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Council cuts all-night support service helping Grenfell survivors

An all-night support service for those affected by the Grenfell blaze looks set to be cut: PA
An all-night support service for those affected by the Grenfell blaze looks set to be cut: PA

An overnight counselling service for Grenfell Tower survivors living in hotels has been cut back — just weeks after it was praised by the leader of Kensington & Chelsea council.

Survivors of the fire have spoken of their concerns after the council reduced the support service, despite 34 affected households still living in hotels.

Since the disaster in June last year, a worker from London charity Hestia had been staying up throughout the night in lobbies of London hotels to help survivors suffering flashbacks or other mental or physical problems.

Hanan Cherbika, 36, who lost her home in the fire, told the council’s housing, communities and local government committee: “When my daughter was in the middle of a panic attack, Hestia was downstairs in the hotel reception. They came up and helped my daughter.

“Nightmares”: council leader Elizabeth Campbell has praised the counselling support for families still living in hotels (Nigel Howard )
“Nightmares”: council leader Elizabeth Campbell has praised the counselling support for families still living in hotels (Nigel Howard )

“Hestia has been there since day one. They have been helping my daughter so much. They have taken that service away. I told them straight away that Hestia has been there to help.”

Clarrie Mendy-Solomon, who lost her cousin and her cousin’s daughter in the disaster, said: “I was speaking with people in the hotels, and they were saying that the Hestia staff have had their hours in the hotel cut down to four.”

Concerns: Clarrie Mendy-Solomon said the service should not be cut (PA)
Concerns: Clarrie Mendy-Solomon said the service should not be cut (PA)

She added that survivors “have confidence in the people they are working with, whose services should not be dwindling”. Hestia will now only provide support between 6pm and 10pm.

In a recent interview with London radio station LBC, council leader Elizabeth Campbell praised the service.

She said: “If you know someone is there, you might wake up in the middle of the night with sort of nightmares. But if you know you could go down and have a hot chocolate with someone or talk it through, it means sometimes you might think maybe you don’t need to.”

A spokeman for Hestia said: “The demand for numbers of people in hotels has decreased as more families have been rehoused, and therefore the overnight counselling service was reduced.”

The council said Hestia had “liaised with everyone using the service and saw that the number of people using the service after 10pm had decreased dramatically. And people are moving out of hotels at a very drastic rate.” It added that families in hotels have support from keyworkers and a 24/7 NHS mental support phone line as well as a central overnight service at a Methodist church.