Reports of abuse on adults increase

Council chiefs had to deal with almost 1,500 “alerts” of abuse over the last year, with 63 per cent of the victims being pensioners.

Most of the attacks were physical against people in their own homes, but a quarter were cases of neglect.

The data, which has been labelled “very concerning”, has partly been blamed on the dire economic outlook.

Worcestershire County Council’s adult safeguarding service, which protects against any kind of abuse towards adults, was contacted 1,454 times in the 2011/12 financial year. That compares with 1,160 in 2010/11.

Many of the calls were resolved without any formal action, but 920 led to “protection plans” being put into place. This could include regular check-ups, help from other bodies or even the involvement of police.

When it comes to the victims, 61 per cent were women and 29 per cent of the total had some kind of disability.

The figures, revealed during a meeting of the adult care and wellbeing panel, have been attacked by community leaders.

Councillor Penelope Morgan said: “When it comes to domestic abuse it really is a considerable concern.”

Councillor Philip Gretton, cabinet member for adult social care, said: “We need to focus more on the abuse which is clearly going on in people’s own homes.

“We’ve got to look after the interests of abused people we simply don’t know about, which is very difficult to do.”

Of the alerts, 33 per cent were classed as physical attacks by council chiefs; 25 per cent neglect; and 17 per cent financial – stealing money.

The Worcestershire Safeguarding Adults Board (WSAB), a body which monitors the help available to people, said the problem was likely to be even worse than the figures reveal.

Chairman Peter Morgan said: “The majority of abuse is domestic violence, mainly in the home, by family members.

"What we must do is raise the profile of it as much as we can.

“Financial abuse is also an area likely to go up in times of hardship.”