NAPAC Board Statement – Times article 26 September 2021

On 26 September 2021, the NAPAC Board of Trustees learned of a published Times article that is critical of the work that NAPAC does and contains several misleading claims and defamatory statements concerning the performance of our survivor support line and internal work culture.

Firstly, we would like to reassure all survivors that NAPAC’s free and confidential telephone and email support services are constantly being reviewed and adapted to provide the best possible experience for all our clients. We acknowledge how difficult it is for people when they cannot get the support they need and deserve, especially considering the courage it takes to reach out to seek that support.

The various call response figures quoted in the article are misleading as they do not consider the length of each call, repeat callers, survivors who contacted us via email, or the changes we have made over several years to keep improving the service for survivors. For accurate information on our work, our funding and the difference we make in the lives of victims and survivors, please see our impact report.

During the COVID-19 pandemic we experienced substantial demand for our services, and due to implementing the necessary safeguarding protocols for our staff we were not able to operate at full capacity. Despite this, we responded to over 65% more emails than the previous year and 45% of unique callers to our support line were connected. We are proud of this achievement and the leadership team, staff and volunteers who enabled it to happen.

At times NAPAC’s work can be highly emotive and distressing and is not suitable for everyone. It is disheartening for there to be unfounded and highly defamatory allegations of a negative workplace culture that attempt to detract from survivors and the support they deserve in the challenging work of recovering from past trauma.

The real story here is the massive scale of childhood abuse, which runs through every section of our society, causing a huge public health issue.

We all have survivors’ best interests at heart and we are wholly committed to supporting them, via our support line, our email service, our advocacy, and our expanding series of booklets and resources.