Financial and economical abuse and control

Definition

‘Economic abuse’ means any behaviour that has a substantial adverse effect on someone’s ability to acquire, use or maintain money or other property, or obtain goods or services. (domestic abuse act 2021)

It is a legally recognised form of domestic abuse. It involves the control of a connected person’s money, finances and things that money can buy, such as clothing, transport, food and a place to live.

It can also be the mistreatment of someone in terms of their money or assets, such as their property. Financial abuse often occurs alongside other forms of abuse.

Examples

• money being stolen or misused
• fraud
• exploiting someone’s financial affairs
• restricting someone’s access to money, employment or possessions
• pressuring and coercing someone about their will, lasting power of attorney, property or inheritance.
• theft – either physically, or through transfer of funds from the vulnerable person
• misappropriation or misuse of money or property – for example, improper use of money or assets when handling it for a vulnerable person under informal arrangements
• exerting undue influence to give away assets or gifts – this can include putting inappropriate pressure on a vulnerable person to change their will, or make gifts they otherwise would not, or to sign over the family home to one relative when the vulnerable person is about to go into residential care
• putting undue pressure on the vulnerable person to accept lower-cost/lower-quality services in order to preserve more financial resources to be passed to beneficiaries when the person dies
• carrying out unnecessary work and/or overcharging – for example, tradespeople recommending unnecessary repairs to property, pressure-selling of services, overcharging for work or charging in advance
• misuse of a vulnerable person’s assets by professionals – for example, by accountants or legal professionals with access to client funds
• misuse of an enduring power of attorney or property and financial affairs LPA – use other than as intended or further than as limited by the document
• misuse of welfare benefits by those appointed to manage such benefits on behalf of someone lacking capacity
• misuse by paid carers or family members of local authority direct payments, which should be used to pay for care and support
• sales representatives encouraging vulnerable people to enter into contracts or change suppliers (for example for mobile phone services) when they do not understand their contractual responsibilities
• internet and postal scams that fraudulently obtain payments from a vulnerable person
• identity fraud, where the perpetrator gains access to the vulnerable person’s identification documents and takes out credit cards and loans in their name
• romance abuse and predatory marriages, where the vulnerable person is ‘groomed’ to have a relationship with the perpetrator who intends to scam the victim out of money, or marry them with the intention of inheriting their estate
• Controlling or coercive behaviour, sometimes taking place alongside physical abuse, can take the form of:
• depriving the person of their basic needs
• limiting access to finances
• denying access to support services, such as specialist support or medical services
• forcing the victim to take part in criminal activity such as shoplifting
• controlling finances, such as only allowing a person a punitive allowance
• taking wages, benefits or allowances

Statistics

1 in 5 women in the UK has experienced economic abuse by a current or former partner.

95% of women who experience domestic abuse report experiencing economic abuse.

Women experiencing coercive control who also experience economic abuse are at increased risk of being killed.

More than half of women experiencing domestic abuse said they had no money so could not leave.

Only two in five of those who experience financial abuse recognise this from the outset of the relationship.

Safety advice

Immediate harm

• Contact 999 if a person who is being abused feels that they are at risk of serious harm or homicide.
• If the person who is being abused needs to be removed from their home for safety please contact their local housing department to make a homeless referral or contact Our refuges – Refuge or via their national helpline: 08002000247.
• If a person is considered not to have the mental capacity or ability to make safe choices, make a referral to adult safeguarding services in your area.
• If children are involved and at risk, make a safeguarding referral to your local team.

Ongoing

• Ask the person being abused if they have their own bank account. If so, they can make an appointment with their bank to look at how to protect against financial abuse.
• If someone else has access to their bank cards or online banking, ask them to consider contacting their bank to report these as missing or stolen and to change their account passwords to prevent financial abuse.
• Ask them to document the abuse with dates and times as it may help with future safeguarding.

I want to leave my relationship safely – Women’s Aid (womensaid.org.uk)

Who to contact

Surviving Economic Abuse: Transforming responses to economic abuse

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Devon (not including Plymouth and Torbay)- Fearfree FearFree – Local Support for Domestic Abuse 03451551074.

North Devon- NDADA-  NDADA – Domestic Abuse support, recovery & refuge 01271 370079/80

Torbay- Torbay Domestic Abuse Service (TDAS) | Sanctuary Supported Living (sanctuary-supported-living.co.uk) 0800 916 1474.

Exeter- We are safe. About SAFE – SAFE Foundation (wearesafe.org.uk) 03030 300 112

For specialist support for black and minoritised victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence in Devon and surrounding areas you can also contact THE OLIVE PROJECT | CREATING REAL CHANGE IN DEVON

More information

Financial abuse: what is it? | Age UK

Financial abuse | The Law Society

Financial abuse – definitions & signs – Times Money Mentor (thetimes.co.uk)

What is economic abuse? – Surviving Economic Abuse

SEA-Economic-abuse-wheel_final-1.pdf (survivingeconomicabuse.org)

Post-Separation-Economic-P-and-C-Univesity-of-Glasgow.pdf (theduluthmodel.org)

Additional information regarding the unauthorised and improper use of funds and property of commercial financial abuse can be accessed here – Financial abuse – TDSAP

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