Links between cognitive impairment and exploitation in England

This project will investigate the links between cognitive impairment and exploitation in England.

Cognitive impairment is known to increase vulnerability to exploitation, but there has not been a significant academic study in the UK examining how these issues intersect across a range of impairments and exploitation types. Exploitation can include legal, physical, economic, social and psychological pressures used to limit the choices and infringe the rights of others. This includes actions ranging from human trafficking and slavery to situations that may cause distress or harm but are not currently offences in UK law. A pilot study by the research team showed a diagnosed cognitive impairment in 31% of the 147 cases of adult exploitation in Nottingham between April 2020 and March 2021. 26% of cases recorded evidence of undiagnosed impairment.

The research team will provide a descriptive account and insight into potential causative relationships. Current policy and practice responses will be investigated and explored with practitioners and people with lived experience to determine areas for improvement.

The research will be completed in four stages.

1. Reviewing UK and international literature on the connection between exploitation and cognitive impairment.
2. Analysing the 2020-21 quantitative data on adult safeguarding enquiries made under Section 42 of the Care Action 2014, aiming to measure how frequently exploitation appeared as a factor and what proportion of enquiries involved cognitive impairment.
3. Surveying Adult Safeguarding leads in English Local Authorities, Modern Slavery Single Points of Contact in English police forces, and Chairs of all English Safeguarding Adults Boards to explore what monitoring, training, policy, and practice currently exists.
4. Conducting interviews with individuals with cognitive impairment who have experienced exploitation, their friends and family members, and frontline professionals who have witnessed exploitation or supported exploited people. The aim is to better understand the personal, social, and cultural factors that can increase the risk of exploitation and identify points when preventative action could have stopped the exploitation.

Key stakeholders for the project are policymakers, practitioners, people with lived experience, and academics. Dissemination activities will be tailored to these audiences and include blogs, short-form articles, and social media posts. Policymakers will be engaged with throughout the project and a day-long event will be used to highlight findings and co-produce actionable recommendations. A series of academic articles will be published as well as practice guidelines.