Welfare inequalities and institutional abuse of older people in Northern Ireland: an exploratory study

Institutional abuse, brought to our attention through high-profile abuse scandals, is recognized as a prevalent feature of institutional living. Risk assessment frameworks tend to focus on organizational-level features of institutional care such as staff training and support. This article draws attention to the significance of socio-economic factors in understanding institutional abuse of older people in Northern Ireland. By conducting a secondary analysis on routinely collected Adult Safeguarding referrals for institutional abuse in Northern Ireland, we explored the impact of socio-economic conditions on rates and outcomes of adult institutional abuse. Our findings indicate that if you live within a residential facility in an area with higher levels of deprivation, you are considerably more likely to be subject to an Adult Safeguarding referral, and the progress of that referral in terms of investigation and levels of support, may differ from those individuals living in facilities within areas of low deprivation. Further research is needed to identify how institutional abuse may be impacted by welfare inequalities. To our knowledge, this is the first time institutional abuse cases have been explored in relation to deprivation. Our findings can potentially inform social work practice and policy development in this area.