About Refuge#
Refuge opened the world's first safe house for women and children escaping domestic abuse, in Chiswick, west London, in 1971. It describes itself today as the largest specialist domestic abuse organisation in the UK. Its services include refuges (safe, temporary homes with one-to-one support), outreach workers who support women in their own homes or in the community, independent advocacy with courts, housing, health and schools, culturally adapted services, one-stop shops, help with economic abuse, children's support workers, and specialist work on technology-facilitated abuse.
How to reach it#
The National Domestic Abuse Helpline, which Refuge runs, is free and confidential and open 24 hours a day by phone, with live chat at set times and a British Sign Language service on weekdays. Its pages carry a quick exit, and Refuge suggests using a safe device, such as a friend's phone or a library computer, if someone may be monitoring yours. The helpline notes that it does not help directly with applying for non-molestation orders, and points callers to Rights of Women for that legal advice. In an emergency, call the police.
What Refuge publishes that bears on a name change#
Refuge publishes nothing about changing your name. Its most relevant guide is "Keeping your address safe", on its Refuge Tech Safety site, written for survivors who have moved. It starts with a caution worth keeping in mind for any change: some steps to increase your privacy might alert an abuser, so Refuge offers to help you make a safety plan first. Then it lists what to check:
- search for your own address privately, ask websites to remove it, and use Google's removal form for what remains;
- make your phone number ex-directory, and check your mobile account if an ex-partner can log into it;
- come off the open electoral register, or tick the box to keep off it when you register at a new address;
- ask people-search sites to remove your details, and redirect your post with Royal Mail;
- clear old addresses from food delivery apps, shopping accounts and loyalty cards, and secure your Google or iCloud account;
- tell your children's school, your dentist, vet and gym not to disclose your address, and set a password on each account;
- ask social services or the courts not to share your address, and strip location data from photos before sharing them.
Putting a new name and a new address together#
The same habits apply to a new name. An unenrolled deed poll is not published anywhere, so the risk is in the records you update, not the deed. Any deed poll records an address, and GOV.UK's own wording includes one, so choose a safe address before you sign. Enrolment is different: GOV.UK lists it at £53.05 and publishes your name change and your address in The Gazette, though a judge may agree to publish only your first name or surname if you explain a strong reason. As you tell banks and other organisations your new name, set the same passwords and non-disclosure notes on each account.
More on privacy after a move#
- Keeping your address off your records: anonymous registration, Companies House and HM Land Registry.
- The electoral register: the open register and anonymous entries.
- Can someone find out my new name?: what is public and what is not.
- Rights of Women: free legal advice lines for women.
This page describes what Refuge publishes on its own websites, read on 26 October 2026. Refuge has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
