Who Women's Aid is#
Women's Aid (registered as the Women's Aid Federation of England) is the national federation for domestic abuse services in England. More than 180 member organisations run over 300 local services for women and children, including refuges. The federation itself supports those services, speaks for them nationally, and publishes information for survivors. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own Women's Aid federations.
Finding help through it#
Women's Aid does not take requests for help by email; its contact page says so plainly. Its information and support page is the front door, with three routes:
- The Women's Aid Directory, which lists local, regional and national services for domestic abuse, sexual violence, forced marriage and stalking across the UK, with each service's website and referral email. It is kept up to date by the services themselves.
- The Survivors' Forum, an online community where survivors support one another.
- The National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge, which Women's Aid links to for free support by phone at any hour, with live chat at set times.
Its pages have a quick exit, and a guide to covering your tracks online if someone may be checking your devices.
What it publishes about names and documents#
Women's Aid has no page of its own on changing your name. The nearest is the Survivor's Handbook section on leaving safely, which suggests taking, or keeping copies of, important documents: identification and birth certificates for you and your children, passports, visas and work permits. It suggests a hidden USB stick or a cloud account only you can open for copies. It also explains that refuge addresses are kept confidential.
Its Useful links page lists one deed poll company's website under legal advice, as information on changing your name; the page says Women's Aid does not necessarily endorse the organisations it lists. Posts about names on the Survivors' Forum are other survivors' experiences, not Women's Aid's advice.
Changing your name safely: the facts#
If you are in touch with a local service, it is worth talking the timing and safety of a name change through with your support worker before you sign anything. The facts that matter:
- Your own name needs nobody's agreement. Anyone aged 16 or over can make an unenrolled deed poll from GOV.UK's free wording, signed before two adult witnesses. It is not registered or published anywhere.
- Enrolment is public. GOV.UK lists the fee as £53.05 and says your new name and your address are published in The Gazette, though you can ask the judge to publish only your first name or surname if you have a strong reason.
- Any deed poll records an address. GOV.UK's wording includes one, so think about which address is safe to use before you sign.
- A child's name is different. Everyone with parental responsibility must agree, or a court decides, even where there has been abuse.
Further reading on safety#
- Changing your name after domestic abuse: your name, your children's, and the court's safeguards.
- Keeping your address off your records: anonymous voter registration and more.
- Can someone find out my new name?: what is public and what is not.
- Charities that help after domestic abuse.
This page describes what Women's Aid publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Women's Aid has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
