Campaign aims to protect vulnerable from 'financial harm'
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A CAMPAIGN called ‘Tell Someone’ has been launched by the three adult protection committees in Grampian to raise awareness of the financial harm of vulnerable older people in the north east of Scotland.
According to a study by the Department of Health/Comic Relief in 2007, approximately 4% of older people living in the community are subject to abuse.
Action on Elder Abuse, a charity that tackles the abuse of older people also found in a study that women are more likely to be targeted than men and most victims are over 80.
Mo Ramsay, Independent Convener of the Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray Adult Protection Committees welcomed delegates to the event and outlined why financial harm was chosen for the campaign.
Mo said: "Financial harm is the most prevalent issue within the sphere of adult protection and an example of this is when a friend, relative or carer is stealing money or possessions from an adult who is vulnerable due to their age, or through disability.
"The particular focus for the ‘Tell Someone’ campaign is around older people who may be less able to protect themselves.
"We want to increase referrals to our teams from this group and we know statistically that the older generation can be targets.
"We want to encourage people to report anything they think is suspicious to their local authority’s adult protection team in order that it can be investigated and reduce the prevalence of harm."
The aim of the campaign is to increase awareness of adult protection issues, specifically the financial abuse of older adults and will include training, advertising and events.
The launch was attended by approximately 100 people including professionals, volunteers, service users, carers and other interested community representatives.
Out of the Darkness, a theatre company based in Elgin performed at the launch and acted out a realistic scene showing an older person whose daughter was stealing money from her for holidays, cars and shopping.
The performance highlighted the impact that financial harm has on an older person, the complexities involved when it is a family member and what adult protection teams can do to help.
Financial harm can generally be classified in two broad categories either through exploitation by a person known, such as a family member, acquaintance, caregiver or someone acting as power of attorney or guardian.
Harm can also occur through exploitation by a stranger from unscrupulous salesmen to someone representing a bogus charity.
A typical scenario of financial harm could involve: an older person on their own with a son or daughter who has power of attorney. The older person has a great degree of financial wealth/property and is vulnerable, the family members are capitalising on this and spending the money; an older person living alone in a flat who relies on a neighbour or friend to go shopping and never gets change as the person siphons off the money for themselves; an older person being targeted by bogus workmen or scam mail to extort money; an older person being charged excessive rent or fees for services.
Many older people lose large sums of money, lose property they have lived in for years, do not receive benefits to which they are entitled, incur large debts or simply do not have enough money to live on.
It also impacts people emotionally and mentally leading to depression, anxiety and loss of confidence to live independently.
For more information on adult protection issues please ‘Tell Someone’ and contact the adult protection team within your local council: Aberdeenshire, 01651 871246, adultprotectionnetwork@aberdeenshire.gov.uk, Moray, 0300 1230897 (24 hrs), adultprotection@moray.gov.uk
