Economic abuse can mean that it is harder for the person experiencing the abuse to leave. This is because they don’t have their own money and are dependent on the abusive person for basic things such as housing, food and clothes for them or their children. Economic abuse can also be called financial abuse.
Economic abuse is when your partner or ex-partner:
- Keeps you financially dependent on them
- Denies you access to the family finances to pay for food, bills and medication
- Denies you access to joint bank accounts and financial information
- Pressures you to give them large sums of money or gets you into debt
- Forbids you to work, or tells you how often you can work, and demands that you handover any earnings
- Refuses to pay child maintenance