Petition · past parliament

Allow people to get out of a joint bank account in a abusive relationship

Rejected 19 signatures

What the petition asks

If you have a joint bank account in the UK- at the moment you need a signature of both parties to take your name out of the joint bank account. Especially in a case of a abusive relationship it is nearly impossible that the other party will be so nice to let you out of it.
It makes is very hard for a woman to leave the abusive partner when she can't even get out of an bank account where the powerful partner could bring her in debt/overdraft.
The right of a victim should be to make the decision to leave when they need to leave.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

At the moment, this is the responsibility of banks, not the UK Government or Parliament.

You could start a new petition explaining clearly what you would like the Government or Parliament to do. For example, you could ask for it to be a legal requirement that banks should allow a person in an abusive relationship to leave a joint bank account.

Timeline

28 Apr 2018 Petition opened for signatures
4 May 2018 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 19
Status Rejected
Rejected 4 May 2018

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.