A charity for charities#
Clinks has supported the voluntary sector in criminal justice since 1998. Its members are organisations, more than 500 of them, from large national charities to unstaffed community groups, working with people in prison, on probation or with a record, and with their families, across England and Wales. It runs networks on women, race, older people and the arts in criminal justice, hosts the group through which voluntary organisations advise the Ministry of Justice and the prison and probation service on reducing reoffending, and trains frontline staff.
That means it is not a place to ask about your own situation. Its contact page says so directly, and points individuals elsewhere: the Prisoners' Advice Service and the Prison Reform Trust for people in prison, a helpline for prisoners' families, and Unlock and Nacro for people with a criminal record.
The directory: where Clinks helps a reader#
The most useful thing Clinks offers someone changing their life after prison is its Directory of Services, a database of over 1,000 voluntary and community organisations. On 26 October 2026 it held 1,147 entries and could be searched by keyword and filtered by:
- the kind of help, such as advice and advocacy, legal advice, resettlement, housing and homelessness, or finance, benefits and debt;
- the people an organisation works with, for example LGBTQIA+ people, foreign nationals, or people convicted of sexual offences;
- region, individual prison and probation region, and whether the work is in custody or the community.
A search for "deed poll" found nothing; a search for "bank account" found services that help people open one. So use it to find a local organisation that can help with the practical side of starting again, then bring the name change to them, to an advice charity, or to your probation officer.
Clinks has also launched a new version of the directory, still in beta, and its directories page says the new one is offline for a short time while it makes improvements. The older directory was still working when we checked.
Its work on ID before release#
Clinks publishes policy work rather than guides. Its September 2026 report on putting the Sentencing Act into practice recommends that everyone leaving prison is helped to get ID, open a bank account and arrange a phone before release, with ID and banking built into planning well ahead of the release date.
That is where a change of name meets resettlement. Each new document is easier to get once the name is settled, and the deed poll has to travel with every application made in the new name. Several banks also ask to see photo ID in the new name before they will take an unenrolled deed poll, which makes the order of applications matter.
Before you change your name#
If you are on licence, a registered offender or have convictions to disclose, Can I change my name if I have a criminal record? sets out who must be told and when, including the 3-day rule for telling the police. Proof of a name change explains what organisations accept. Support workers using the directory to find services for a client will find the practical steps in the guide for support workers.
This page describes what Clinks publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Clinks has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
