Thank you very much. I beg to move the amendment and speak also to Amendment 166. I have tabled these amendments to strengthen the Bill to protect older adults at risk of domestic abuse. I thank the noble Lords, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord Randall of Uxbridge, and the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, for adding their names to both amendments.
Historically the abuse of older adults has been underreported and, sadly, all too often it is not viewed as a serious crime. It was nearly 30 years ago that I, as director of Age Concern England, with the help of the Department of Health, set up the charity Action on Elder Abuse, now Hourglass, of which I am proud to be a patron. However, it is with regret that I say that, after all these years, the prevention of abuse of older people is still not prioritised, despite one in six people over 65 in the UK having experienced some form of abuse. This is shocking, and the aim of these amendments is to improve the reporting and prevention of this crime.
Amendment 165 places a duty on local authorities to report suspected abuse. The financial assessment for adult social care carried out by local authorities is one area where the financial abuse of older people can be detected. The amendment would reinforce existing safeguards practised by local authorities and the duties of care detailed in the Care Act 2014. Figures from Hourglass show that 40% of calls to its helpline involve financial abuse. Often this is carried out by a family member or carer who is trusted by the victim, who is unaware that the abuse is taking place. Or perhaps the victim relies on the perpetrator for support and therefore feels unable to report the abuse.
Reinforcing the duty of local authorities to report this abuse through the amendment is essential to safeguarding adults at risk. This is particularly so for those who need social care, as they are often more vulnerable and may not be able to speak out. I co-chair the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia. Dementia is a condition that 850,000 people in the UK live with. Further, one in three people born in the UK this year will likely develop some form of dementia at some point in their life, according to Alzheimer’s Research UK figures. People living with this condition are much more vulnerable than most to financial and other forms of abuse, because they may not be aware of what is happening—or, if they are, they may not be considered a reliable witness if they report the abuse. Therefore, strengthening the duty on local authorities to report while carrying out adult social care financial assessments is crucial to preventing the financial abuse of older adults at risk.
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Amendment 166 concerns powers of entry for registered social workers where there is suspected abuse of older people. At present, only the police have powers
of entry and this is only when life and limb are at risk. The amendment allows powers of entry to a registered social worker only after a magistrates’ court has made an order permitting them to enter the premises for the purpose of identifying and supporting victims of domestic abuse. Power of entry would be granted only where a registered social worker has reason to believe that the occupants of the premises are at risk of being victims of domestic abuse and they have been refused entry by any occupant of the premises.
This power of entry was introduced in Scotland in 2008, and similar powers came into force in Wales in 2016. It is time to bring England in line with other parts of the United Kingdom, and this amendment seeks to achieve this. The experience both in Scotland and Wales suggests that having this power of entry in law can speed up the process of safeguarding inquiries.
In 2017, the King’s College London workforce research unit found that most practitioners were in favour of giving social workers the power of entry that this amendment would. Practitioners were concerned that perpetrators often use coercion or controlling behaviours to ensure that the victim would not consent to entry. They believed that giving registered social workers the ability to enter premises to investigate suspected abuse was necessary to ensure safeguarding.
In a situation where there is suspected child abuse, powers of entry would be given to social workers and/or the police. The life and limb of the child would not need to be at risk before state services intervened in this way. The amendment seeks similar protections for adults at risk.
A real-life example of how the current laws regarding power of entry are not sufficient to safeguard older adults at risk is the 2014 court case taken by the London Borough of Redbridge; this is recorded as EWCOP 485. In this case the local authority had received reports that a 94 year-old lady was the victim of abusive behaviour and that her finances were being controlled by the people she was living with. The social worker faced consistent obstruction in carrying out their duties and was unable to investigate the suspected abuse. Due to the current life-and-limb threshold in law, the court was not able to grant entry to the social worker, which I believe is quite shameful.
I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, for her kind words on day five in Committee on this Bill regarding all the work that I have done in this area. But there continues to be a lack of awareness of the abuse of older people and a lack of sufficient safeguarding measures to prevent it happening in future. I hope that the Government will give serious consideration to these two amendments: Amendment 165, which strengthens local authorities’ duty to report financial abuse, and Amendment 166, which brings England in line with Scotland and Wales with regards to the power of entry for registered social workers in cases of suspected abuse against adults at risk.