The Archers, financial abuse and THAT storyline

Millions of us will be tuning in to The Archers this week to see if Helen is found guilty of the attempted murder of her abusive husband, Rob Titchener.

For more than a year his bullying and controlling behaviour has made for compulsive, if unsettling, listening for many regular fans like myself.

It is interesting that this storyline has also shone a light on issues of financial control, and the part it plays in many cases of domestic abuse.

Two years ago, Citizens Advice published one of the first reports into this phenomenon. At the time it said that this form of control and abuse remained ‘relatively hidden’ and was largely absent from media stories or academic studies into domestic violence.

But its own research showed it was a far from uncommon problem: 90 per cent of its advisers said that they’d helped people who’d experienced some form of financial abuse.

This term is used to describe a range of scenarios: from people obsessively controlling what their partner spends, to those who steal from their partner, apply for credit in their name, or refuse to allow them access to their own money – in the worst cases this may mean sufferers have insufficient funds to support themselves or their children.