Almost 4 million children in the UK are experiencing the effects of economic abuse within their families, according to new research by the charity Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA). The study found that over the past year, 27% of mothers with children under 18 had been subjected to behaviour considered to be economic abuse, in which a current or former partner controls the family's money.
The charity reported that perpetrators use a range of methods, including preventing mothers from accessing bank accounts and child benefits, refusing to pay child maintenance, and in some cases stealing children's pocket or birthday money. As a result, many children are missing out on essentials such as clothes and food.
The research also highlighted that a third of women who experienced economic abuse from a former partner said their ex refused to pay child support or paid it unreliably, despite being able to afford it. One in six women reported that a current or former partner had stolen money from their child, and the same proportion said they had been stopped or attempted to be stopped from accessing benefits they were entitled to.
Sam Smethers, chief executive of SEA, said: “Economic abuse is a dangerous form of coercive control and children are being harmed by it every day.” She added that the government must publish its long-awaited Violence Against Women and Girls strategy and close loopholes that allow abusers to manipulate systems such as child maintenance. The charity noted that mothers are three times more likely to experience economic abuse than women without children, and this is the first time it has formally researched the impact on young people.
Jess Phillips, the government’s minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said: “Tackling economic abuse will be integral to achieving our goal of halving violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will continue to ensure children and young people are at the heart of this ambition.”
