Discriminatory Abuse
What is Discriminatory Abuse?
Discriminatory abuse is unfair treatment of an individual based on their protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, gender, marital status, pregnancy, disability, race, nationality, ethnicity, religious belief, sex and sexual orientation. Abuse can include but is not limited to harassment, physical violence, neglect and financial control. A more comprehensive definition of abuse can be found in The Care Act 2014.
Discriminatory abuse is often a highly complex issue involving layers of intersectionality and cultural sensitivity.
Who Can Be Affected?
Discriminatory abuse may be linked to one or more of the following characteristics:
- Disability or learning disability
- Race, ethnicity, nationality, or skin colour
- Religion or belief
- Gender or gender identity
- Sexual orientation
- Age
- Culture or language
- Appearance or health conditions
Everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
Types and Examples of Discriminatory Abuse
Discriminatory abuse can include:
- Verbal abuse, insults, or derogatory language
- Bullying, harassment, or intimidation
- Hate crime or hate incidents
- Exclusion from activities, education, or services
- Unequal or unfair treatment
- Denial of reasonable adjustments or support
- Online abuse or cyberbullying
- Institutional discrimination through policies or practices
Signs and Indicators
A person experiencing discriminatory abuse may:
- Become withdrawn, anxious, or distressed
- Show changes in behaviour, mood, or confidence
- Express fear of certain people or places
- Experience low self-esteem or depression
- Avoid accessing services or support
- Report repeated unfair treatment or bullying
These signs may also indicate other forms of abuse.
Why Discriminatory Abuse Is a Safeguarding Issue
Discriminatory abuse can cause significant harm, including:
- Emotional and psychological trauma
- Long-term damage to wellbeing and mental health
- Increased vulnerability to other forms of abuse
- Loss of dignity, independence, and confidence
- Breaches of human rights and equality legislation
All agencies have a responsibility to identify, prevent, and respond to discriminatory abuse.
What To Do If You Are Worried About Someone
If Someone Is in Immediate Danger
Call 999 straight away.
If You Have a Safeguarding Concern
- Report concerns to your local authority safeguarding team
- Professionals should follow their organisation’s safeguarding procedures
- Members of the public can raise concerns without giving their name
How to report abuse | Safeguarding Southend Partnership
Support and Advice
If you or someone you know needs support:
- NSPCC (children and young people):
https://www.nspcc.org.uk - Childline (under 19s):
https://www.childline.org.uk - National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children – safeguarding guidance:
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection - Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) – adult safeguarding and discrimination:
https://www.scie.org.uk/safeguarding/adults - Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS):
https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com
Information for Professionals
All professionals have a duty to:
- Recognise discriminatory abuse as a safeguarding concern
- Listen to and take concerns seriously
- Record concerns accurately and factually
- Share information appropriately
- Work in partnership with other agencies
Relevant Legislation
Most of the legislation surrounding this form abuse can be found in The Equality Act 2010 and The Care Act 2014.
For detail of the legal issues around discriminatory abuse see: Discrimination Law in the UK: An Overview | Contend Legal
Reviews Highlighting Discriminatory Abuse
Discriminatory abuse has been highlighted in many national and local safeguarding reviews as an area of concern for professionals.
- Less than 1 per cent of the 149,540 Section 42 safeguarding enquiries raised in 2020/21 were linked to Discriminatory Abuse (Safeguarding Adults, England, 2020-21: Experimental Statistics).
- Less than 2 per cent of the Safeguarding Adults Reviews from April 2019-March 2023 were completed under the category of Discriminatory Abuse (Second National Analysis of Safeguarding Adult Reviews: April 2019 – March 2023).
- Rates of reported disability hate crime – an allied form of abuse – have increased in recent years. A total of 9,208 disability hate crimes were reported in 2020/21 (an increase of 9 per cent on the year before and an increase of 449 per cent since 2012) (Hate Crime Statistics).
National reviews:
Fiona Pilkington (Leicestershire)
Independent review published – Diocese of Oxford (anglican.org)
bakar-sar-final-for-publication.pdf (bristolsafeguarding.org)
learning-briefing-sar-bakar-final-for-publication.pdf (bristolsafeguarding.org)
Mate Crime Thematic Review
mate-crime-thematic-review-final.pdf (bristolsafeguarding.org)
Kamil Ahmad and Mr X SAR
kamil-ahmad-and-mr-x-sar-report-final-for-publication.pdf (bristolsafeguarding.org)
You can find national data on hate crime here
Mate Crime
Mate crime is when an individual befriends someone in order to exploit them in a criminal manner. Often the people targeted are disabled and so this becomes a form of discriminatory abuse.
In the examples above, mate crime is a feature of both the Steven Hoskin and the Gemma Hayter reviews. There was also a Thematic Review local to Bristol which was carried out in relation to this issue specifically.
See below a video explaining mate crime:
LGBTQIA+ Abuse
In a 2021 report it was stated that two-thirds of LGBTQIA+ people had experienced violence or abuse as a result of their identification or sexuality. The Peter Farquhar review above is a further example of this and there are many more. A 2017 government survey further displays the extent of the issue: National LGBT Survey Report.
Resources for professionals to help tackle this issue can be found here:
working-with-victims-of-anti_lgbt-hate-crimes-1.pdf (report-it.org.uk)
online-crime-2020_0.pdf (report-it.org.uk)
hate-crime-report-2019.pdf (report-it.org.uk)
Intersectionality
Intersectionality is the framework for understanding how different aspects of a person’s identity, such as race, gender, class, and sexuality, intersect and interact to create unique experiences of privilege and discrimination (https://practicalpie.com/intersectionality/).
This video provides a basic outline of intersectionality:
Further resources on intersectionality can be found here:
Intersectionality in Psychology (9 Examples + Definition) – Practical Psychology (practicalpie.com)
15 Examples of Intersectionality (2024) (helpfulprofessor.com)
INTERSECTIONALITY RESOURCE GUIDE AND TOOLKIT (unwomen.org)
Unconscious Bias
As shown in the reviews above, unconscious bias can easily lead to discrimination and abuse. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations have some useful exercises that you can do in order to address unconscious biases as professionals: Dealing With Unconscious Bias.
Further resources on unconscious bias can be found here:
Training Video on Unconscious Bias (English Version) (youtube.com)
Becoming aware of unconscious bias (youtube.com)
(Thanks to ‘Keeping Bristol Safe Partnership‘ for the development of this page)
Hate Crime – click here for more information
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