Inside Housing Management published the figures on 2 September 2026. The council total comes from a Freedom of Information request to every council in England, Scotland and Wales. Physical assaults were 8% of that total and rose 9% year on year among councils that responded in both 2024 and 2025. A separate survey of 29 housing associations recorded 3,338 assaults, up 20% on the year before. Many landlords linked part of the rise to better reporting. Others pointed to higher resident expectations and more complex casework. One Yorkshire council said staff are working more often with residents facing financial hardship, mental health issues and other vulnerabilities, and that this leads to more difficult interactions.

The Health and Safety Executive defines work-related violence as: 'Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work.' That includes verbal abuse and threats, face to face, online and by telephone, as well as physical attacks. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers to protect employees so far as is reasonably practicable. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. Verbal abuse counts. A rise that is partly better recording is still a rise in known harm.

Anthony Collins Solicitors set this out on 28 August 2025, not in a new October 2026 briefing. Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, housing providers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees. That includes violence and aggression at work. The firm said providers need thorough risk assessments, lone-working and safeguarding procedures that are reviewed, clear routes to escalate concerning customer behaviour, and training that includes de-escalation. Staff also need a usable route to support after a difficult incident.

That duty is not new. The Inside Housing figures of 2 September 2026 are. They give boards a current picture against which existing controls will be judged. A procedure that staff cannot use on the doorstep, or that managers do not back when the line is crossed, is not a suitable and sufficient control. This health and safety duty is separate from the sexual harassment prevention duty and from the third-party harassment changes that take effect on 30 October 2026.

SoloProtect has published case studies of housing staff using discreet lone-worker devices. In one, housing officer Jade pressed the alert when a man became increasingly irate, raised his voice and blocked her exit. She knew from previous visits that he had knives. The operator stayed on the call until she could leave. The source does not say he produced a knife during that visit. In another, housing officer Laura and a colleague took refuge in an office after a man smashed a window. The monitoring centre requested a police response. Police arrived and the staff left.

The same page records further cases: a threat to shoot staff after a forced entry, a physical assault after drugs were found, a worker blocked from driving away, and a worker grabbed while trying to move a tenant on. The pattern is the same. The device helped because it was being carried and someone answered. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 still require the employer to decide where a device is a real control, and where the visit should not be done alone.

Royal Mail announced the figures on 6 July 2026. There were 2,019 dog attacks on staff in 2025/26, down 8% on the year before. That is 38 a week. The attacks led to 3,442 days of absence. The longest was still going after more than 300 days. Of the attacks, 1,048 (52%) were at the front door, up from 1,005 the year before. A further 25% were in a garden, drive or yard.

Katy Davies, a Bristol postwoman, was attacked in January 2026 on her usual round. She had known the dog since it was young. It had always been friendly. It came from behind in a shared driveway, clamped onto her lower leg and knocked her down. She had five puncture wounds, two of which needed stitches, and tendon damage. She could not walk unaided for about three weeks, could not drive for about three months, and was off work for three months. The wounds later became badly infected. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers of visiting staff to manage this risk. A dog that has been friendly before is not a control.

UNISON surveyed almost 1,800 social workers between 4 February and 1 March 2026. Community Care reported the results on 23 June 2026. Half had been verbally abused on a lone working home visit in the previous 12 months, compared with 40% on a joint visit. Physical abuse was 7% on lone working visits and 5% on joint visits. Online harassment was 13% after lone working visits and 7% after joint visits. Eighty-six per cent carried out lone working visits daily or weekly. Ninety-two per cent said their bosses regard lone working home visits as the norm.

On 5 October 2026, Community Care reported a poll of just over 1,000 practitioners. Seventy per cent said their employer was not doing enough to keep them safe on visits. Three per cent said the measures were adequate. Twenty-seven per cent said it depended on the team. In the UNISON survey, 27% of those who were abused did not report it. Half of that group said it was part of the job. A quarter thought management would ignore them. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 covers violence and abuse on these visits. From 30 October 2026, Employment Rights Act 2025 section 20 changes the sexual harassment test to all reasonable steps. That is not a general duty covering every form of abuse.