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Find advocacy support

Advocacy comes in two flavours

The map below can be use to find out what advocacy services we provide in your area. Other organisations may provide additional advocacy services in the same areas.

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To use the map, you can click on a highlighted area to see a list of services or you can use the search bar to search for your address or postcode.

We offer a wide range of advocacy services; from supporting people to make a complaint about health or social care provision, to supporting those detained in psychiatric hospital wards and much more.

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Every Local Authority has different eligibility criteria for the provision of and access to advocacy. Get in touch to discuss if and how we can help you. If we can't, we will try to help identify another organisation who may be able to support you.

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If you feel you need more support, you can get in touch with us via our contact page or make a referral for advocacy via our referrals page.

Other types of advocacy:

Where there is no legal right to advocacy, but support is still needed, other types of advocacy (often called non-statutory, community or generic advocacy) may be provided to help people speak up, understand their options, and have their voices heard. What we can offer depends on where you live and may include:

    • Purpose: To help people feel less alone by supporting them to build confidence, speak up, and stay connected to their community. The advocate may be someone with lived experience of the same or similar situation.

    • Purpose: to bring people together to share experiences, learn from each other, and gain confidence to speak up for themselves about issues that matter to them.

    • Purpose: To support people who wish to make a complaint about social care. Advocates support people to understand the process and think through what they want to achieve and empower them to speak up for themselves or speak for them if they are unable to do so.

    • Purpose: To represent a person who is legally being deprived of their liberty in the community and to ensure their rights and wishes are upheld. Often a family member or friend will take on this role, but where this isn’t possible or appropriate, a paid Rule 1.2 Representative is appointed. The 1.2 Representative must be willing and able to oversee a person’s care and support needs and tell the court of any changes to, or concerns about, the person’s health or needs.

    • Relevant Act: Mental Capacity Act 2005

    • Purpose: To support people aged 16 and over who have been assessed as lacking capacity to make certain decisions about serious medical treatment, where they live, their care, safeguarding concerns or where their liberty may be restricted; and there are no family members or friends to consult. Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCAs) make sure the person’s wishes and feelings are listened to and their rights are upheld when such decisions are being made.

    • Relevant Act: Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended)

    • Purpose: To support people who are detained in hospital or living in the community under the Mental Health Act. Independent Mental Health Advocates (IMHAs) help people understand what is happening, know their rights, and have a say in decisions about their care and treatment.

    • Relevant Act: Care Act 2014

    • Purpose: To support adults, and those in transition to adult services, who find it difficult to take part in discussions about their care and support and have no-one else appropriate to support them. Independent Care Act Advocates make sure the person is involved in assessments, care plans, reviews, and safeguarding conversations, and that their rights are upheld.

    • Relevant Act: Health and Social Care Act 2012 (which places the duty on local authorities to commission the service)

    • Purpose: To support people who wish to make a complaint about NHS treatment, or treatment paid for by the NHS. Independent Health Complaints Advocates support people to understand the process and think through what they want to achieve and empower them to speak up for themselves or speak for them if they are unable to do so.

    • Relevant Act: Mental Capacity Act 2005 (via the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards - DoLS)

    • Purpose: To represent a person who is legally being deprived of their liberty in a care home or hospital and to ensure their rights and wishes are upheld. Often a family member or friend will take on this role, but where this isn’t possible or appropriate, a paid RPR is appointed. A RPR checks the person is well cared for, makes sure their rights and wishes are respected, raises any concerns and, if the person is unhappy, supports them to challenge the decision.

    • Relevant Acts: Primarily the Children Act 1989 and the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 (for specific groups such as children in care).

    • Purpose: To help children and young people, particularly those in or leaving the care of the care of the local authority, have their voices heard and ensure their views are taken seriously when decisions are being made about their lives. Advocates listen, offer support, and speak up for the child or young person, whilst empowering them to speak up for themselves wherever possible.

Statutory advocacy:

This is advocacy that the law says must be provided by the local authority. People are legally entitled to this support, and if we don’t provide it in your area, another advocacy organisation will.

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