North London

Phone

0808 168 9291

Lines are open 8am-8pm Monday to Sunday. The London Victim and Witness Service run this service.

 

Out of hours Supportline

08 08 16 89 111

If you need support outside of our open hours, call our Supportline for free on 08 08 16 89 111 or request support via our website.

Get help from your local team

Call us

If you’ve been affected by crime, call the Victim Support Inbound Team on freephone 0808 168 9291.

Lines are open 8am-8pm Monday to Sunday including bank holidays.

If you need support outside of our open hours, call our Supportline on freephone 08 08 16 89 111 or request support via our website.

Go online

The London Victim and Witness Service (LVWS) is a support service for London residents who are affected by or witness to crime, commissioned by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). You can use the free 24/7 live chat service via the website.

Create a free account on My Support Space – an online resource containing interactive guides to help you manage the impact that crime has had on you.

How we can help

We give emotional and practical help to people who have been affected by crime living or working in the London Boroughs of Harrow, Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Hackney, City of London, Camden, and Islington. We’re an independent charity and you can contact us for support regardless of whether you’ve contacted the police, and no matter how long ago the crime took place. We’ll help you for as long as it takes to overcome the impact of crime.

The North London Victim Assessment and Referral Service offers initial support and information to people affected by crime; we will assess your support needs and refer you onto your local borough victim service for ongoing emotional and practical support, as well as information and advocacy.

The North London area office is based at:

Whitecross Studios
2nd Floor
50 Banner Street
London
EC1Y 8ST

The office operates an appointment only basis.

As well as offering emotional and practical support to people affected by crime, we run a number of specialist  support services in North London, including:

  • Specialist, tailored support to young people who have experienced crime as well as young victims affected by serious youth violence and gang associated crime in Hackney and Islington. We also provide workshops and outreach support sessions at local schools.
  • Specialist support for vulnerable victims of domestic and sexual violence in the City of London. We work closely with the Public Protection Unit to support victims with the help they need.
  • Risk screening for victims of domestic abuse to ensure they are fully supported in Camden, in partnership with Camden Safety Net.
  • We also run specialist services in most of the boroughs we work in, providing vital support to residents experiencing antisocial behaviour (ASB).

Every year we support 56,000 of victims affected by crime in North London.

One of the people we’ve helped to cope is Mine* who has experienced antisocial behaviour.

Mine was referred to Victim Support (VS) by the police after she was threatened with a knife when confronting youths smoking drugs in a communal area of her home address.

The group were constantly harassing her every time she went out and Mine’s 11 year old brother was also affected by the incident. After initial discussions with Victim Support, Mine requested advocacy with the council, her housing officer and the police as well as emotional support to help her overcome the effects of the incident.

Working with Victim Support, Mine received assistance from the special protection scheme for her home address. For immediate reassurance, Mine’s Victim Support caseworker also provided a personal alarm to her and her brother. The Victim Support caseworker made regular contact with Mine, as well as emailing relevant involved parties, such as the police and her housing officer to ensure that Mine’s housing transfer progressed quickly. This was especially important as Mine raised her fears that further incidents with the gang might occur. Through effective joint working with the Haringey antisocial behaviour team, the Victim Support caseworker was able to ensure that Mine’s case was discussed at a Haringey panel meeting far more quickly than expected.

The harassment from the gang also had an emotional impact on Mine and her brother so the caseworker encouraged her to get in touch with her GP for counselling as well as calling her regularly to provide emotional support. Mine advised that as a result of VS involvement, she has felt more comfortable and much safer.

While receiving support, Mine also expressed concerned in the change in behaviour of her younger brother and that she feared he may get involved in gang activity. As a result, the caseworker made a referral to social services and continued to liaise with them. Mine was also encouraged by the caseworker to get in touch with her brother’s school and inform them of her concerns. Following this, Mine started to work with the school and this had a positive impact on her own outlook. For additional support around Mine’s concerns on possible gang affiliation the caseworker referred her brother to Safer London for more specialised help.

We work with a number of partner organisations in North London to make sure you get the support you need.

Find out more about some of the services and organisations we work with:

  • Help on Your Doorstep
    A charity working to improve health and wellbeing in Islington
  • Solace Women’s Aid
    Solace run north London Rape Crisis and advice and advocacy services for victims of domestic and sexual violence across a number of north London boroughs including Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington
  • Nia
    Nia run services aimed at ending violence against women and girls
  • Partners
    Partners works in partnership with the London Borough of Islington, Partners is an organisation set up specially to operate the private finance initiative (PFI) projects in Islington.
  • Capsticks
    A law firm specialising in health and social care and social housing