The national office of a 50-year network#
Seven local Women's Aid groups set up Scottish Women's Aid in 1976 to grow the network and open more refuges, and it marked 50 years in 2026. Today it is the national office of more than 30 independent local Women's Aid charities. It campaigns, trains the workforce, sets quality standards, supports its members and oversees Scotland's 24-hour Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline. Help for individual women and children comes through the local groups and the helpline rather than the national office.
Getting help in Scotland#
Local Women's Aid services offer free, confidential support to women, children and young people: temporary refuge, one-to-one support and counselling, safety plans, court support, help for children, and help with housing, benefits, legal rights and filling in forms. The postcode finder lists every group with its office hours, and marks any that are not affiliated to Scottish Women's Aid.
Scotland's Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline is open to anyone affected, at any hour, by phone, text, WhatsApp, email or online chat. It uses a confidential interpreting service, accepts Relay UK calls, and takes British Sign Language calls through Contact Scotland BSL.
Scottish Women's Aid also points to the Scottish Women's Rights Centre for free legal information, including for women with no recourse to public funds; to Shakti Women's Aid and Hemat Gryffe Women's Aid for Black and minoritised women; and to FearFree for LGBT+ men.
Scots law has its own terms#
Its Understand Your Rights page explains protection in Scottish terms. An interdict is the Scottish injunction; ask for a power of arrest and for it to be labelled a domestic abuse interdict, so that a breach becomes a criminal offence. An exclusion order can remove an abusive partner from the home, and a non-harassment order covers a wider pattern of behaviour. You can make a homeless application to any council, and you do not have to report the abuse to the police to get housing help.
Changing your name if you live in Scotland#
You have two routes. A deed poll proves the change in every part of the UK, and it is open to anyone aged 16 or over, born in Scotland or not. If you were born or adopted in Scotland, National Records of Scotland can instead note the new name on your birth entry; new birth certificates then show both your new and your former names. Weigh that before choosing it if you are worried about someone seeing a copy of your certificate later.
Whichever you use, the helpline's safety planning advice is the place to start. It suggests packing birth and marriage certificates, passports, National Insurance cards, immigration documents and your driving licence, or, if you cannot take them, photographing them and sending the pictures to a safe email address.
More on names in Scotland#
- How to change your name in Scotland: the NRS record or a deed poll.
- Changing a child's name in Scotland.
- Can someone find out my new name?.
- Charities that help after domestic abuse.
This page describes what Scottish Women's Aid and Scotland's helpline publish on their websites, read on 26 October 2026. Scottish Women's Aid has not reviewed it, and listing it here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
