Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 59 of her Department's document entitled Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls, Volume 1: Strategy, published on 18 December 2025, whether her discussions with stakeholders on the misuse of joint financial products will include domestic abuse service providers.

In the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, HM Treasury undertook work with key stakeholders to explore how joint mortgages are used as a tool of abuse and how victims and survivors can be better supported.

The Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy considers economic abuse as a key theme in recognition of the particular challenges victim-survivors’ can face in accessing financial products and services. This includes exploring how joint mortgages are used as a tool of abuse and how victims and survivors can be better supported. As part of this, HM Treasury are working closely with charity Surviving Economic Abuse who have been appointed a member of the Financial Inclusion Committee going forward to help inform the delivery of key interventions.

In addition, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also held lived experience sessions with victim-survivors of economic abuse as part of their Mortgages Rule Review which HM Treasury also engaged in.