London's Solace#
Solace Women's Aid has supported women and children in London for more than 50 years and describes itself as London's largest domestic abuse and sexual violence charity. Its work runs from refuges and community advocacy to Solace Rape Crisis, therapeutic services, a service for women facing several disadvantages at once, and work with young people. It helps with safety, housing and homelessness, money and benefits, legal services, reporting abuse if you choose to, parenting, and immigration, including no recourse to public funds.
The advice line and borough teams#
Solace's London advice line is the first point of call, for women and for agencies worried about someone. Its get help page gives weekday hours from 10am to 4pm, with a longer evening session on Tuesdays, plus an email address; all its lines close on bank holidays. The team gives immediate advice and short-term support on safety planning, legal rights, housing, money, immigration, safeguarding and mental health, and refers on.
Support in other languages is by phone or in person through Language Line and interpreters. Its community advocacy teams work in Barnet, Bexley, Enfield, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest; in Barnet the team supports men as well as women. Children and young people have their own service, with a referral form.
Its immigration service, part of the advice service, works with migrant women, including EEA nationals, with no recourse to public funds. Its immigration solicitor represents women in complex cases at tribunals and the High Court, free of charge.
Refuge and move-on homes#
Solace provides 24 refuges and 64 move-on spaces, safe accommodation for 809 women and children, as well as second-stage housing, crisis accommodation, a refuge with round-the-clock support for women with mental health and substance use needs, and the Amari Project for women sexually exploited through sex work or trafficking. You can refer yourself, or a professional can, through its refuge referral form. It explains before you start that most refuge spaces share a kitchen and bathroom with other families, that residents take part in weekly keywork sessions, and that rent and service charges are discussed at assessment.
What to take, and what can wait#
Its staying safe page suggests keeping important papers hidden at home or with friends or family: marriage and birth certificates, your National Insurance card, passport and driving licence. It lists ID, money, medical papers and legal papers such as injunctions, divorce papers, a mortgage or tenancy agreement as useful but not essential when there is no time to gather things, and says Solace can help you get them later, with police support. It also suggests telling only people you trust where you will be, and dialling another number after calling a refuge or taxi.
Accounts, email and a new name#
Its online safety guide suggests strong, unique passwords, two-step verification, checking for spyware and shared accounts such as an Apple ID, turning off location sharing, and, if it feels safe, a new email account your former partner does not know for important logins and recovery. Its explainer on post-separation abuse notes that abuse can continue after leaving, including through the legal system.
Solace publishes nothing on names. If you change yours, that new email address is the one to use: the deed can be one you write from GOV.UK's free sample, from the age of 16, and every account you move to the new name should send its password resets to an inbox nobody else can reach (updating online accounts). For refuge residents, changing your name in a refuge covers the address on the deed, and not a British citizen the order with an eVisa.
This page describes what Solace Women's Aid publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Solace has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
