Our live chat service is available for people affected by crime across England and Wales. It gives you the chance to talk to our trained supporters online and in confidence. We want you to have the best possible experience, so we’ve come up with a few ‘house rules’ to let you know what you can expect, and how we can help.

What you can expect from us

• You’ll have the opportunity to talk online safely and in confidence, and to choose what you tell us.
• You’ll be able to get support regardless of the type of crime you have experienced, when it happened or whether or not it has been reported to the police.
• You’ll speak to one of our trained supporters, who will listen to you respectfully and sensitively.
• Anything you say to us will be kept in confidence, and all your information will be safe and secure. Read our confidentiality and consent policy to find out more about this.
• We’ll ask you if you have received our help before, or are just receiving help now, so that we can ensure that you get the appropriate support.
• We’ll help you find the right information and support. This might be through Victim Support, or with your consent, we can put you in touch with one of our partners to provide specialist support.
• Please be aware that at busy times you may be waiting for up to 15 minutes to chat with someone. After this time, your chat may disconnect if all our advisers are busy. We’re sorry if this happens, please do try again at a different time.

Some things we can’t do

• We’re not a counselling service; however, we will always listen to you, and if you do want counselling, we will help you find a service near you.
• Once you leave live chat, even if this is due to a loss of mobile signal or internet connection, any live chat session you start again will count as a new, separate conversation and may be with a different trained supporter.
• All of our supporters have received special training to support people affected by crime. However, if we cannot provide the specialist help you need, with your consent we can refer you to a specialist partner agency to get the support you need.
• We won’t discuss any of your previous chats with anyone else, to ensure anything shared is kept confidential. But we may be able to see any conversations you’ve had with us before and can discuss this with you so you don’t have to repeat yourself.
• Our trained supporters will help you find the information you need. We can’t provide legal advice but will help you access legal support if you need it.
• If you need to speak to your support worker, please contact your local Victim Support office. Our live chat supporters are here to help you, but if you need to get a message to your local Victim Support office or support worker, the quickest way to reach them is by calling their direct line.
• It’s crucial that live chat is a safe experience for both our users and our trained supporters. We won’t tolerate abusive behaviour towards our supporters and will block users that are misusing live chat or being abusive.
• When you join live chat, you’ll be allocated to the next available supporter. This could be a man or woman, and we cannot guarantee that you’ll be able to speak to someone of your preferred gender.

Feedback and complaints

We want to give everyone using our live chat service the best possible experience. You can give us feedback to help us achieve this or make a complaint if you’re unhappy.