Latest News

In September 2021, Hourglass and Hodge Bank collaborated on a survey to gain insights into the scale of financial/economic abuse, and the impact of the digital divide. Questions were put to 2,013 45–70-year-olds across the UK who might know or care for an older person.

Financial abuse is a complex yet common form of exploitation encompassing financial harm, the direct theft of money from bank accounts, and misuse of Powers of Attorney, through to false representation, scams, the changing of wills, and coercion of housing deeds. Hourglass defines financial abuse of an older person as someone in a position of trust interfering in an older person’s ability to acquire, use, or maintain their finances. Financial abuse is a crime, and should be treated as such, and includes theft, fraud, or the coercion to part an older person from money, goods, property, and/or benefits.

Read the full survey here.