Not For Profit Charter

As the largest provider of legal support to victims of domestic violence and abuse in England we make these promises to victims, referrers and our solicitors’ panel:

To put the needs of victims above any other consideration.

Victims of domestic violence and abuse may have suffered years of controlling, abusive and violent behaviour. We know how frightening it is to have to place trust in another person. We pledge never to undervalue that trust. We promise to treat every victim with the respect they deserve, the compassion they need and try our best to get them the outcomes they need.

To provide support to any victim regardless of their gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion or financial position.

To us, a victim’s status is irrelevant. We will send nobody away empty handed. We will treat each and every person fairly and equally. Those who do not qualify for legal aid we aim to help with practical advice, referrals to other sources of help or support and/or pro bono support to apply for Court Orders.

To never charge a victim to make an application for a protective injunction.

We never have and we never will charge a victim . We do not accept donations from victims and we take no government funding. We have a created an income stream to enable us to provide services to victims and referral agencies for no charge. There may be costs associated with Courts and process serving but we will use our best endeavours to financially help victims if these arise.

To invest all surplus profit in the interests of protecting all survivors of domestic abuse.

Any profits that we generate will be reinvested into the domestic abuse sector, whether that be to support other agencies, create new innovations for protection or to help individual victims.

To try and protect victims legally within as little as 24 hours of a referral.

We promise to act fast. To that end, we continue to streamline and improve processes that enable us to deal with referrals in real time: Refer Direct via the internet, cross platform app, freephone and text back integrate seamlessly with our database enabling us to revert to a victim, often within minutes. Our ideal is to get legal protection in place for a victim within 24 hours of first contact with them.

To give victims supportive, objective, thorough and, above all, safe advice on their rights and options.

The legal landscape can be extremely difficult for victims who may be in great distress to understand or navigate. While we are not lawyers, we partner with some of the best in the country to get essential legal protection in place. 

To provide a victim status feedback loop to referral agencies and the police.

Critical to our ability to help protect victims is our relationship with referral agencies and the police. That is why we provide free training to them on how to dovetail with our services. We ensure that we give police and other referrers timely and accurate feedback on a victim’s welfare and progress once a referral is made.

To maintain a national online portal for the police to view protective injunctions.

Our ASSIST online portal allows the police to download copies of protective injunctions. By collaborating with the Courts we maintain a comprehensive live database which enables the police to respond to injunction breaches in the shortest possible time.

To expect the highest possible standards of client care from our solicitors’ panel.

We will monitor the performance of all our partner solicitors to ensure they are not only complying with the minimum standards set by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority but to the standards we demand to give the proper care to our victims.

To learn from our mistakes.

Whenever and wherever we make mistakes we undertake to rectify them and learn from each instance so as to improve our organisation and our service.

To act transparently.

We pledge to earn the trust of victims, referrers and partners by acting transparently at all times. In particular we recognize that we owe the very highest duties of care in protecting the rights of individuals in conformity with all data protection legislation.

To nurture and support our own team’s talent and wellbeing.

At the heart of our service are our fantastic staff who generously give their time to help people in distress with their professional skill and compassion. We know that this is a demanding if ultimately truly rewarding job. We place our team at the very centre of our organisation, offering them a package of benefits including fair pay, clear career path, extensive training and a caring environment when the going gets particularly tough.

Diversify our services.

We will continually develop the services we provide, creating a more rounded solution to provide additional support beyond the needs of domestic abuse.