors because we can about what we're doing and our communities, like all of us our work can affect our mental health from time to time and councillor doing their work is no different."
The survey is part of the LGA’s Debate Not Hate Campaign. Around half of respondents (49 per cent) said they felt the abuse had got worse over the past 12 months, and 73 per cent of councillors experienced abuse or intimidation in their role in the past year.
Released as the LGA prepares to host its Annual Conference next week, the survey shows that more needs to be done to ensure that those who work to represent their communities can do so in confidence.
David says it can feel like people are trying to catch councillors out, but they are there to help people and he wants to encourage people to engage with their councillor.
"We are human, we don't always get things right."
What did the survey find:
- One in 10 councillors had someone attend their home in a way that they considered intimidating or inappropriate, and43 per cent had requested to withhold their home address from the public due to safety concerns.
- 10% had experienced a threat of damage to their property, and 5% had experienced actual damage to property. 11% considered that they needed modifications to their home security but had been unable to make them for financial or personal reasons.
- 19% of respondents had experienced abuse or intimidation relating to a protected characteristic. Sex was the most commonly cited characteristic for which respondents had suffered abuse or intimidation.
- 57% of respondents reported that their authority’s arrangements for protecting councillors were very or fairly effective.
- Whilst the proportion of respondents who felt at risk in their role is similar to 2022 (73 per cent), it has dropped since last year (82%) in 2023.
Councillors who responded to the survey highlighted that high levels of abuse, threats and misinformation online put them off using social media or engaging with debate online.
The LGA is calling on the Government to implement changes to improve councillors' safety, including allowing councillors to withhold their addresses from publication and establishing a permanent cross-Whitehall unit to monitor, assess and address abuse, intimidation and safety of locally elected politicians and candidates.
David says despite the survey results and some of his own experience with colleagues, he has examples of other times when he's been thanked for his work.