How the Medaille Trust began#
The trust was started in 2006 by Sister Ann Teresa, with the support of Catholic religious congregations, after years spent helping women in street prostitution in Southampton; its first safe house opened there. Twenty years on it runs ten safe houses across England with places for 137 people at a time, and in 2024 to 2025 its houses and community hubs supported 448 survivors. It also works on prevention and reintegration in Albania.
Getting a safe house place#
Places are not booked directly. The trust has been a specialist partner in the government's victim care contract since it began in 2011, and a place can be offered once someone has a positive reasonable grounds decision under the National Referral Mechanism. Staff in each house help with asylum claims and medical treatment, help people reconnect with family, and support them into training, work and independent living. The addresses are confidential.
The trust is also one of a small number of charities designated as First Responders, which means it can refer someone into the National Referral Mechanism itself, without funding for that role. Its First Responding page explains that its caseworkers can arrange emergency housing and medical care at once, that other help follows the decision, and that personal details are shared with the police and the Home Office for it. In October 2026 it argued for more charities to hold the role, because many survivors fear public authorities.
For general enquiries, the contact page gives weekday office hours and email addresses. If someone is in danger now, contact the police.
Support after the safe house#
The Moving On Project runs in Manchester, the West Midlands, Wiltshire, Hampshire and London. It is for people leaving a safe house with a conclusive grounds decision, positive or negative, people at the end of government support, and people who chose not to enter the referral system or are at risk of being exploited again. It helps with housing, health, money, jobs and training, personal safety, police contact and legal problems, and it takes referrals from charities, councils, social workers and GPs. Its annual report describes a sharp drop in support for many people after a positive decision, and says the project is adding specialist migration advice. One survivor quoted on the page puts it simply: life is hard without papers.
Which address goes on a deed poll?#
The trust publishes nothing about changing names. If you are thinking about one while living in a safe house, the point to settle first is the address. GOV.UK's wording for a deed poll you make yourself includes your address, and anyone you later show the deed to will see it. Never use a safe house address without asking staff, and remember that a deed is a lasting record while a safe house stay is not.
- Name changes in a refuge covers the same address problem in domestic abuse refuges.
- Moving after a deed poll: the deed stays valid at a new address.
- For people who are not British, the Home Office usually wants your own country's passport changed first.
This page describes what the Medaille Trust publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. The trust has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
