Get help from an advocate

An advocate can:

• listen to your concerns
• give you information about your options to help you make choices and manage your expectations
• help you express what you want
• support you to say what you want at meetings like legal hearings and benefits appeals
• support you to advocate for yourself

An advocate will work with you on the issue you need support with. When that is finished, they will not work with you any more. But they will help you find ongoing support if you need it.

An advocate will not:

• give ongoing emotional support but they will help you find emotional support if you need it
• make decisions for you but they will help you find out all the information you need to make your own decision
• give their personal opinion
• manage your admin, such as phone calls, emails and letters, but they can help

An advocate will not usually speak on your behalf or represent you like a lawyer might. But they will help you to represent yourself and work out what you want to say.

Independent advocates are trained professionals or volunteers. They usually work for charities.

Independent advocates have lots of experience of helping people to manage a variety of issues.

For statutory advocacy, advocates need specialist training and qualifications.

Advocates must act in the best way for you. They should be someone you trust. If you have any concerns about an advocate, you can:

• ask to work with another advocate instead
• make a complaint about them

All advocacy services have details about how to make a complaint. You can find more information and contact details on their websites. If you need support to make a complaint, you can ask:

• Citizens Advice
• a family member or friend

You can also ask a family member or friend to be your advocate if you trust them to do what is best for you.

An advocate should always act on your behalf. If you do not think your friend or family member can do this, you do not have to accept them as your advocate.

If they do not want to be your advocate, you may still be able to get support from an independent advocate.

Being an advocate for a disabled friend or family member 

Find out what to do if the person who supports you dies.

Planning disability care after a carer dies

Advocates work in different ways depending on your situation.

POhWER has information on types of advocacy

Legal rights to advocacy (statutory advocacy)

In some situations, you might have a legal right to an advocate. This is called statutory advocacy. It includes:

• Independent Mental Health Advocates (IMHA)
• Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCA)
• Relevant Person’s Paid Representatives (RPPR)
• Care Act advocates
• NHS complaints advocates

Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA)

These are specially trained advocates who can support certain people under the Mental Health Act 1983.

IMHAs work differently in England and Wales:

• England: Independent Mental Health Advocates (PohWER)
• Wales: Independent Mental Health Advocates (Advocacy Support Cymru)

Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA)

These are specially trained advocates who can support certain people under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

IMCAs work differently in England and Wales:

• England: Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (POhWER)
• Wales: Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (Advocacy Support Cymru)

Mental capacity

Relevant Person’s Paid Representative (RPPR)

Everyone who is deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act must have a representative. This could be a family member or a friend. If there is nobody suitable, it must be an RPPR.

RPPRs work differently in England and Wales:

• England: Relevant Person's Paid Representative (POhWER)
• Wales: Relevant Person’s Paid Representative (Advocacy Support Cymru)

Care Act advocate

These can support certain people under the Care Act 2014 (in England) and the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act (in Wales).

These advocates work differently in England and Wales:

• England: Care Act advocate (POhWER)
• Wales: Social Services and Wellbeing Act advocate (Social Care Wales)

Advocates for social care assessments and appeals

NHS complaints advocate

If you are concerned about health care that you or someone you know is getting, you can ask to speak to someone at the service. This could be a doctor, nurse or manager.

Each NHS Trust has a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). PALS can help you resolve your concern without making a formal complaint.

If you still want to make a complaint, an advocate can help you.

NHS complaints advocate (POhWER)

Independent advocates can help you to prepare for social care meetings like:

• care needs assessments
• carer needs assessments
• safeguarding reviews
• changing your care plan

They can also attend meetings with you and help you to speak up for what you need.

Advocates for social care assessments and appeals

Independent advocates do not usually support you at health appointments with a:

• GP
• hospital doctor
• dentist
• physiotherapist
• occupational therapist

But there are things you can do to speak up for yourself and get the most out of appointments.

Think about what you want

It is important to know what you want from the appointment. For example, if you want to change medication or change your care plan. Think about what the best outcome of the appointment for you would be.

Bring notes to an appointment

If you have a few things to discuss, it can help to write them down on paper or on your phone. Bring notes with you to the appointment so you can make sure you cover everything you want to say.

Plan ahead

If you need to travel to the appointment, think about:

• how you are going to get there
• if you need any adjustments so you can access the meeting

Asking for reasonable adjustments

Try to arrive early if you can. This can help you feel more confident. If you want to bring someone with you, make sure they are available at that time.

Take notes in an appointment

Keep notes of what you talked about in the appointment. This can help you to remember what happened. If you bring someone with you, ask them to take notes for you.

You can also ask the health or social care worker to write a summary of what you discussed.

You can also ask to record the meeting on your phone or another device. You must get consent from everyone in the meeting first. If they agree, you must give a copy of the recording to everyone in the meeting.

Ask someone to come with you

You can ask someone you trust to come to an appointment with you. This could be a:

• friend or family member
• carer
• personal assistant

It can help to plan with them before the appointment. Let them know what you want them to do. They could help with:

• arranging transport
• taking notes
• helping you to say what you want

You can get help to manage admin tasks from a:

• carer
• personal assistant
• family member or friend
• citizen advocate

Personal assistants, care workers and support workers

Citizen advocates

Citizen advocates are usually volunteers with an advocacy charity. They can help you do things like:

• booking appointments
• paying bills
• making phone calls
• reading and replying to letters and emails

Citizen advocates would not usually go to a health appointment with you.

Citizen advocates usually work on a particular issue. If you resolve this, they will stop working with you. But they can help you find other support if you need it.

If you are a carer, sometimes you might need help to advocate for your own needs.

Some local authorities have carer advocacy. This is an advocacy service to support your needs as a carer rather than for the person you care for. They could help with things like:

• getting a carer’s assessment
• getting a care needs assessment for the person you care for
• appealing a benefits decision
• getting financial support

Carers UK has a self-advocacy guide to help you speak up for yourself as a carer. If a PDF is not accessible to you, ask for an alternative format.

Self-advocacy guide for carers (Carers UK)

Local councils have information about advocacy services on their websites. To find an advocate in your area, search for ‘advocacy’ on your local council’s website.

Find your local council (GOV.UK)

You can then contact the advocacy service in your area. Go to their website to find their phone number and other contact details.

Other ways to find an advocate

All local councils must provide statutory advocates.

But not all local councils have all the other types of advocates. This means there might not be the type of advocate you need in your area.

You can still contact an advocacy service for help. They will tell you about organisations that might be able to help you get what you need.

Contact Citizens Advice to ask for a list of advocacy services in your local area.

Find your local Citizens Advice

Disability Rights UK has a list of advocacy services across the UK. Some of them might have services in your area.

Advocacy (Disability Rights UK)

If you think your advocate is not acting in the best way for you, you can ask for a different one. The advocacy service will provide you with a new advocate if they find that your advocate did not work with you in the right way.

You can find out how to make a complaint about an advocate on the advocacy service’s website.

Making a complaint or challenging a decision can be stressful. There is support available if you need it.