diff --git a/app/models/validations/soft_validations.rb b/app/models/validations/soft_validations.rb
index ccac2700b..022a5f038 100644
--- a/app/models/validations/soft_validations.rb
+++ b/app/models/validations/soft_validations.rb
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ module Validations::SoftValidations
   ].freeze
 
   def reasonother_might_be_existing_category?
-    Regexp.union(PHRASES_LIKELY_TO_INDICATE_EXISTING_REASON_CATEGORY.map { |phrase| Regexp.new("\\b#{phrase}\\b", Regexp::IGNORECASE) }).match?(reasonother)
+    Regexp.union(PHRASES_LIKELY_TO_INDICATE_EXISTING_REASON_CATEGORY.map { |phrase| Regexp.new("\\b[^[:alpha]]*#{phrase}[^[:alpha:]]*\\b", Regexp::IGNORECASE) }).match?(reasonother)
   end
 
 private
diff --git a/spec/models/validations/soft_validations_spec.rb b/spec/models/validations/soft_validations_spec.rb
index cd3a35235..ad87b3c5b 100644
--- a/spec/models/validations/soft_validations_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/validations/soft_validations_spec.rb
@@ -1048,5 +1048,11 @@ RSpec.describe Validations::SoftValidations do
 
       expect(record).not_to be_reasonother_might_be_existing_category
     end
+
+    it "ignores neighbouring non-alphabet for matching" do
+      record.reasonother = "1Domestic abuse."
+
+      expect(record).to be_reasonother_might_be_existing_category
+    end
   end
 end