Violence can be financial

Being young isn't a protection from domestic abuse. Campaigners are welcoming the government's plan to change the definition of domestic abuse so it includes teenage victims. The Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse is also glad to see the definition widened to include coercive control.

Which is a good time to mention money. Domestic abuse isn't just about sexual abuse, broken bones and abstract mental cruelty. It's also about controlling finances, stealing credit cards, deliberately running up debts, making someone account for money spent or forcing someone to work against their will.

Some years ago Platform 51 found a third of disadvantaged young women in its centres had experienced some form of financial abuse — such as having money taken from them, or being manipulated with money to control or harm them. A very large proportion of young women said their male partners spent money earmarked for essentials on themselves. The youngest woman experiencing financial abuse was 16.

Gabriella, 18, told how she started giving her boyfriend money: "The money I gave him went on his booze and cigarettes. I was making £200 a month and after giving him money I’d have nothing left for myself.

"If I told him I didn’t have any money, he’d call me a liar and check my bank statements. He also said it was my fault he was jobless because I was holding him back. He’d call me names and insult me until my self-esteem was rock bottom and felt that I deserved no better."

It's a good thing to add to the curriculum for financial education. You know it's wrong to hit your partner. Do you realise it's also wrong to force her to lend you money?

PJ White is editor of youthmoney.org.uk