Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)
0300 123 1100 (8am-8pm Monday to Friday and 9am-1pm Saturday)
acas.org.uk
ACAS provides information, advice, training, conciliation and other services for employers and employees to help prevent or resolve workplace problems. They offer a free Early Conciliation service.
If you want to take a disability discrimination challenge against your employer at the Employment Tribunal, you will need to go to ACAS and get a conciliation certificate to show that you have tried to reach agreement over the dispute.
You can call their telephone helpline to get advice about your employment rights.
Civil Legal Advice (CLA)
0845 345 4345
gov.uk/civil-legal-advice
The Civil Legal Advice can tell you if you’re eligible for legal aid and can give you free and confidential legal advice in England and Wales.
Coram Children's Legal Centre
01206 714 650
info@coramclc.org.uk
childrenslegalcentre.com
Coram Children’s Legal Centre specialises in law and policy affecting children and young people. They provide free legal information, advice and representation to children, young people, their families, carers and professionals, as well as international consultancy on child law and children’s rights.
Disabled Students Helpline run by Disability Rights UK
0800 328 5050 (Tuesday 11.30am–1.30pm and Thursday 1.30–3.30pm)
students@disabilityrightsuk.org
The free helpline provides advice to disabled students who are studying in England.
Employment Tribunal
Public enquiry line (England and Wales): 0300 123 1024
Postal address for sending fees and ET forms:
Employment Tribunal Central Office
PO Box 10218
Leicester
LE1 8EG
justice.gov.uk/tribunals/employment
The Employment Tribunal decides disputes between employers and employees about employment rights. They have a public enquiry line to answer general queries, provide information about tribunal publications and explain how the tribunal system works.
The Equality and Advisory Support Service (EASS)
Tel: 0808 800 0082
Text: 0808 800 0084
Monday to Friday 9am-8pm
Saturday 10am-2pm
equalityadvisoryservice.com
The helpline can advise and assist you on issues relating to equality and human rights across England, Scotland and Wales.
There is a special form on its website for reporting employers who ask pre-employment questions.
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
equalityhumanrights.com
The EHRC is responsible for monitoring and protecting human rights in Britain. It has useful advice and information about legal rights and discrimination on its website.
The website also has copies of the Equality Act 2010 Statutory Code of Practice for services and the Equality Act 2010 Statutory Code of Practice for Employment which give helpful guidance on how to apply the Equality Act.
Independent Parental Special Education Advice (IPSEA)
ipsea.org.uk
IPSEA is an national charity offering free advice to families with children with special educational needs.
Law Centres Network
lawcentres.org.uk
Law Centres offer legal advice, casework and representation to individuals and groups. To find your local Law Centre, you can look at their interactive Google map or see the Law Centres list.
For legal advice enquiries,visit the I am looking for advice page on their website.
The Law Society
020 7242 1222 (England)
029 2064 5254 (Wales)
lawsociety.org.uk
The Law Society provides details of solicitors in your area that you can contact for specialist legal advice.
LawWorks
lawworks.org.uk
LawWorks is a legal charity that lists on its website the Free Legal Advice Clinics in England and Wales. These clinics can give you one-off, face-to-face advice if you have legal problems about consumer disputes, housing, social welfare law or employment.
Office for Disability Issues
gov.uk/government/organisations/office-for-disability-issues
This is part of the Department of Work and Pensions and supports the development of policies to remove inequality between disabled people and non-disabled people. It has produced useful guidance on how you work out whether you have a disability.
Shelter
8am–8pm on weekdays and 9am–5pm on weekends, 365 days a year
England
0808 800 4444
england.shelter.org.uk
Wales
0845 075 5005
sheltercymru.org.uk
Shelter offers free, expert housing advice. They have a free helpline as well as face-to-face advice centres up and down the country.
Where can I get more support?
Local Mind
Local Minds support over 280,000 people across England and Wales. Their services include supported housing, crisis helplines, drop-in centres, employment and training schemes, counselling and befriending. They may be able to help you find advocacy services in your area.
Find your local Mind here.
Find an advocate
An advocate is a person who can both listen to you and speak for you in times of need. Having an advocate can be helpful in situations where you are finding it difficult to make your views known, or to make people listen to them and take them into account.
For information on advocacy services and groups in your area, you could start by contacting the Mind Legal Line and your local Mind.
Read more about how advocacy might help you.
This information was published in July 2017. We will revise it in 2019.
