Community safety

Whether you decide to make Lancashire your new home, or stay with us temporarily, it is important to us that you feel safe in your home and community. If you ever do feel unsafe, there are lots of services available to support you.

Domestic violence

If you want to report an incident of domestic abuse ring 999 in an emergency, or 101 to speak to the police.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, support is available on our domestic abuse webpage. 

You can also find information about how to recognise and report domestic abuse on the Lancashire Police domestic abuse webpage. 

Multilingual helpline from the Emily Davison Centre

A free multilingual and confidential helpline for victims of domestic abuse in Lancashire is now available on 0330 1 34 34 34. 

Hosted by the Emily Davison Centre, calls are answered by staff who are specially trained in helping victims of domestic abuse.

The helpline staff speak several languages including:

• Urdu
• Punjabi
• Gujarati
• Greek
• English
• Polish
• Russian
• Ukrainian

The helpline, known as 'Safe for A.L.L' (Safe for Anyone Living in Lancashire) is available Monday to Friday 10am to 2pm.

Calls made outside these hours will be responded to as soon as possible.

Anyone calling the Helpline should be aware that the call will show up in call history on a mobile phone. People who do not feel safe are advised to delete the call log after the call. For further information see the Emily Davison Centre website.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

FGM is illegal in the UK. Anyone who commits FGM faces up to 14 years in prison, a fine, or both. 

The NSPCC provide advice on what FGM is and how to keep children and young people safe. You can visit the NSPCC website or call their helpline on 0800 028 3550.

Karma Nirvana have a national helpline and is able to listen and help anyone who is affected by honour based abuse.  You can contact their helpline 24/7 on 0800 5999.

Forced marriage

A forced marriage is where one or both people do not or cannot consent to the marriage. Pressure or abuse is used to force them into marriage.

Forced marriage is illegal in the UK. It is a form of domestic abuse and a serious abuse of human rights.

For a marriage to be consensual, both people getting married must enter into it freely. You should feel you have a choice. People with certain learning disabilities, or severe mental health conditions, are not able to consent to marriage, even if they want to.

If you are in immediate danger, call the police on 999.

If you or someone you know is being forced into marriage either in the UK or abroad, visit the Forced Marriage Unit on GOV.UK or contact them on 020 7008 0151.

Hate crime

A hate crime is a criminal offence which is thought by the victim, or anybody else, to have been committed against a person because of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

A hate incident is behaviour which is thought by the victim, or anybody else, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on someone’s race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, alternative subculture or disability.

We recognise that it can be difficult for refugees and asylum seekers to report hate crimes due to fears around what implications it may have on your status in the UK. Please be assured that being a victim of hate crime will have no impact on your immigration status.

More information on how to report a hate crime, as well as the details of third party reporting centres is available on the Lancashire Constabulary - Report a Hate Crime webpage.

Modern slavery and trafficking

Sadly, both modern slavery and human trafficking are more common than you might realise. We know that refugees and asylum seekers are particularly at risk. Identifying modern slavery and trafficking can be difficult, so please look at the Hope for Justice Website for more information in a variety of different languages.

If you are concerned that someone you know may be a victim of modern slavery, you can call the Modern Slavery Helpline on 0800 012 1700.