What is abuse?

Physical abuse is causing physical pain, injury or suffering to someone else. Some examples of physical abuse include hitting, slapping, pushing, kicking, burning. It can also be not giving someone their medication, giving too much medication or the wrong medication. Using illegal restraint for example, where someone holds another person by forcing them down, or locking them in a room.    

The sexual abuse of adults is when someone does sexual things to another person who does not want it happening to them or may not understand what’s happening. Some examples of sexual abuse include forcing someone to have sex against their will; which is known as rape, sexual assault, touching, making sexual remarks, making someone take part in sexual acts; for example, made to watch sexual activity or films, sexual exploitation. 

Forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact or non-penetrative acts. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet).  

Psychological abuse is also known as emotional abuse. This is when someone says and does bad things to upset and hurt someone else. Some examples of psychological abuse include humiliating, blaming, controlling, intimidating, harassing, verbal abuse, bullying and cyber bullying, isolating, threatening to harm or abandon (leave someone in need), coercion, stopping someone from seeing other people e.g. their friends and family, stopping someone from having access to services or support. 

It may involve serious bullying (including cyber-bullying), causing children to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. It is not always easy to spot when a child is being emotionally abused, However, indicators can include physical, mental or emotional development lags; sudden speech disorders; continual self-depreciation (I’m stupid, ugly); overreaction to mistakes; extreme fear of any new situation, inappropriate response to pain; neurotic behaviour (rocking), extreme passivity of aggression. 

Financial and material abuse is when someone takes someone’s money or things without asking. Some examples of financial and material abuse include theft, which is stealing money, benefits or things, fraud, misuse of a person’s property or things, internet scamming, putting pressure on someone to change their financial arrangements, such as wills, property or inheritance, misuse of any lasting power of attorney or appointeeship. 

Neglect is when someone says they are going to help someone by giving them care and support, but they do not. Acts of omission is when someone ignores situations when someone else is being neglected. Some examples of neglect include leaving someone alone for a long time, ignoring medical or physical care needs, failing to provide access to the right health or social care services, withholding medication, not giving adequate nutrition or heating. 

Organisational abuse is when any form of abuse is caused by an organisation. It can include neglect and poor practice within a specific care setting such as a hospital or care home, or where care is given to someone in their own home. 

Discriminatory abuse is when someone says or does bad things to someone else because they are different to them. People are treated unfairly because of their: Race or religion, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation, age, disability. Some examples of discrimination include harassment, verbal abuse, physical and psychological abuse, hate incidents or hate crime, mate crime, which is a form of disability hate crime. 

Self-neglect is when someone does not take care of themselves properly. This can put their safety, health, and well-being in danger. Some examples include when someone: 

• Doesn’t keep themselves clean 
• Doesn’t look after their own health 
• Doesn’t clean where they live 
• Lives in hoarding conditions by keeping lots of things around them 

Self-neglect may happen because a person is unable or unwilling (or both) to manage to care for them self or their home. Sometimes some people choose to live like this. It is important their rights are supported if they have the mental capacity to make the decision. 

Mate crime happens when someone pretends to be a friend and then uses, manipulates, or abuses the person. 

Hate Crime is a crime motivated by prejudice. The definition used by the police definition is: "any incident which constitutes a criminal offence, perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hate". Some examples of hate crime include: 

• • Trans-phobic against people who are or who are perceived as Transgender. 
• • Homophobic against people who are or who are perceived as Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual 
• • Disability against people who have or who are perceived to have a disability. 
• • Religious against people’s faith beliefs 
• • Racism against people from different ethnic groups. 

Sexual exploitation of children and young people under 18 is where young people receive ‘something’ (e.g. food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, affection, gifts, money) as a result of them performing, and/or another or others performing on them, sexual activities. Child sexual exploitation can occur through the use of technology without the child’s immediate recognition; for example, being persuaded to post sexual images on the Internet/mobile phones. In all cases, those exploiting the child/young person have power over them by virtue of their age, gender, intellect, physical strength and/or economic or other resources. Violence, coercion, and intimidation are common, involvement in exploitative relationships being characterised in the main by the child or young person’s limited availability of choice resulting from their social/economic and/or emotional vulnerability.  

Upskirting involves taking a photograph under a person's clothing with distress, knowing, with the intention of viewing their genitals or buttocks for sexual gratification or causing humiliation, distress, or alarm. 

Modern Slavery is slavery that happens today. Slavery is when someone is forced to work or do other things they do not want to. It is a growing problem that can happen to men, women, and children.

People are treated like slaves; they are forced and tricked into a life of abuse. It is treating people in an inhumane way. This means when someone is cruel, does not have compassion and they can make people suffer.

Modern Slavery can take many forms and some examples include trafficking people where the traffickers are the slave masters; forcing someone to work, they can be made to work for free in a shop, in a factory or even sell sex; forcing someone to be a domestic slave and not letting people have their own life. 

Domestic abuse is an incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading and violent behaviour, including sexual violence, in the majority of cases by a partner or ex-partner, but also by a family member or carer. It is very common. In the vast majority of cases, it is experienced by women and is perpetrated by men. One in seven men and one in four women will be a victim of domestic abuse in their lifetime (ONS figures 2022/23). 

We have a domestic abuse policy, which lists out all of the things that we will do to provide support for our customers who are experiencing domestic abuse 

Radicalisation is when an individual or group have increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations. They may then encourage vulnerable people to follow their lead, enticing and drawing them into terrorism. This then becomes a safeguarding matter.