The economic burden of child maltreatment and co-occurring parental domestic violence and abuse in the UK

Background

Child maltreatment (CM) and parental domestic violence and abuse (pDVA) impose considerable lifelong adverse outcomes on those affected. Despite sharing multiple family and environmental risk factors, the economic burden of child exposure where they co-occur has not previously been estimated in detail.

Objective

To estimate average lifetime societal costs resulting from CM or childhood exposure to pDVA, and incremental costs for scenarios where they co-occur.

Participants and setting

Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, G1 (child) cohort.

Methods

We developed a model to estimate lifetime societal costs (2019 GBP) for fatal and non-fatal exposure to CM and/or pDVA for the study sample. Total lifetime costs per child exposed, total UK economic burden, and UK government-specific costs were then estimated for the cohort of children born in the UK in 2013.

Results

Lifetime costs for childhood exposure to CM and/or pDVA, were £71,309 per child (non-fatal exposure), and £1,292,377 per CM fatality, with £27.8 billion projected costs (2013 UK birth cohort). Total costs for exposure to pDVA alone was £1.0 billion (£16,639 per child exposed), rising to £2.0 billion (£71,037 per exposed child) for children reporting awareness of pDVA. Co-occurring CM and pDVA imposed greater costs than either alone, including costs from child perpetration of intimate partner violence.

Conclusions

CM and/or pDVA exposure incurs large personal and societal economic burdens, and costs from both pDVA exposure and intergenerational transmission of IPV perpetration, highlight the importance for policies to address both CM and domestic violence and abuse in affected households.