Domestic abuse victims missing vital health checks due to partners intercepting post

Report finds nearly half of victims have had letters intercepted, opened or concealed 

Maya Oppenheim
Women's Correspondent
Thursday 27 February 2020 21:55 GMT
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Women who suffered domestic abuse said their health had been put at risk due to letters being withheld – with one woman saying she had missed appointments for cervical cancer
Women who suffered domestic abuse said their health had been put at risk due to letters being withheld – with one woman saying she had missed appointments for cervical cancer

Domestic abuse victims are forced to miss crucial health checks due to partners intercepting their post, a troubling report has found.

Citizens Advice, a network of charities that gives free legal and financial advice, found around half of domestic abuse survivors had their letters intercepted, opened or concealed by their partner.

Four in 10 survivors had experienced the “terror” of having their new address revealed to an abusive former partner even though this infringes data protection regulations — with the frontline service provider noting this is predominantly done by local authorities or a child’s school.

Women who suffered domestic abuse said their health had been put at risk due to letters being withheld — with one woman saying she had missed appointments for cervical cancer.

Another domestic abuse survivor said she accidentally ended up skipping hospital appointments for her son’s epilepsy due to her abusive partner hiding the appointment letters, while another missed letters about self-assessment tax.

Beth* told The Independent she discovered her abusive ex-partner had hidden around 600 letters in a suitcase after getting a call from HMRC saying they had fined her because she had not replied to letters about her self-assessment.

Beth said he had also been subjecting her to coercive control and monitoring her activities by rifling through her bank statements.

“He would check my statement to say ‘right on the 18th September, you took £30 of petrol in your car at a particular petrol station’. He was checking to see if I had actually been in that area,” she said.

“And any time where I couldn’t answer these questions would become a massive argument. He would say ‘You know, you’re lying to me. You weren’t there, I don’t know where you were’.”

The research estimates domestic abuse victims have lost £7.1 billion in the last decade due to abusive partners either concealing bills, which can cause them to be hit with fines after interest accumulates, or utilising their victim’s identity to take credit out.

Megan* said her health started to deteriorate after her abusive ex-partner hid highly important medical letters from her.

She said: “Because I missed the appointments with the hospital, and I missed the appointment [with drug and alcohol services], now my liver is starting to fail. This would all have been sorted if I had had my appointments.”

Citizens Advice, the statutory consumer watchdog for postal services, has called for better facilities to protect survivors of domestic violence.

Dame Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “It’s shocking that domestic abuse survivors are being put at risk of further harm because they can’t access their post securely. From social isolation and missed medical appointments to unpaid bills and unauthorised credit, the consequences of post interception can be dire.

“On top of this, it’s inexcusable that even once survivors have left the home where they suffered abuse, they are at risk of having their new address disclosed to their perpetrator.

“We’re urging the government to introduce a secure PO box system at post offices, and the Information Commissioner to investigate these inexcusable breaches of privacy. It’s a vital step to ensure that survivors and their families are able to live without fear.”

The research comes after the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales said domestic abuse victims should be able to change their national insurance (NI) numbers to prevent their abusive ex-partners tracking them down.

Dame Vera Baird QC wrote an open letter to government ministers last October asking them to make the changes in light of an article by The Independent that first revealed the issue.

The article detailed how the government had been accused of placing the lives of tens of thousands of victims of domestic abuse at risk by allowing them to be traced via their NI numbers.

*Names have been changed to protect survivors' identities

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