Communities and Culture Committee

Scrutiny Inquiry : Domestic Abuse

Response from Age Concern Cymru

1. Introduction

1.1 Age Concern Cymru is pleased to respond to the Communities and Culture Committee’s call for evidence into Domestic Abuse. Age Concern Cymru is the leading all-Wales charity working with and for older people. Age Concern in Wales is made up of Age Concern Cymru and 27 locally based, independent Age Concern Organisations. Our activities include campaigning, research, advocacy, information, support for forums of older people and befriending. Through the combination of an all-Wales presence, local community based organisations and our network of over 200 older people Age Concern in Wales is well positioned to be in touch with the issues affecting older people.

1.2 Age Concern Cymru’s work in the area of abuse is led by our Elder Abuse Project team. The project is funded by Comic Relief and has been designed in response to the need to develop advocacy work in Wales as a key means of tackling the abuse of older people and to the need to develop policy and practice relating to this very important issue. We hope that the following comments from the project team will assist the committee in its work in this important area and we hope that the committee will ensure that the particular issues faced by older people in relation to domestic abuse are considered as part of the inquiry.

2. Comments for the Inquiry

2.1 We very much welcome the fact that the all Wales Domestic Abuse Strategy is inclusive i.e. it states that abuse can occur in heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender relationships, it acknowledges that abuse cuts across age, race religion and gender and it also includes abuse which is perpetrated by a son, daughter or any other person who has a close or blood relationship with the survivor. However, there is no explicit mention of how it affects older people, or elder abuse. Our work has indicated that there is a need for much more work to be done in the area of elder abuse in terms of assessing prevalence of abuse in Wales, the need for services, what those services should be, where they should be located and also what changes in legislation or policy might be needed to protect older people from abuse.

2.2 Older people can be victims of abuse for a significant number of years and consequently it can be much more difficult for them to break away from a violent relationship. We are aware that some older people have been abused within their own homes for up to 40 years. Quite often it is not until a partner becomes in need of community care services that the abuse is discovered. The prospect of leaving a relationship behind is very difficult for older people, complex feelings towards the abuser and a sense of responsibility towards other family members, fear and loneliness, not wanting to leave the family home, their community all play a part in this. Even in cases where a person has decided to leave a long term relationship, often they have been re housed in the same locality as their abuser and have returned to their partner within weeks. Some older people feel that the prospect of leaving and starting again is very daunting at their stage in life - they just want the abuse to stop.

2.3 Some instances of abuse may not immediately be recognised as being rooted in domestic violence. We are aware, for example, of financial abuse of a parent or grandparent being linked to that parent or grandparent’s inability to protect a child from abuse earlier in life. Abuse in its widest sense needs to be looked at and tackled in a co-ordinated way.

2.4 The UK prevalence study into elder abuse carried out by the Department of Health and Comic Relief in June 2007 states that 6% of older people are currently being abused. The researchers have advised that this is likely to be an underestimate as the study did not include older people who have dementia. Age Concern Cymru’s own opinion poll conducted by ICM in 2006 showed that 1 in 5 people of all ages in Wales were personally aware of a situation where they felt an older person had been abused.

2.5 A major issue for older people in the area of domestic abuse is lack of appropriate services. Refuges are very often not suitable or appropriate places for older people to go so there is a lack of safe options for older people should they decide, or be forced, to flee a violent situation. In geographical terms services are very inadequately located across Wales for example if an older person is sexually assaulted in mid Wales, they have to travel to Merthyr or Wrexham to obtain appropriate support. We are also aware that there are very few appropriate services for older male survivors of domestic abuse.

3. Conclusion

3.1 We hope that these comments will prove useful to the committee in its consideration of this important issue. There are some very specific issues for older people in this area and we would like to see these addressed as part of the inquiry. We strongly believe that elder abuse still remains an under-researched and under-resourced area and we hope that the work of the committee can go some way to rectifying that in Wales.

3.2 We have submitted a short information sheet about our elder abuse project for your information and would be more than happy to provide any further information relating to our work in this area as required. We would also be happy to attend a committee meeting to present evidence in person.

Elder Abuse project

Background

This Comic Relief funded project is being delivered by two project officers each supported by an assistant. Between them they cover the whole of Wales. The project has been designed in response to the need to develop advocacy work in Wales as a key means of tackling the abuse of older people and to the need to develop policy and practice relating to this very important issue. The project represents a major opportunity to make a key and pioneering contribution to work in this area. Working in partnership with other organisations will be central to carrying out the work.

The Project

Overall aim: to tackle the issue of elder abuse in Wales by

1. Influencing policy and practice so that abuse is less likely and is dealt with more effectively when it does occur.

2. Increasing general public awareness of the issue of elder abuse, that it is wrong and should not be tolerated.

3. Increasing awareness and understanding of the value of advocacy in the protection and empowerment of older people.

Contacts

029 2043 1555 0845 310 3332

Sharon.gay@accymru.org.uk
louise.hughes@accymru.org.uk