Respect, and why this page is about its helpline#
Respect describes itself as the UK charity stopping perpetrators of domestic abuse. Most of its work is with the services that run behaviour-change programmes: it sets standards, trains practitioners and has more than 750 members. It also runs two helplines, the Respect Phoneline for people who want to stop harming a partner, and the Men's Advice Line for male victims. This page is about the Men's Advice Line, which is the service a man changing his name after abuse is likely to need.
The Men's Advice Line is funded by the Home Office, the Scottish Government, Scottish Women's Aid and London Councils, and has been accredited four times by the Helplines Partnership.
Reaching the Men's Advice Line#
The line is for men experiencing or recovering from domestic abuse, and for friends, family and frontline workers supporting them. Its contact page gives the hours:
- phone, free on weekdays from 10am to 5pm, from landlines and mobiles, and it does not show on itemised bills;
- webchat, on weekdays from 9am to 10am.
You can ask for a telephone interpreter, and people who cannot hear or speak on the phone can use Relay UK. Nobody is screened or asked for proof, calls run to about half an hour and you can call again. Webchat transcripts are kept for six months and then deleted. The advisers give information, not legal advice, and say they may have to share information where someone's safety is at risk.
What the website offers#
The Men's Advice Line information hub lists local services for male victims, a directory of refuges and safe houses that take men, searchable by local authority, and specialist services for housing, immigration, mental health, older people and LGBT+ survivors. Its legal factsheets explain family and civil law in England and Wales, including non-molestation orders, child arrangements and financial settlements on divorce. Its practical advice includes keeping important documents and copies somewhere safe, since identification matters if you have to leave in a hurry.
A man, a new name and the children#
A change of your own name is yours alone to make. Write it as a deed using GOV.UK's model words, sign it before two adult witnesses, and it takes effect at once without appearing in any public record. The line welcomes trans and non-binary callers, and the same rule applies to them: a name change needs no medical evidence or certificate.
Children are different. Neither parent can rename a child single-handed while someone else shares parental responsibility; it takes everyone's agreement, or a court's decision. The Men's Advice Line's child arrangements factsheets are a useful companion if that is in dispute.
More for male victims#
- ManKind: the other national helpline for male victims.
- Can I change my child's surname without the other parent's consent?
- Changing your name when you transition.
- Charities that help after domestic abuse.
This page describes what Respect and the Men's Advice Line publish on their websites, read on 26 October 2026. Respect has not reviewed it, and listing it here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
