Minoritised Communities & Additional Barriers
Forced Marriage
A forced marriage occurs when one or both individuals do not want to marry but are pressured, threatened, or abused into doing so.
Forms of Pressure
- Threats or violence
- Emotional or family pressure (e.g., “You’ll shame us if you say no”)
- Being taken abroad against your will
- Financial control (e.g., taking your money or passport)
Forced marriage is illegal in the UK. It is a form of domestic abuse, and if you’re under 18, it is also child abuse. You have the right to choose who and whether to marry. Support is available to help you stay safe.
Financial Abuse in Forced Marriage
Financial abuse involves controlling someone’s money or financial choices to take away their freedom. In forced marriages, this can come from a spouse or extended family.
Abuse from a Spouse
- Taking your wages, savings, or benefits and refusing to return them
- Preventing you from working or studying
- Forcing you to take out loans or sign documents you don’t understand
- Threatening to leave you with nothing if you try to end the marriage
- Using your immigration status to control or frighten you
Abuse from Family or In-Laws
- Taking your money or benefits “for the family”
- Withholding money, food, or essentials to force you to marry or stay married
- Taking your passport, ID, or bank card so you can’t leave
- Forcing you to send money abroad or pay family debts
- Threatening to cut you off financially or make you homeless if you disobey
These behaviours are not cultural traditions—they are abuse. You have the right to make your own choices and control your own money.
Signs You Might Be at Risk
- You feel scared or pressured to marry
- You’re being stopped from working, studying, or going out
- Your money, bank card, or ID are taken from you
- Family members threaten or shame you
- You have no control over your own finances
If any of these sounds familiar, you are not alone, and help is available.
Your Rights
- Forced marriage is against the law
- You can ask the court for a Forced Marriage Protection Order
- You can get safe housing, legal support, and financial advice
- You can access benefits and bank accounts safely and privately
Where to Get Support
Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) – Government Help
Phone (Mon–Fri, 9–5): 020 7008 0151
Out of hours: 020 7008 5000 (ask for the Global Response Centre)
Email: fmu@fcdo.gov.uk
Website: gov.uk/stop-forced-marriage
Karma Nirvana – Support for Forced Marriage & Honour-Based Abuse
Phone (Mon–Fri, 9–5): 0800 5999 247
Website: karmanirvana.org.uk
Safe, confidential help for survivors
Remember
You are not to blame. You have the right to live free from fear, violence, and control. You have the right to make your own choices about your life and your money. Support is available—you do not have to face this alone.
If you are in immediate danger, call 999.
Support for Disabled Survivors & Financial Abuse by Carers
If you are disabled and experiencing financial abuse from a carer, partner, or someone else close to you, you may face specific barriers to managing your money and benefits. The good news is that there are steps and support available to help you protect your finances, access your benefits safely, and regain control.
Steps to consider:
Get specialist advice and advocacy
Contact organisations such as Disability Rights UK, Scope or Stay Safe East for guidance on protecting your finances and navigating abuse. They can provide advocacy, help you understand your rights, and support you in communicating safely with agencies.
Review benefit management arrangements
If someone else manages your benefits (as an appointee), you can ask about changing the appointee or appointing a trusted advocate to manage claims safely. You do not have to remain dependent on someone who has abused you financially.
Keep documents safe
Collect and securely store copies of important papers, such as:
- PIP/DLA award letters
- Other benefit letters
- Bank statements
- Bills or tenancy agreements
Use a safe location or a trusted advocate if storing them at home isn’t safe.
Seek legal or specialist support if needed
A specialist solicitor, advocate, or domestic abuse support service can advise on reclaiming access to finances or challenging financial abuse. This can include issues such as removing an abuser’s control over accounts or benefits or recovering misused funds.
Work with trusted support services for applications
Ask a support worker, advocate, or charity to help with forms, benefit claims, or financial applications. Avoid using shared devices or accounts that may be monitored by someone who has abused you.
Use vulnerable customer services
When contacting banks, utilities, or service providers, ask to speak with the Vulnerable Customer Department. They may be able to provide additional protections, confidential communications, and support tailored to your situation.
Take control at your own pace
You decide which steps to take and when. Even small actions, like securing documents or speaking to a support worker, are real steps toward safety and independence.
Economic abuse can look different from one survivor to the next. Unfair systems and attitudes in society can make it harder for some survivors to be believed, to have their experiences recognised and to get the support they need. Abusers can also take advantage of these barriers to keep control. Too often, this means economic abuse goes unseen, particularly for survivors who belong to minoritised backgrounds, where different parts of their lives and identities overlap.
To help address this, Refuge worked with 11 specialist organisations across the UK to create a series of survivor facing factsheets. Together, in workshops, we drew on our partners’ expertise and frontline experience to look at how economic abuse affects Deaf and disabled survivors, racially minoritised women, older survivors, LGBTQ+ survivors, women selling sex, and women from Gypsy, Romani, and Traveller communities.
The factsheets shine a light on forms of abuse that are less well known. These include controlling someone’s disability benefits or essential support, financial abuse in polygamous or religious-only marriages, and using immigration status, housing or family pressure to keep control. Grounded in real experiences from communities, these resources will help survivors, professionals and services spot economic abuse, understand it and respond well.