Ascent Partnership

Funded by London Councils, Ascent is a partnership project that is part of the London Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Consortium, delivering a range of services to support women affected by domestic and/or sexual violence.

Funded by London Councils, Ascent is a partnership project that is part of the London Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Consortium, delivering a range of services to support women affected by domestic and/or sexual violence.  Solace is lead partner, working with 14 organisations, on the Ascent Advice & Counselling partnership. This pan-London collaboration provides specialist counselling and advice services to women and girls affected by domestic/ sexual violence. Services include 1 to 1 counselling; 1-1 advice; group work, legal advice and training and No Recourse to Public Funds assistance

Ascent Advice and Counselling 

Ascent Advice and Counselling (A&C), funded by London Councils is a partnership led by Solace along with 13 specialist VAWG partners delivering services to women across London. The services provided under this project include 1-1 counselling; bespoke group work, specialist advice, No Recourse Fund providing living expenses for those who are No Recourse to Public Funds; a London Family Law Line, Legal guides and training. This project is run by specialist organisations, led by and for women, many of whom are BME specialists. The Partnership operates a Hub and Spoke model with 2 advice hubs (East and West), a London Family Law Advice Line and advice spokes across all of London. Advice is provided by phone via the advice lines and via face to face casework for up to 12 weeks.

Ascent Advice Plus, funded by MOPAC, enhances the Ascent Advice offer available across London by adding extra capacity to the advice service by:

• Increased capacity on the advice hubs (East and West), enabling timely access to initial advice and support;
• Additional advice caseworker posts to ensure each specialist partner has increased capacity to respond flexibly to the diverse needs of victims/survivors and to work with women for up to 26 weeks;
• Additional part-time legal advisor to expand Rights of Women London Family Law advice line’s capacity to provide advice around legal options;
• Inclusion of additional consultancy expertise to assist in meeting a broader range of diverse needs, including LBT, deaf and disabled women and women with learning disabilities.
• Extension of reach through the provision of accessibility funds for each partner for venue costs and interpreting across all London boroughs.

www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/grants