Guardian: domestic coercion referrals up 78%

Refuge said on July 9 that referrals involving technology-facilitated or economic abuse rose 78% year on year, adding to warnings from UK charities that coercive control is increasingly being carried out through phones, bank accounts, vehicles and connected devices. The domestic-abuse charity said its specialist Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment team received 967 referrals between April 2025 and March 2026, up from 542 in 2024-25. Refuge said the cases show how abuse is often expressed through surveillance, financial restriction and humiliation rather than only visible assault. (refuge.org.uk) The Guardian separately reported that strangulation, confinement and retaliatory humiliation were among behaviors flagged as markers of heightened danger in abusive relationships. ### Where is the increase showing up? Refuge said 43% of survivors referred to the specialist team in 2025-26 reported some form of economic abuse, compared with 37% the previous year. The charity said perpetrators were increasingly exploiting online banking, account access and car-finance arrangements to create debt or restrict a survivor’s movements. Refuge said the service, launched in 2017, is the only specialist team of its kind in England. (refuge.org.uk) The group said demand has risen both in volume and complexity, with perpetrators using stalkerware, spyware, deepfakes, smart-home devices and other digital tools to monitor or intimidate survivors. ### Why do strangulation and confinement matter in the same conversation? The Guardian reported on July 9 that domestic-abuse specialists are also emphasizing escalation indicators that go beyond bruising or a single assault allegation. (refuge.org.uk) The report said strangulation, confinement and retaliatory humiliation are being treated as signs of higher danger, alongside coercive control carried out through money and technology. ClickOnDetroit reported this week that prior domestic-violence history can raise risk in parole cases, citing Detroit police. (refuge.org.uk) That report did not address the UK data directly, but it matched the broader point that patterns of coercion and repeated violence are treated by practitioners as warning signs for future harm. ### What does “technology-facilitated” abuse look like in practice? Refuge said perpetrators are using technology to track survivors’ movements, monitor communications and interfere with daily life. (uk.news.yahoo.com) The charity has previously cited stalkerware, spy cameras, smart-home systems and image-based abuse as methods used to maintain coercive control after separation or during disputes over money, housing or children. Family Law, reporting earlier this year on Refuge’s findings, said wearable devices and artificial intelligence tools were also appearing in abuse cases. (clickondetroit.com) That report said legal protections and professional understanding were struggling to keep pace with the way consumer technology can be misused in domestic settings. ### Why should officers and courts write these patterns into case narratives? Refuge said the rise in referrals should shape government policy and frontline practice, including the UK’s strategy on violence against women and girls. (refuge.org.uk) In practical terms, that means reports that describe surveillance, account control, debt coercion, strangulation or confinement as part of a pattern, not as isolated background details. Johns Hopkins’ public-health guidance on Extreme Risk Protection Orders says those orders are modeled on domestic-violence protection orders and are used to temporarily restrict firearm access when someone presents a credible risk of harm. (familylaw.co.uk) That does not mean every coercive-control case leads to such an order, but it supports the broader reporting principle that detailed facts about threats, monitoring and escalating violence can be relevant to no-contact conditions, GPS monitoring or other court interventions. (refuge.org.uk) ### What comes next? Refuge said on July 9 that it wants technology-facilitated abuse to be treated as a priority in the government’s violence-against-women-and-girls strategy. The charity’s latest figures and recommendations are set out in its July 9 statement, which names economic abuse, digital surveillance and car-finance coercion as areas requiring closer frontline attention. (refuge.org.uk) (publichealth.jhu.edu)