Economic Abuse

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Economic abuse is an illegal act where a person experiences coercive control that limits their ability to acquire, use and keep economic products/services.

The insurances that we arrange have the potential to be used by an economic abuser in a number of different ways. Our team are trained to monitor and respond to any indication that the person we are communicating with is experiencing economic abuse, or is trying to have undue influence over another person.

At times our security procedures can seem quite excessive, but, please be assured that everything we do is for the safety of the people that we are supporting.

Signs of Economic Abuse in Insurance

You might wonder how economic abuse can happen when it comes to things like life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection. You would be surprised at how inventive abusers can be.

Here are some examples that we watch for:

Trying to set up insurance for another person and not allowing us to have that person’s contact details
Being insistent that a joint insurance policy is arranged, when this does not match needs
Requesting a large value insurance policy on another person’s life, that does not match the recommendation that we have given
Asking us to send copies of policy documents and recommendation reports to an email address not linked to the policyholder
Asking us to arrange a Trust for a beneficiary that does not match the recommendation we have given

There are even more things that we are looking for and monitoring right from the start of our conversations and over the years after, as we continue to support you.

Economic Abuse Over Time

Unfortunately abuse can change and develop over time. It might be that we have arranged insurance for a couple before and they have since separated. It is possible that everything will change very smoothly but if there is economic abuse occurring, things can be more difficult.

Here are some ways that economic abuse can change over time with insurance:

Cancelling direct debit payments and resetting them just in time for the policy to remain active, to prolong the abuse and try to access contact details
Asking for a claim for critical illness cover or income protection to be paid into their own account, rather than the policyholders
Refusing to cancel an insurance policy
Attempting to change the beneficiaries of a Trust without clear reasoning for doing so
Invalid reporting of a person for non-disclosure, fraud or money laundering

It is possible that we might identify that economic abuse is happening, before the person is even aware that this is happening to them. If this is the case we will sensitively provide details of support organisations. We are very mindful that economic abuse is an unpleasant situation to experience and we are trained to speak with you in a supportive way.

How We Support You

We take the security and wellbeing of the people we support very seriously, not just because we are a regulated company in the UK, but also because it’s simply the right thing to do.

These are just some of the ways that we work, to protect you:

We will require a person to go through our data protection security when contacting us, in order for us to discuss a policy
We will refuse to speak to anyone about an insurance policy if they are unable to pass our data protection checks, there are potential exemptions if someone contacts us in the event of a life insurance claim, or critical illness or income protection claim where the claimant can no longer communicate
We will not arrange an insurance policy for someone who cannot communicate with us, unless you have a power of attorney and meet our compliance requirements
When speaking with a couple we will ask for different contact numbers and email addresses for each person
Where we feel that economic abuse may be happening, an alert will be placed within our systems for our compliance team to assess the situation and respond accordingly
Upon learning of a separation we will change your information in our system with clear messaging that no further details are to be discussed with either party, about the other person
Where we feel that economic abuse is happening we will refuse to arrange an insurance policy

There any many systems and procedures in place to make sure that we do everything possible to keep you safe.

Surviving Economic Abuse

I host a podcast that is listened to by other advisers, insurers, charities and more. It was an absolute pleasure to speak with Lauren Garrett from the SEA Charity about the work they are doing. It was incredibly insightful and I sincerely hope it helps more people to understand more about how to identify and support people experiencing economic abuse.

You can access a transcript of this podcast here.

If you would like to know any more about what we are doing to address economic abuse and protect our clients, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Dr Kathryn Knowles Phd

Author
This page was written by Dr Kathryn Knowles Phd, an award-winning insurance adviser. To read more about Kathryn please see her bio here

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