English councils referred 108,000 cases of alleged abuse against vulnerable adults7 for investigation in 2011-12, an 11 per cent (11,000) rise on 2010-11, provisional figures show.
Alongside this information on referrals (submitted by all 152 councils in England), data submitted to the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) also suggests alleged abuse is most commonly at the hands of carers or family.