The Safety Net ensures a ‘no child turned away’ policy. Our Helpline team will:
- Ensure you receive advocacy support you are entitled to from your local authority, or via your local advocacy service.
- Provide you with issue-based advocacy directly in a way that suits you if your local authority is unable or unwilling to provide advocacy support.
- Inform you of your rights and entitlements as a care-experienced young person.
- Provide advice and support, appropriately signposting you to the services you need.
- Be a positive force for reducing the barriers to advocacy, providing information to the Department for Education, the Children’s Commissioner and Ofsted in pursuit of ensuring you receive the advocacy support you are entitled to.
What Does the Safety Net Service Include?
- Advice and support from the helpline team.
- Signposting to the service you need.
- Ensuring you get the support you need from your local advocacy service.
- Providing issue based advocacy in a way that suits you.
- Specialist Non-instructed advocacy.
- Advocacy finder service.
- Self-advocacy information.
Ways to Contact NYAS Safety Net
Freephone Helpline Number
Contact our friendly team of freephone helpline advisors by calling 0808 808 1001. We’ll listen to your concerns, discuss your situation and provide you with the help and support you need.
Calls are free from landlines and mobiles in the UK. They also won't show up on your phone bill. Don’t worry if you don't have credit on your mobile phone - you can still call us for free.
Calls are not recorded but our helpline advisors will take notes about what you tell them.
If English is not your first language, we can arrange for an interpreter to join your call. As a member of LanguageLine, we can facilitate this to ensure you still access the help you need.
Online Chat
If you don’t like using the phone, you're unable to speak on the phone, or find it easier to communicate by typing rather than talking, then you can contact us via online chat. You can access this chat via the little circle in the bottom right hand corner of our website.
When the online chat is live, our trained helpline advisors will read your messages and respond in real time. Please give as much detail as you can and we may need to call you to find out more information.
Online chat may not always be available which will be shown on our website. If your enquiry is non urgent you can also email help@nyas.net. You can also complete the online chat form out of hours, and we will get back to you when our advisors are back online.
If you’re aged 16 or over, feel free to send us a WhatsApp message.
The number is 07494788875.
Messages are end-to-end encrypted, and we usually aim to respond within 24 hours, excluding weekends and bank holidays.
Text Support Service
If you feel like you can’t cope, or are worried about how you are feeling, you can contact our text support service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by texting NYAS to 85258.
All texts are answered by trained volunteers, with support from experienced clinical supervisors.
Texts are free from all major mobile network providers and won't show up on your bill. Texts are anonymous, but if the volunteer believes you are at immediate risk of harm, they may share your details with people who can provide imminent support.
Our text messaging support service is free and you can use it to discuss anything that is bothering you. We provide in-the-moment support and problem solving when you need it most. This service is delivered in partnership with Shout.
We regularly update our online search tool where you can find out who the local advocacy provider is in your area and the different ways you can contact them. This includes a ‘Use my location’ feature, and you can also search using a town or postcode.
Who is my Advocacy Provider?
If you’d like to find out more about the role of an advocate, what they can help you with and the confidentiality of the service, please visit our ‘Advocacy’ page for more information.
You can also visit our ‘Rights and Entitlements’ webpage which includes information around important legislation, your rights as a child in care or as a care leaver. There is even a section which includes some FAQs.
You can contact our national Helpline through a number of channels. Our opening hours are Monday to Friday 9am-8pm (excluding bank holidays) and Saturdays 10am-4pm.
We accept referrals directly from children and young people, professionals working with young people, their friends, families, and carers.
