Employers across the borough face demands to ensure women employees can travel home safely, following an initiative by Green Party councillors.

Richmond Council, along with pubs, restaurants, care homes and others, are under pressure to help by, for example, offering free taxis to women staff travelling at night.

The Green Party Group brought a motion to Richmond Council this week, which received cross party support, to embed 'Safe Travel Home from Work' into working practices.

The Greens said women's Safety and gender-based violence has been at the forefront of public consciousness in recent months, following the high profile murders of Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa and Ashling Murphy.

Richmond Council is a White Ribbon accredited organisation. This means it is committed to taking a strong lead in tackling violence against women, along with a programme of raising awareness, training, tackling attitudes and conduct within the organisation and beyond.

The motion was put forward by Cllr Monica Saunders, who said it commits the Council to adopt travel safety to and from work as a key policy in its Action Plan. It will also include these considerations within employment conditions for Council staff and as part of future arrangements with contractors.

Late-night working is also commonplace for many other employees in sectors such as hospitality and care, where the majority of the workforce are women who must travel to and from work late at night.

The Greens said the low pay that goes with these sectors means women are all too often forced to rely on infrequent public transport or travelling alone on foot.

Cllr Saunders said Richmond businesses should follow the example of good practice from other parts of the country.

She said: "We can learn from what is happening in Scotland, where one Council has made the granting of licences for hospitality venues conditional on ensuring safe travel home for staff, including a free taxi home if no suitable buses or trains are available.

"This follows the awful case of Caitlin Lee, a hotel worker who was sexually assaulted after being refused a taxi home by her employer when the last bus was cancelled. Replicating this approach outside Scotland isn't legally possible currently, so it needs reviewing at national level.

"However, encouraging the hospitality and care sectors to actively consider Safe Travel Home is something the Council can do.

"It could include conditions on Safe Travel Home in contracting arrangements with the care sector.

"We know that care providers have problems recruiting staff, and low pay is certainly one issue, but to what extent is late night working and safe travel home also a barrier? The Council can lead by example on this and I'm pleased that they have shown intentions to do so.''