Economic abuse: the ‘overlooked’ factor in one death every 19 days

Economic abuse, a form of coercive control, plays a part in 51% of domestic abuse-related deaths in England and Wales. And, every 19 days, a victim of economic abuse loses her life, according to new research.

These findings are a “wake-up call”, said Surviving Economic Abuse, the charity behind the research. “Long overlooked” in standard risk assessments and “misunderstood by agencies that could have intervened”, economic abuse must now be “recognised as a serious and potentially fatal form of domestic abuse”.

What is economic abuse?

It’s a legally recognised form of domestic abuse, where one person – usually a partner or ex-partner – has control over another person’s access to money. This can include taking over the victim’s earnings, spending, bank accounts and credit cards, and often results in the building up of debts in the victim’s name. It can include controlling access to transport, property, food, clothing or technology – restricting the victim’s ability to work and stay connected. In some cases, it can also involve damaging belongings or refusing to contribute to household costs.

Last year, the BBC reported cases of economic abuse that included “crashing a car deliberately, taking control of benefit payments and threatening to share explicit images unless money is handed over”. One in six women in the UK has experienced economic abuse by a current or former partner, according to SEA, but many victims do not recognise it as abuse. Even if they do, they have often become so isolated by their abuser that they don’t feel able to talk about it. “It rarely happens in isolation” and is usually accompanied by physical, sexual and psychological abuse.

The reality of economic abuse can make it even more difficult for women to leave an abusive relationship. “They’re very scared to leave because of the financial side that holds them back,” MSP Pam Gosal told Holyrood magazine. Abused women she has tried to help often didn’t know what was in their name financially, what they could lose or what liabilities they could be left with. “You don’t know anything because you never, ever controlled the finances in a relationship.”

How does it contribute to deaths?

Although it is not a physical form of abuse, economic abuse can trap victims in dangerous situations, and “be an indication of escalating risk from a perpetrator”, said the SEA report.

And yet, the report found, agencies often missed opportunities to spot dangers linked to economic abuse. In over half of the domestic abuse-related deaths analysed in the report, economic abuse “was present”, but many of the women experiencing economic abuse were “failed” by those who “should have been there to help them”. Either because they missed the signs of economic abuse or because they did not understand the risk of this abuse, agencies “did not respond as they could have done”.

This is particularly noteworthy in the cases of victims to went on to take their own lives. Women who had experienced economic abuse from an intimate partner were significantly more likely to commit suicide than other abused women whose cases the report analysed. Risk assessments and safety planning should better recognise that “the nature of post-separation economic abuse (where it may start, continue or escalate after a victim has fled) can leave victims feeling hopeless”.

What can be done?

Economic abuse should be integrated into the government’s new guidance on best practice for domestic abuse risk management, recommends SEA. It also recommends specialist training on economic abuse for professionals involved in combating violence against women and girls.

This form of abuse “must be recognised, understood and acted upon across every agency, every review and every response”, said Sam Smethers, chief executive of SEA. “We cannot wait for another woman’s life to be lost.”