UK Finance Financial Abuse Code of Practice

Economic abuse — controlling a partner's access to money, work or credit — is widespread in the UK: Refuge reports 8.7 million people have experienced it in a relationship, and UK Finance/Surviving Economic Abuse put the current figure at 4.2 million women, including roughly 750,000 affected specifically through their mortgage.

Following a 2015 campaign by the charity Refuge and The Co-operative Bank, UK Finance set out to have member banks and building societies commit to training staff to recognise economic abuse, avoid making customers repeat their story, help victim-survivors regain control of accounts, and refer people to specialist support services.

UK Finance's member banks and building societies adopted a Financial Abuse Code of Practice in 2018. The Code has since been revised twice, most recently in April 2025, restructured around a seven-pillar framework aligned with the UK's Consumer Duty regulation. Signatory banks and building societies commit to training staff, helping survivors regain control of accounts (including splitting or freezing them), and referring people to specialist support. 25 banks and building societies have also adopted the Economic Abuse Evidence Form, a 'tell us once' tool letting survivors share evidence of abuse across institutions without repeating their story. All new signatories must reach full compliance by 1 November 2026.

By 2025 the Code had 33 signatories covering 49 brands and about 90% of the UK mortgage market. However, Refuge's own research finds only 15% of survivors report economic abuse to their bank and 31% tell no one at all, and no independent, published evaluation yet tracks survivors' financial recovery outcomes after banks intervene.

The Code's record so far is one of broad institutional adoption across the UK banking sector, not yet of proven downstream impact on survivors' financial recovery — an evaluation gap the sector itself acknowledges.