RED weather warnings have been placed across Worcestershire with schools and shops announcing partial or full closures due to the scorching heat.
Hot weather is dangerous for anyone, but for those who are rough sleeping or experiencing homelessness, it leaves them at particular risk of dehydration and other health issues.
It led me to wonder what support was being offered to those who may have nowhere else to go when red heat warnings are placed by the Met Office.
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So I decided to shadow some of the teams at Worcester City Council at 7am this morning (Thursday) to see how exactly they are supporting rough sleepers in Worcester.
Today marked the second day since the introduction of Hot SWEP – which stands for Severe Weather Emergency Protocol.
What is Hot SWEP?
SWEP is a multi-agency protocol activated across Worcestershire once temperatures reach a certain threshold – and the heat was already building by the time the team, and I stepped onto Worcester’s streets with a bag of water bottles.
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Two groups of Worcester City Council workers walked the familiar routes where rough sleepers bed down in doorways, under shop fronts and public parks.
The idea behind the route was to ensure that most of the city’s most vulnerable residents were signposted to help and weren’t facing the heatwave empty-handed.
My group was assigned to walk around the River Severn and cover Diglis, where there had been alleged sightings of rough sleepers sheltering from the heat in the nature reserve.
The aim was to identify a rough sleeper, offer them some water, check how they were, and signpost them to services like Mags Day Centre, which would be opening at 9am.
By the time we finished the walk around the nature reserve and the River Severn, the team I was assigned had not come across anyone needing support.
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Yet, other teams were more successful in signposting and supporting those who needed it.
A Worcester City Council spokesperson said: “This is an important partnership response which helps reduce preventable deaths and supports some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.
“This includes checking on the welfare of those sleeping rough, supplying them with water, sunscreen, as well as offering and signposting them to support.
“This is in addition to our regular partnership approach to tackling homelessness and rough sleeping in Worcester.”
“We would encourage anyone who identifies somebody who is sleeping rough to report this via Streetlink at www.thestreetlink.org.uk.”
This is the first part of a series of stories exploring rough sleeping and homelessness in Worcester.