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The fear and experience of violence, harassment and abuse of those with learning disabilities are significant barriers to full social inclusion. The patchy evidence base and the confusing, and sometimes contradictory, array of policy and legislative instruments hamper efforts to tackle the issues. This article draws on the findings from an extensive review of literature looking into disabled people's experiences of targeted violence, harassment and abuse. The review found that people with learning disabilities and/or mental health conditions are at higher risk, and experience greater levels, of violence, harassment and abuse, not only than non‐disabled people but also than other disabled people. Situational vulnerabilities mean that the probability and experience of violence, harassment and abuse are due not simply to any inherent characteristics of those with learning disabilities. Under‐reporting and lack of appropriate response and support from criminal justice agencies compromise access to justice. People with learning disabilities are also found to have a propensity to report to third parties instead of to criminal justice agencies. However, the evidence points to lack of joined‐up working in various agencies, which hampers efforts at redress. There are particular concerns over a vacuum of responsibility as a result of confusion about the No Secrets guidance.

Most abuse affecting older adults in the UK, as across Europe, takes place within caring relationships, where one person is disabled and needs care/support. This paper critically appraises two of the key theoretical explanations. First, feminist theories of “intimate partner abuse” tell us that it is mostly men who perpetrate abuse against women. Second, “carer strain”: the stress caused by caring responsibilities, often with inadequate help from services. Neither fully reflects the complex dynamics of “dangerous care” leading to a lack of voice and choice in safeguarding responses. This paper aims to articulate the need for an overarching theoretical framework, informed by a deeper understanding of the intersectional risk factors that create and compound the diverse experiences of harm by disabled people and family carers over the life course.

The critical synthesis of the theoretical approaches informing UK policy and practice presented here arises from a structured literature review and discussions held with three relevant third sector agencies during the development of a research proposal.

No single theory fully explains dangerous care and there are significant gaps in policy, resources and practice across service sectors, highlighting the need for joint training, intersectional working and research across service sectors.

Drawing both on existing literature and on discussions across contrasting policy and practice sectors, this paper raises awareness of some less well-acknowledged complexities of abuse and responses to abuse in later life.

Disabled people are a neglected issue in criminology. This article discusses the extent of the population affected, social reactions to impairment and the disadvantages faced by disabled people, including higher risk of victimisation. Links that have been made between disability and offending behaviour are also critically assessed. Finally, some practical solutions to include disabled people in community safety strategies are outlined.

The safeguarding and protection components of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 offers the culmination of four years consultation in England and Wales by the Law Commission and many years of evolving policy and practice with a view to protecting adults from harm. The purpose of this paper is to offer both scrutiny and challenge for Wales’ policy makers and practitioners alike.

The paper is a critical analysis of both current responses and forthcoming changes.

The paper proposes that Wales has failed to implement previous recommendations in relation to institutional abuse. Currently in Wales, there are individuals employed in safeguarding lead roles who have no social care qualification. This apparent “loophole” has not to date been highlighted to date by either of the regulatory bodies within Wales (CSSIW/CCfW).

The paper offers a viewpoint but leaves some questions unanswered.

The Williams Review in April 2014 is set to change the local authority landscape in Wales. There is scope for developing the function of adult safeguarding.

Wales’ failure to recognize institutionalized abuse as a distinct category may have had impacted on its ability to respond to abuse in nursing and care as well hospital settings.

The failure to recognize institutional abuse is not the only safeguarding anomaly within Wales’ arrangements for protecting those are risk of abuse. This paper describes gaps in the NHS and of professional accountability.

The purpose of this paper is to present an examination of the development of adult safeguarding policy from the perspectives of both policymakers and those who have sought to influence policy, to empower individuals with a learning disability to have a say in how policies, that influence their life and impact their right to independence, are developed.

This paper is based on a project which was led by a UK-wide interdisciplinary and multi-agency team, which included the central involvement of peer researchers who had lived experience of learning disability. It was based on a participatory disability research design.

Factors which enabled or restrained individuals with a learning disability, and their supporting organisations, from getting their voice heard in policy development, are identified.

This paper builds on policy theory and research, making recommendations for policy makers, disabled people and their supporting organisations as to how adult safeguarding policy, could be more effectively informed and influenced.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings from a study commissioned by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) in England, concerning intrafamilial child sexual abuse (IFCSA)/incest. Specifically, it aims to explore what is known about the prevalence, nature, and impact of IFCSA and where the gaps in knowledge lie.

A rapid evidence assessment (REA) was used, the function of which is to: search the literature as comprehensively as possible within given time constraints; collate descriptive outlines of the available evidence on a topic and critically appraise it; sift out studies of poor quality; and provide an overview of the evidence. Over 57,000 documents were scanned, and 296 ultimately systematically analysed.

It was found that: there is wide variation in prevalence rates between studies; girls are more likely to be victims than boys; the onset of abuse is typically school age; abuse in minority groups is under-reported; sibling abuse may be more common than that by fathers; female perpetrated abuse may be under-reported; families where abuse occurs are often dysfunctional; and IFCSA has significant adverse effects on victims.

A REA is not a full systematic review, differing in the scope and depth of the searches and depending almost exclusively on electronic databases, not accompanied by searching journals by hand.

This work found numerous gaps in current knowledge about IFCSA, which the authors recommend be addressed by further research, including: the scale and nature of IFCSA in disabled victims, research on BME children’s experiences; the prevalence of abuse by stepfathers as compared to biological fathers; the experiences of male victims; the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered child victims; the short-term impact of IFCSA based on child victims’ experiences; and more widely, further research on the prevalence of abuse in clinical populations and the relationship between that and prevalence in wider society. In addition to such questions, the OCC inquiry will also investigate issues surrounding child protection and criminal justice responses to (IF)CSA and how these might be improved. The evidence base for this section of the inquiry is reported in Gekoski et al. (2016).

The findings of this research provide the evidence base for a new two-year inquiry into the subject of IFCSA by the OCC.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of mate crime and attempts to assess its practical as well as its theoretical implications.

It begins with an account of the short history of the concept and then positions mate crime within academic theorising around general hate crime and disability.

Particular reference is made to the significance of the issue of vulnerability and how its interpretation might affect understanding of this phenomenon.

This is followed by some observations on how agencies of social policy and the legislature are responding to the issue of mate crime.

Particular reference is paid to the impact of safeguarding adults procedures.

It concludes that, although “mates” can (and do) “hate”, further research is required on the subject in order to gain better knowledge of the issue from both a theoretical and a practice position.

This is an opinion piece about exploring fresh approaches to advocacy for older and disabled people. The purpose of the paper is to suggest a new role for professional advocates. Professional advocacy help can be an important first step to a stronger life or it can be a revolving door. It makes all the difference when we've got people around us who can help us to get over problems, and not feel we're stuck on our own. But most users of services have no one whom they can turn to when things get tough for them. What if we designed advocacy services so they acted on the causes of demand for advocacy, rather than delivered a number of advocacy transactions?

This article uses the experiences of Grapevine in Coventry and draws on the findings of a project conducted with advocacy organisations in the Midlands and South East, many of whom felt that professional advocacy was not getting to the root of the problem.

Advocacy practice is about being a corrective to failures in other services and an intermediary between service users and providers. It can be very vulnerable at times to being seen as an “add‐on” of unproven value.

The article asks practitioners to consider the new role advocates might play in developing and connecting networks of local people for mutual help and support. This “community‐powered” advocacy could provide effective root cause help and protect the sector's legitimacy during unprecedented financial austerity.

The paper is of value to practitioners and commissioners of advocacy services.

The creation of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights presents a real opportunity to re‐assess the impact of group stereotypes on social policy and service delivery. This paper consider possible impacts of ageist stereotypes of older people on community safety thinking and delivery, including perceptions of older people's levels of fear of crime, risk of victimisation, and offending behaviour. It also explores possible associations between inter‐generational relationships and anti‐social behaviour, and how elder abuse is positioned in comparison to other forms of abuse and domestic violence.

This article reports the results of a survey of local authorities, which asked about progress in responding to the Department of Health guidance, No Secrets. The findings of the survey suggest that the majority of local authorities are taking action in response to the guidance. However, there is variation in progress with the different components of the framework for the protection of vulnerable adults outlined in No Secrets.