'My ex-partner left me and our children with nothing'

Warning over 'hidden crisis' of economic abuse in UK

- HOLLY EVANS

Nearly 4 million children are believed to be affected by economic abuse, with one in seven mothers claiming their child or teenager had experienced poor mental health as a result.

A study conducted by the charity Surviving Economic Abuse and Ipsos, which surveyed 5,094 adults, found more than a quarter of mothers (27 per cent) have experienced this form of abuse – when a current or ex-partner controls a victim's money like income and bank accounts – in the past year, suggesting that 3.9 million children are being affected by this “hidden crisis”.

In Becky's* case, her ex-partner had seemed like the “best thing since sliced bread” when they first met when she was just 18 years old. He would buy her gifts, take her on fancy holidays and encouraged her to move in with him after six months of dating. Given that he had a decent job and had taken control of the household bills, she was unaware that he was avoiding paying council tax and was racking up significant debts in her name.

After the birth of their first child, he pressured her to give up her job by insisting he would “take care of her”, making it impossible for her to continue working by cancelling the car insurance and refusing to pay for childcare costs. Isolated from friends and family due to his insistence that they continually move house further and further away, she was then subjected to verbal abuse, which left her depressed, while he became more volatile, throwing plates whenever she stood her ground.