Who Aanchal is for#
Aanchal began in 1984, when its chief executive, then working at a community centre, helped a young Asian woman protect her children through the High Court, and other women started coming forward. It is now a family and community support network for women affected by domestic abuse, with a particular focus on Asian women and on communities where abuse is rarely talked about. Its work covers honour-based abuse and forced marriage as well as abuse by a partner, and it says it wants women to talk to it "long before" a crisis as well as during one.
Its services sit in four streams: prevention and training, a response to current abuse (casework, the support line, self-referrals and GP referrals), help to rebuild after a crisis, and longer-term recovery through counselling, groups and skills courses. Its children's service works with young people up to 16, with a key child support officer and summer group activities.
The support line, in seven languages#
The support line's staff can speak with you in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil and Bengali. Aanchal's contact page gives its hours as Monday to Friday, 9am to 10pm, and says every call is treated in strict confidence; some older pages on its site still describe a 24-hour line, so check the contact page for current times. If phoning is not safe, there is a form to ask for a callback at a time you choose, and an email address.
On a call, staff ask about your situation and plans, whether you need somewhere safe urgently or are thinking further ahead. Aanchal says it can look for safe accommodation in a crisis, works with solicitors on orders that stop an abuser contacting you, and leaves every decision to you.
Professionals use a referral form. Aanchal says it acknowledges a referral within two hours, contacts the woman the same day and updates the referrer within five working days. The form asks whether it is safe to contact her by post, phone and email, so say clearly if any of them is not.
Advice on visas, housing and court#
Aanchal's immigration page is written for women on visas with no recourse to public funds. It lists the questions it hears most, such as whether reporting abuse could lead to removal, and says it can help a woman on a spouse visa think about how to stay in the UK safely. It notes that the Destitution Domestic Violence Concession can be harder to get on other visas. Its advocacy team also advises on benefits, housing, children's issues and legal remedies, and supports women at court hearings.
Its safety advice suggests keeping your passport, National Insurance number, your children's birth certificates and papers such as a mortgage or insurance policy together, with any evidence of the abuse.
A new name when your visa is in the old one#
Aanchal's site has no page about names. Because so many of the women it helps hold visas, the sequence matters more than usual. GOV.UK's UKVI account service needs a document such as a passport that already shows the new name, and will not take a change of name while a visa decision is pending. The Home Office's guidance on names adds that when a victim of domestic violence changes name for safety, an organisation such as the police or a refuge should back the application. Talk to Aanchal or an immigration adviser before you start; changing your name with an eVisa sets out the order.
Making the deed is your decision alone; nobody else has to consent. GOV.UK prints wording you can copy at no cost once you are 16.
Further reading in this handbook#
- The guide for people who are not British citizens: passports from other countries, eVisas and naturalisation.
- Changing your name after domestic abuse: children, court and records.
- Charities for domestic abuse and safety: other services, including specialist ones for Black and minoritised women.
This page describes what Aanchal Women's Aid publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Aanchal has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
