What Imkaan is#
Imkaan describes itself as the UK's only national feminist umbrella organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritised women and girls. It has more than two decades of work behind it on domestic violence, forced marriage and honour-based violence, and it puts anti-racism at the centre of that work. Rather than running services itself, it supports the specialist "by and for" organisations that do: 38 member organisations at the last count on its site.
Its work falls into five strands, as its About page sets them out: quality assurance, accredited training and support for its members; policy and advocacy with government and statutory bodies; research on the needs of Black and minoritised women and girls; campaigning; and passing grants on to frontline groups, which it says has totalled almost £1 million.
Who Imkaan is for#
Imkaan's audience is organisations and professionals. Its Get Help page opens by saying plainly that it is not a direct service provider. Membership applications are closed for now, and the most recent update on its website, from June 2023, speaks of moving forward after "a period of hiatus". Anyone who wants to raise a concern about a member organisation is asked to use that organisation's complaints procedure first, then Imkaan's.
If you are a survivor, start here instead#
The same Get Help page is useful to survivors because it lists where to go. It gives the national helplines (for domestic abuse, sexual violence and LGBT+ survivors, and Rights of Women's legal advice lines), a link to Women's Aid's guide to covering your tracks online, and its frontline members region by region. Among them:
- London: Ashiana Network, IKWRO, Jewish Women's Aid, Latin American Women's Aid, the Kurdish and Middle Eastern Women's Organisation, Kiran Support Services and others;
- the Midlands: Panahghar in Coventry and Leicester, Roshni in Birmingham and Sikh Women's Aid in Wolverhampton;
- the North: groups in Durham, Sunderland, South Shields, Middlesbrough, Manchester, Liverpool, Rochdale, Blackburn, Bradford, Rotherham and Sheffield;
- Wales and Scotland: BAWSO, Shakti Women's Aid in Edinburgh, and Hemat Gryffe Women's Aid and Ubuntu in Glasgow.
Imkaan describes its members as culturally informed specialists. If relatives or a community might look for you after you change your name, a service like these is the right place to plan the change.
For support workers#
If you work in one of these services, the facts your clients most often need are short. A client of 16 or more decides her own name; GOV.UK's model deed is free, and no family member signs it. Keeping it unenrolled keeps it out of public view, whereas enrolment produces a Gazette notice with an address. For her children, every holder of parental responsibility must consent, or a court must decide. Our guide for support workers covers the rest, including witnessing and safe addresses.
Services with pages in this handbook#
- Ashiana Network, Jewish Women's Aid and IKWRO: three of its London members.
- Southall Black Sisters: advice and a helpline for Black and minoritised women.
- Charities that help after domestic abuse.
This page describes what Imkaan publishes on its website, read on 26 October 2026. Imkaan has not reviewed it, and listing it here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
