Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help support victims of domestic abuse who are unable to pay their bills due to sharing a joint bank account with an abuse perpetrator.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of domestic abuse receive the support they need, when they need it. We also know that abuse can often leave victims economically dependent on abusers, creating financial insecurity that makes it harder for them to access safety. The Government is determined to tackle this form of abuse which is why for the first time in history, economic abuse is now recognised in law as part of the statutory definition of domestic abuse, included in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (the Act). In the Domestic Abuse (DA) Plan, we have doubled funding to a minimum of £200,000 to further support improving the response to economic abuse.

The DA Plan also highlights the importance of financial institutions signing up to UK Finance's Financial Abuse Code to support customers who are victims of economic abuse and encourages more institutions to do so. The Code sets out how participating banks and building societies should support customers who are victims of economic abuse, aims to increase awareness and provide understanding of what financial and economic abuse looks like and ensure consistency in the support available to help customers to understand and regain control of their finances.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department has taken to safeguard domestic abuse victims against financial abuse in the event that they have a joint bank account with a perpetrator.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of domestic abuse receive the support they need, when they need it. We also know that abuse can often leave victims economically dependent on abusers, creating financial insecurity that makes it harder for them to access safety. The Government is determined to tackle this form of abuse which is why for the first time in history, economic abuse is now recognised in law as part of the statutory definition of domestic abuse, included in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (the Act). In the Domestic Abuse (DA) Plan, we have doubled funding to a minimum of £200,000 to further support improving the response to economic abuse.

The DA Plan also highlights the importance of financial institutions signing up to UK Finance's Financial Abuse Code to support customers who are victims of economic abuse and encourages more institutions to do so. The Code sets out how participating banks and building societies should support customers who are victims of economic abuse, aims to increase awareness and provide understanding of what financial and economic abuse looks like and ensure consistency in the support available to help customers to understand and regain control of their finances.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of local authorities on tackling financial abuse by perpetrators of domestic abuse.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We know that many victims of domestic abuse suffer from economic abuse and that this can be part of a pattern of controlling or coercive behaviour. Economic abuse can make the individual economically dependent on the abuser, and/or create economic instability, limiting the victims’ options to escape and access safety.

The draft updated Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Guidance, published April 2022, recognises the role of economic abuse within a pattern of controlling and coercive behaviour and has a dedicated section on economic abuse including examples of economic abuse, information on how to respond, guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority and signposting to relevant supporting services such as Surviving Economic Abuse.

The Domestic Abuse (DA) Statutory Guidance, published in July 2022, also covers economic abuse, and provides support to professionals on how to safeguard and support victims of domestic abuse. The DA Statutory Guidance is aimed at statutory and non-statutory bodies working with victims and perpetrators, including local authorities. Both pieces of guidance were subject to public consultations which were aimed at local authorities, among others, with local authority representatives also attending focus groups on the DA Statutory Guidance.