03 September 2023 , 23:01
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Police received around 26,000 reports involving financial abuse by a partner or ex last year - the equivalent of one every 20 minutes, a domestic abuse charity has found. One in six women have experienced economic abuse, which can include exerting control over income, spending, bank accounts, bills and borrowing, according to Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA).
The charity said the abuse, which can also include controlling access to transport and technology, often leaves victim-survivors homeless, in debt with a poor credit rating and with no job or prospects. Abusers have also been found to destroy a victims’ belongings or refuse to contribute to household costs or, after separation, to pay child maintenance or split joint assets.
Campaigners warned economic abuse is being sidelined in the criminal justice system with judges and police focusing on physical assaults. One victim-survivor told the charity: “The physical abuse was more important to the police. We found bags and bags of paperwork, and they said we’ll deal with that another time, so it was very much on the sidelines. They wanted to focus on the rape charges, the harassment, stalking, so they weren’t using it to build the case. But the financial control had been there from day one.”
Official statistics are not collected on economic abuse but analysis by SEA has estimated it featured in 26,640 domestic abuse cases in 2021/22. The charity calculated this figure by analysing more than 800 media reports of cases which involved prosecutions of controlling or coercive behaviour, under which economic abuse is criminalised. It found 64% of cases featured economic abuse, a percentage it then applied to the 41,626 reports of controlling or coercive behaviour which were made to police in 2021/22.
SEA is calling on ministers to make police training on controlling or coercive behaviour mandatory in the Victims and Prisoners Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament. It also wants the bill to give victims the right to have courts consider making a compensation order and increase the use of confiscating assets derived from criminal conduct.
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Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs, CEO and founder of Surviving Economic Abuse, said economic abuse continues to be sidelined in police and court responses despite now being seen in law. “The victim-survivors we interviewed said police officers discarded their evidence of economic abuse and the sentences handed down in court didn’t reflect the long-lasting harm the abuse caused – some survivors were left homeless, under a mountain of debt and with a poor credit rating. It’s no wonder survivors are left feeling that this is not true justice,” she said.
“It’s clear the current criminal justice response to economic abuse is failing victim-survivors. Tens of thousands of victim-survivors who report to the police never get their day in court, while the small number who do feel like justice has not been served and they are left paying the price. That’s why we urge the government to act through the Victims and Prisoners Bill to make sure perpetrators feel the full force of the law and victim-survivors are supported to achieve both criminal and economic justice so they can safely rebuild their lives.”
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