Calls to hotline for children of alcoholics double in lockdown

CALLS to a helpline for Britain’s estimated 2.6million children of alcoholics have doubled in lockdown.

The National Association for Children of Alcoholics, the only dedicated helpline of its kind in the UK, has reported record call numbers over the past 12 months as a result of the pandemic. As well as calls doubling to 31,000, the number of those aged 12 to 28 seeking help has quadrupled.

The figures come amid concerns alcohol deaths have increased significantly in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Earlier this month, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed there were 5,460 deaths related to “alcohol-specific causes” between January and September last year. That is up from 3,732 the year before – a rise of more than 16 per cent.

The ONS said the alcohol-specific death rate in England and Wales reached 12.8 deaths per 100,000 people from January to March, its highest level since 2001 when the figure was 9.5 deaths. Research by Alcohol Change UK found close to one in three (29 per cent) people drank more alcohol in 2020 than in 2019.

Twenty-six per cent reported drinking earlier in the day, 31 per cent drinking more often, and 23 per cent drinking “to try to cope”.

Last week, NSPCC Wales revealed it had seen a 72 per cent rise in referrals to the police and agencies for parents misusing drugs and alcohol since the pandemic began. Jonathan Ashworth, shadow health secretary, is urging the Government to renew its funding for the children of alcoholics.

A £6 million three-year funding package was set aside in March 2018, but the money runs out at the end of next month.

Mr Ashworth, whose father Jon died from alcoholism in 2010, said: “We cannot allow children of alcoholics to be abandoned as forgotten victims of this pandemic. With surveys reporting increased parental home drinking and rising calls to children’s helplines, it’s clear lockdown is impacting on thousands of children who could be exposed to abuse or develop mental health problems themselves as a consequence.”