for Parliamentary Campaign
This page describes the small scale survey that was used to help generate information to support the parliamentary campaign in April 2024 relating to the Powers of Attorney Bill (brought by MP Fabian Hamilton).
The survey was initially created for the BBC in February 2024, after the public response following BBC and Daily Mail coverage of the story of Vincent Stephens. It was then distributed by the BBC to all who contacted them in response to this story. In April 2024 the survey was distributed by the office of MP Fabian Hamilton (in support of his Powers of Attorney Bill). The same survey was also circulated to people affected by LPA abuse or elder abuse who contacted the BBC in response to the BBC radio series and news story about professional LPA attorney abuse, broadcast in December 2024 (The Willpower Detectives).
The (anonymised) results of the survey were kindly shared in order to inform the second AbuseByLPAs Blog post, exploring what we know about the nature of abuse by LPAs in the UK. By the end of January 2025, 75 people had completed the survey.
Who created and hosts the survey?
The survey was put together in Microsft Forms in February 2024 by Dr Carolyn Stephens, who is both a university-based health researcher and someone whose late father, Vincent Stephens, was subjected to both LPA abuse and attempted predatory marriage.
What questions does it ask?
The survey asked the following questions [with answer options in italics in brackets]:
- What age is/was your loved one when he/she experienced elder abuse? [Under 75 years . Over 75 years . Other]
- Did your loved one experience cognitive decline and/or other vulnerability linked to age? [Yes , No . Inconclusive . Other]
- What type of abuse did your loved one experience? (tick all that apply) [Abuse of Power of Attorney . Predatory Marriage . Abuse of Wills . Psychological Abuse (including coercive & controlling behaviour). Financial Abuse . Counterallegations (against you or family/friends) . Other]
- Did you attempt to get support from the authorities? [Yes . No . Other]
- If yes to question 4, which agencies did you contact (tick all that apply)? [Adult Social Services . Police . Office of the Public Guardian . Court of Protection . NHS (primary/GP/Safeguarding . None of the above . All of the above . Other]
- If you did contact any agencies (question 5), please rank the support you received from each agency. [Very helpful . Somewhat helpful . Neither helpful nor unhelpful . Somewhat unhelpful . Very unhelpful]
- What other support did you seek? (tick all that apply) [Adult abuse charities . Your MP . Dementia support charities . Media (including publicity) . Other]
- What kind of change would you like to see? (tick all that apply) [Laws changed to safeguard older people . More support for victims, including the victim’s family/network . More monitoring and visibility of elder abuse . Other]
- Is there any final comment you would like to make?
AbuseByLPAs.net 