Research & Impact
Building the evidence base on spiritual and cultic abuse in the UK.
Surviving Universal UK combines survivor-led research, frontline insight and lived experience to expose hidden harms, identify gaps in safeguarding systems and help drive change.
SURVIVOR-LED RESEARCH | NATIONAL EVIDENCE | POLICY & PRACTICE
FEAR & CONTROL
Safeguarding Risks in High-Control Groups in the UK
Published September 2025
Fear & Control is Surviving Universal UK’s 2025 survivor-led research into the realities of high-control groups in Britain.
Drawing on the experiences of 59 survivors, the report exposes patterns of coercion, exploitation and abuse, who is being targeted, and the significant gaps in safeguarding and accountability.
KEY FINDINGS
91.5%
said children were involved in their group.
89.8%
reported that the group they were involved with is still active.
86.4%
reported fear as a central method of control.
81.4%
reported financial exploitation.
74.1%
reported that their group was a registered UK charity.
55.9%
reported Black communities being disproportionately targeted.
BEHIND EVERY NUMBER IS A SURVIVOR
The findings reveal high-control groups operating within ordinary communities across the UK, affecting children, families and people experiencing vulnerability or crisis.
The full report explores survivors’ experiences in their own words, the methods of control used against them, pathways into high-control groups, who is being targeted, and what needs to change.
EARLIER RESEARCH & REPORTS
The UCKG Scandal Report
An earlier SUUK report documenting survivor concerns and allegations relating to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in the UK.
