Hackney Council has been recognised for its work with the borough’s large Charedi community in raising awareness of the threat of coronavirus. 

It picked up a gold award in the diversity and inclusion category of this year’s Public Service Communications Awards. 

In its nomination form, the council said its partnership with community organisations had been “hugely effective”, helping to prevent a feared spike in infections after the High Holy-Days. 

Hackney’s Charedi population of nearly 30,000 – representing around 10 per cent of residents – was one of the hardest communities to reach in the UK because homes did not have TV and digital access was limited, the council said. 

Early in the pandemic, Hackney noted that infection rates in Stamford Hill – heartland of the community – were higher than elsewhere in the borough and nationally, Jewish deaths from the disease were disproportionate. 

The tragedy of the death from coronavirus of Rabbi Abraham Pinter, who had been advising the council daily, “galvanised the formal creation of the Charedi comms and engagement partnership, led by the council’s comms and public health officers, alongside a wide range of community partners”, the council explained. 

“Whilst the infection rates in Stamford Hill have remained higher than the rest of Hackney throughout, we have not seen the devastation experienced in Israel and New York.

“We did not see the spike in infections following the High Holy-Days that we had feared and we have seen high levels of Charedi attendance at the local testing centre.

 “In Charedi communities in Brooklyn and Israel, they have seen anti-regulation protests and regular community communications urging people not to follow Covid restrictions. This has not been replicated in Stamford Hill.” 

The council has sent leaflets to homes, used WhatsApp groups, reached Orthodox businesses via JTrade and funded the Orthodox Kehilla Covid helpline. Its partnership had also led to the establishment of a kosher foodbox service during lockdown.

 Community partners included Bikur Cholim, Interlink, Shomrim and Hatzola.

 “As the community does not have access to TV or radio or mainstream news, they were largely excluded from government messaging,” Hackney said.

 “This meant that many people in the community were not aware of the initial call to full lockdown. We know from our established insight that this community is mainly digitally excluded. But we learned through the  partnership that there are a significant number of people who have access to WhatsApp, which has become an important channel in the campaign. 

 “We were also advised by our partners that Yiddish translations would be costly and unreliable, as Yiddish is a diverse dialect, and that there were English speakers and readers in every home.”

Its initial budget for the campaign was increased from £10,000 to £12,000.

Hackney said the partnership had led to “dramatically increased trust” from the community, helping to support other health work, including an increased take-up of flu vaccinations by local Charedim. 

 “We have worked hard to protect our community, not just from Covid but from antisemitism, to which they are highly vulnerable as a visible minority, balancing communications so they highlight issues without stigmatising the community.” 

The awards are presented by the Government Communication Service and LGcomms, an association for local authorities.