We provide advice, advocacy and support in Housing and Welfare Benefits in person, over the phone and via email. We handle all cases in a holistic way to help you address your specific needs and assert your rights.

Housing issues

Situations like sleeping on a friend’s sofa or staying at a hostel, difficulties in securing suitable tenure, living in overcrowded accommodation, are all considered to be precarious living situations. Please, don’t hesitate to contact us or come to our drop-in sessions if you are in any of these positions. Depending on your case, social services may be able to provide different types of support. We can also help you deal with disrepair, infestation, evictions, over-crowdedness, disputes, or harassment.

Welfare benefits

If you are in need of financial help, depending on your personal and economic circumstances, you may qualify to access welfare support. Our team can assess and give you information about welfare benefits for you to make an informed decision. We can also help you apply for benefits, notify a change of circumstances, and better manage your finances.

To access information and advice on any of these services, you can contact us on our helpline:

0808 145 4909
Tuesday to Friday 11 AM – 1 PM

Employment rights violations can be varied. For example:

• your employer may be refusing to pay you for hours you worked, or denying you your annual leave
• they may be refusing to give you a written contract or payslips;
• you may not be receiving holiday or sick pay;
• you could be sexually harassed at work, discriminated against or bullied, verbally or physically abused;
• you could be suffering injuries due to the nature of the work.

Although this is abusing your rights, it is unfortunately not uncommon.

If you are experiencing any of these issues, we can provide you with initial advice on how to proceed.

Call our helpline:
0808 145 4909
Tuesday to Friday 11 AM – 1 PM

We offer advice, advocacy and emotional and practical support to Latin American women who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse/violence, sexual violence, harmful practices, stalking and harassment or any other form of gender-based violence. All women are entitled to have a life free of violence, therefore our aim is to prevent and tackle all forms of violence against women and girls.

Depending on your needs and priorities, we can connect you with relevant services in the UK, such as emergency accommodation, family and immigration solicitors, housing and benefits services, counselling, support groups, etc. Our service is tailored to you and to your needs.

If you are under threat or in danger, please call the police at 999.

You have a right to ask for an interpreter if you need one.

Always remember

Abuse is a crime, it’s not your fault and you are not alone. No matter what your immigration status is, you do not need to suffer in silence. We are here to help.

Our services are free, confidential and non-judgemental.

We help survivors to explore their options and choose the path that is right for them and that they are comfortable with, without exerting any influence or imposing any particular view.

What guides us:

• To believe: we are here to listen to you and we will believe you.
• Keep you safe: our aim is for you to be safe and we will work on this together.
• Empowerment: we will support you as you learn more about your rights and give you the tools so that you can make an informed decision. We don’t make the decisions for you.

How to contact us

• Call us on our helpline:
  0808 145 4909
  Tuesday to Friday 11 AM – 1 PM
• Email us at referrals@lawrs.org.uk informing us your name, contact number and a safe time for us to call you back.
• We take agency referrals. Please complete this form and send it to our team: referrals@lawrs.org.uk

We offer Latin American migrant women a safe and confidential space to find safety and rebuild their lives, through individual psychotherapy sessions in Spanish and Portuguese with a feminist and cultural sensitive approach. We are currently closed for external referrals.

LAWRS works in collaboration with law firms and other organisations to provide access to free initial legal advice, as well as access to tribunal on welfare cases.

Our family law and immigration law surgeries, ran in partnership with external solicitors, provide legal advice every two weeks. We provide interpreters in Spanish and Portuguese and crèche for women accessing this service.

Contact us

To receive more information or to book an appointment, email us at info@lawrs.org.uk or call our helpline on:

0808 145 4909
Tuesday to Friday 11 AM – 1 PM

The Language Café is an informal conversation course designed for Latin American women, with the aim of improving women’s language skills, fostering integration, building confidence, having fun and socialising.

It is complemented by an online English course, which is divided into six units with basic and vital information about everyday life in the UK. If for any reason you cannot participate in the Language Café sessions, the course materials are available for you to do on your own. You can explore the units, download the PDF classes and access to external links with videos, audios, etc.

Due to a myriad of barriers, Latin American women in the UK tend to be employed in three key feminised labour sectors:

• cleaning,
• hospitality
• and domestic work.

These are sectors characterised by low wages, lack of written contracts, unlawful deduction of wages and other violations, as the lack of understanding of their rights and the system in the UK by workers leads unscrupulous employers to abuse their position of power and exploit vulnerable workers.

At LAWRS, we advocate for the rights of Latin American and all migrant women experiencing labour exploitation and trafficking, flagging the need for appropriate enforcement of employment rights in low-paid jobs.

In 2019, we published our report ‘The Unheard Workforce: Experiences of Latin American migrant women in cleaning, hospitality and domestic work‘, which presents labour rights violations experienced by Latin American migrant women employed in these sectors drawing on 326 cases of women supported by our Employment Rights Advice Service.

This data supports our work to inform and influence government agencies, public bodies, stakeholders, private companies, and agencies to improve the exercise of migrant women worker’s labour rights. We actively engage in advocacy work with relevant stakeholders and decision makers, and participate in inquiries, academic research and reports, sharing the experiences of women working in precarious sectors and raising our voices against abuse and exploitation.

Following our principle of seeking the empowerment and participation of those directly affected, we created a Women Workers Group, with 50 women employed as cleaners and domestic workers. We run information sessions, workshops, and training to increase their ability to advocate for themselves. Members of this group participated as speakers in roundtables, conferences, academic publications and in the media, including a presentation to the Chair of the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

Sin Fronteras (No Limits) is our project aimed at Latin American young women and girls aged 14 to 24.

We weave trust and mutual support into our work, valuing our diversity and raising our aspirations.

Through art, dance, music, and the creative arts, we strengthen our self-esteem, acquire skills and develop our potential. We take action to ensure our rights as immigrants are recognised, and fight for the empowerment of girls and young women, with No Limits.

We also support young girls and women to access education, health, welfare and other services.

LAWRS’ Outreach in Southwark was created with the aim of being the first point of contact between Latin American women and services, agencies and organisations working in the borough, ensuring that their voices are heard by participating in forums, networks, meetings, etc.

We advocate for better provision and awareness of the local services available to Latin American women in South London, seeking to ensure that the needs of the community have a place on the local agenda.

LAWRS continues to convene CLAUK – the Coalition of Latin Americans in the UK.

CLAUK is made up of 14 Latin American organisations, working jointly to pursue the recommendations of the No Longer Invisible (2011) and the Towards Visibility (2016) reports, both funded by Trust for London and conducted by Queen Mary University in partnership with LAWRS. The organisations work jointly to advocate for key issues affecting Latin Americans.

CLAUK achieved the official recognition of Latin Americans as a distinct ethnic group in Southwark (2012), Lambeth (2013), Hackney and Islington (2014), and by the GLA Group (2016), which includes the Greater London Authority, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, Transport for London, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the London Legacy Development Corporation. We continue advocating and campaigning for recognition in Newham, Brent, Haringey and Wandsworth.

We also continue increasing our community’s political participation through voter registration campaigns for elections.

We favour a collaborative approach and participate along with key stakeholders in relevant forums, networks and coalitions working at the local, national, and European levels.

We currently participate in the following groups and networks:

• Home Office VAWG Vulnerable Group
  working with under represented groups against VAWG
• Mayor of London’s Reference Group on VAWG
  working along with MOPAC and key stakeholders.
• Mayor of London’s Refugee and Migrant Advisory Panel (MRAP)
  where Latin Americans are represented for the first time.
• Forum for Equality and Human Rights in Southwark (FEHRS) working with other local communities in the area of highest Latin American concentration.
• Women’s Resource Centre (WRC)
  running campaigns, consultations, research and other projects.
• Imkaan
  a UK-based, black feminist organisation dedicated to addressing violence against women and girls.
• Rights of Women
   which works to attain justice and equality by informing, educating and empowering women on their legal rights.
• Coalition of Latin Americans in the UK
   which campaigns for official recognition of Latin Americans, better access to health and labour rights, and is facilitated by LAWRS.
• BME Advice Network (BAN)
  an integrated network of advice services, delivered for and by the people from London’s migrant and refugee communities (link)
• Migrants Rights Network (MRN)
• Migrants Organise
  platform where refugees and migrants organise for power, dignity and justice.
• Refugee Action
• PICUM
  Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, promoting respect for undocumented migrants’ Human Rights in Europe.
• Labour Exploitation Advisory Group (LEAG)
  a group of key organisations working with potential and actual victims of trafficking for labour exploitation, coordinated by FLEX.
• GLAA NGO stakeholders group
• London Modern Slavery Partnership Board
• Human Trafficking Foundation London Working Group
• Faith and VAWG Coalition