The Economics of Abuse 2024

£16.6 Billion Hidden Crisis: Landmark study reveals true cost of abuse against older people and the £307 million investment needed to protect them.

For the first time, the staggering £16 billion cost of abuse against older people in the UK has been exposed in a landmark report from safer ageing charity, Hourglass, revealing both the scale of the crisis and the investment urgently needed to protect older people.

In the study, entitled ‘The Economics of Abuse’, timed to be released during Safer Ageing Week 2024, the charity has revealed the necessary cost to provide services to safeguard and protect older people from abuse would be just over £307 million. This is against a cost to the UK economy for the abuse of older people of around £16.6 billion annually. This is the first time that such a comprehensive study has been undertaken.

The report, states: ‘Normally a £16 billion issue of violence and neglect would be at the forefront of policy and public attention, but the abuse of older people and the needs of older victim-survivors continues to be last in line and suffer from a lack of attention, understanding, and a lack of care. Hopefully, placing a cost on the consequences of abuse against older people, will help policy makers to understand the dynamics of abuse, as well as the necessity of providing financial support to specialist services which aid older victim-survivors’.

The study also highlights that the £16.6 billion figure will hit £25 billion by 2050 with the population of over 60s in the UK likely to grow to 22.7 million. This would equate to an estimated 589,264 older victim-survivors – and a cost of £43k to the UK economy per case.

Chair of Hourglass, Andrea Nicholas-Jones, said:

“This is a truly landmark study and helps policy-makers and parliamentarians understand the nature of this epidemic of abuse. The abuse of older people costs £16.6 billion and essential services to rebuild hope and lives would cost £307m.

“We know that older people who are victims of financial abuse are twice as likely to die prematurely as their non-victim peers, hence Hourglass’s campaign to build a Safer Ageing Society by 2050. But with this study revealing that abuse of older people will cost the economy £25 billion by 2050 – moves towards a Safer Ageing Society are more important than ever.

CEO of Hourglass, Richard Robinson, added:

“This doesn’t just make a case for investment in protection and essential services. It reveals the funding imbalance that has plagued older victim-survivors for generations. Now is the time to ensure older people are given parity in services, support and understanding.

“Safer Ageing Week 2024 is entitled Take Note. I can only hope decision-makers across the sector and the four governments heed our suggestion and finally see the funding imperative of protecting older people.”

This news comes in the same week that the charity revealed over £53 million has been stolen or defrauded from older people in the past three years in cases reported to their helpline, with the average value lost being as much as £87,000 per victim. In 61% of these cases, the perpetrator was a family member of the victim-survivor.

Hourglass is warning that these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. With the ongoing cost of living crisis and a rapidly ageing older population that is set to see a further 9.6 million older people in the UK by 2050, this abuse is only set to increase.

Research Paper - November 2024