SurvivorsUK and Bolt Burdon Kemp – a successful partnership

We are thrilled our work with SurvivorsUK has been highly commended at Third Sector’s recent Business Charity awards, in the legal partnership category.

The partnership between Bolt Burdon Kemp and SurvivorsUK is one borne out of a common goal – to ensure boys, men, and non-binary people in the UK have the support they need to navigate the impact of sexual violence, and the access to justice to ensure they are in the best possible position to begin their journey of recovery. SurvivorsUK provides a national online helpline and individual and group counselling for boys, men, Trans and non-binary people aged 13+ who have experienced sexual violence at any time in their lives. The charity also offers emotional support through the justice system, support for friends and families of survivors, and training for professionals and organisations.

Stigma and shame, vulnerability, and inaccessible service design can all stop these survivors receiving support – a truly bespoke service and specific expertise and experience is required, which BBK and SurvivorsUK offer.

Both BBK and SurvivorsUK understand the unique challenges related to supporting men and boys who have been abused and how to help them as survivors. Every year, more than 84,000 men, boys, Trans and non-binary people are raped, sexually abused or sexually assaulted. Of those, only 4 per cent manage to tell somebody at any point in their life; and for that tiny percentage, it takes an average of over two decades.

We work with SurvivorsUK in numerous ways including funding the salary and employer costs of an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA), based in London, who directly supports abuse survivors; offering use of our centrally located office space whenever needed – for clinics, staff meetings or facilitating connections with other charities; lending our legal expertise to advise members directly, through a legal clinic, and to the SurvivorsUK team through a legal hotline.

SurvivorsUK is a relatively small charity, and we are proud our partnership has directly impacted survivors’ lives positively – for example, the ISVA funded by BBK has supported 45 survivors of sexual abuse through the criminal process to hold their abusers to account, in the last year.

We are pleased to be able to leverage our resources, legal expertise and emotional intelligence garnered by supporting abuse survivors to ensure SurvivorsUK is in a strong position to help these individuals, and grow the number of men, boys, Trans and non-binary individuals it can support through such a difficult time.

Learn more about Survivors UK here.