Economic abuse from a partner contributes to one death from homicide or suicide every 19 days, a charity has found.
Surviving Economic Abuse (Sea) said economic abuse from an intimate partner was a factor in more than half of deaths related to domestic abuse but was often misunderstood or overlooked.
The charity analysed 454 domestic homicide reviews (DHRs) – carried out when a person dies by homicide or suicide as a result of domestic abuse – between 2012 and 2024.
In 231 DHRs, since renamed domestic abuse-related death reviews, the victim had experienced economic abuse from a current or ex-partner – the equivalent of one economic abuse victim dying by homicide or suicide every 19 days.
Sam Smethers, the chief executive of Sea, said: “We think that’s probably an understatement of the prevalence because some of these reports won’t actually have highlighted economic abuse. But even so, over half of these cases show that economic abuse was prevalent alongside other forms of abuse, and just how serious it is.
“We also know that economic abuse is really what prevents victims from escaping a dangerous situation, so it really is what keeps them tied to an abuser. And that’s why it’s such a dangerous form of abuse, as well as it being continued long after a victim may have got away from a perpetrator.”
The charity’s report, Hidden Risk, Fatal Consequences: Economic Abuse in Domestic Homicide Reviews, found that agencies often missed opportunities to spot risks linked to economic abuse. Perpetrators used a range of ways to financially control their partners, such as limiting their access to money or coercing them into debt.
Sea found that fewer than half of the panels investigating domestic homicides had recognised the economic abuse themselves.
Smethers said: “I think that is worrying for us because that’s the sign that actually there’s a lot more work to be done to make sure that economic abuse is identified, that people understand what it is, they can spot the signs, and then they can also potentially intervene to disrupt the abuse and to support victim survivors.”
Anna* and her children have not had a stable home since 2008 as a result of her former partner’s abuse. “We are currently homeless,” she said. “There is no prospect of us finding anywhere to live.”
Her ex-partner stole all of her money, sold her belongings, stopped her from working, claimed any benefits the family was entitled to and made malicious allegations about her to HMRC.
“I didn’t have any access to any money for food for me and the kids,” said Anna, who was forced to rely on handouts. “He would buy himself the best of everything, and what he provided to us was really poor quality. We basically ate eggs, and I still do that, that is something that has stayed with me.”
Even though she has now escaped the relationship, the abuse has had long-lasting and far-reaching financial implications.
“By controlling you financially and economically, you can never escape, it is never-ending,” she said. “It will never end for me, because they are very deliberate actions that abusers take.”
Sea made a number of recommendations after the report, including integrating economic abuse into the government’s new guidance on best practice for domestic abuse risk management, and training professionals and chairs of domestic homicide reviews to recognise economic abuse.
Smethers said: “We’ve really got to get a consistent and scaled approach to this because it’s such a serious crime. There are 4.2 million women experiencing it every year, and we’re seeing in this report just how serious it is.”
Anna said she was “not at all surprised” by the report’s findings because she had previously considered taking her own life. She said the abuse was often harder to deal with because “a lot of women don’t want to talk about it, because it feels shameful”.
Frank Mullane, the chief executive of Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse, said the report “unveils significant gaps in professionals’ knowledge of economic abuse”. When his sister was killed more than 20 years ago by her husband, she had experienced economic abuse.
Mullane said: “We did not have the language to name it, nor a shared understanding of its impact. Ignorance allows abuse to flourish, and I hope professionals will use the recommendations to ensure increased recognition of economic abuse and better practice.”
* Anna’s name has been changed
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
