Advocacy Matters Ltd

Charity 1148198

www.advocacymatters.co.uk

Overview

Summary

Sources:Civic AtlasAI-assisted

Advocacy Matters Ltd appears to occupy a broad, cross-cutting role in reducing exclusion: rather than addressing one condition or life stage, it uses advocacy to help people navigate barriers associated with health, disability, poverty, housing, discrimination and personal crisis. Its charitable purpose combines direct support across five West Midlands-area counties with a UK-wide educational remit, suggesting an organisation that may see advocacy both as an individual service and as a transferable capability.

See observations

Operational geography

Sources:ONSCivic AtlasAI-assisted

Coverage: Citywide

Operational areas:

Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Sutton Vesey

Confidence: low

The supplied evidence identifies a public contact base in Sutton Coldfield, but it does not establish operational activity in Sutton Vesey ward.

  • Advocacy Matters, Contact Us
    The organisation lists a contact address in Sutton Coldfield.
  • NHS service directory, Advocacy Matters Sutton Coldfield
    The service listing gives the same contact location, describes an accessible building, lists Monday-to-Friday opening hours, and identifies the catchment as Birmingham and Walsall.
Remaining uncertainties
  • The evidence strongly supports Birmingham-wide advocacy provision, but does not identify which individual Birmingham wards receive particular services, referrals or outreach activity. It would therefore be inappropriate to infer operational presence in every ward.
  • The Sutton Coldfield contact address is clearly current and public, but the Charity Commission records that the charity does not own or lease land or property. The evidence does not establish whether this is a dedicated operational office, shared premises or principally an administrative base.
  • The current Birmingham Advocacy Hub partnership materially extends Advocacy Matters' Birmingham reach, but public evidence does not specify the division of delivery responsibilities, caseloads or service locations between Advocacy Matters, POhWER and the other partners.
  • Advocacy Matters also operates in Walsall. That secondary geography supports a wider-than-Birmingham organisational footprint, but it cannot be represented in the supplied Birmingham ward and place list.
Additional evidence needed
  • A current annual report, service specification or contract-monitoring report identifying Advocacy Matters' specific delivery responsibilities within the Birmingham Advocacy Hub.
  • Current service or referral data broken down by Birmingham ward, district or venue.
  • Confirmation from Advocacy Matters of the operational role of its Sutton Coldfield contact location and any other regular Birmingham delivery bases.

Areas of work

Source:Charity Commission
  • Accommodation/housing
  • Disability
  • Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity
  • The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
  • The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty

Who they help

Source:Charity Commission
  • Children/young People
  • Elderly/old People
  • People With Disabilities

How they help

Source:Charity Commission
  • Provides Advocacy/advice/information
  • Provides Human Resources

Discoveries involving this organisation

The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.

Observations

Sources:Civic AtlasAI-assisted

  • Advocacy is positioned as an inclusion mechanism

    The available evidence suggests that advocacy is not simply an advice function but the organisation's means of responding to many routes into social exclusion, including ill health, addiction, bereavement, financial hardship, discrimination and housing problems.

    Why it matters

    This frames the organisation as potentially connecting people with systems and rights across several sectors, rather than operating within a single issue area.

    Show evidence

    • “Its objects include preventing social exclusion, relieving the needs of socially excluded people, assisting their integration into society and improving their conditions of life through an advocacy service.”

      Source:Charity Commission

    • “Activities are described as provision of advocacy for vulnerable people.”

      Source:Organisation

  • The organisation has unusually broad stated reach

    Its remit appears broad in two ways: geographically, through service provision across five counties; and demographically, through stated support for children and young people, older people and people with disabilities.

    Why it matters

    Such breadth may make the organisation a useful bridge between local services and groups who are often served through separate age-, condition- or locality-based systems.

    Show evidence

    • “The advocacy service is specified for the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Herefordshire.”

      Source:Charity Commission

    • “The charity helps children and young people, elderly or old people, and people with disabilities.”

      Source:Charity Commission

  • There is a potential dual role: service delivery and capability-building

    The organisation appears to pair direct advocacy with education and training in advocacy skills and disability issues, which may indicate an ambition to strengthen advocacy practice beyond its own frontline work.

    Why it matters

    This could make it more than a referral destination: it may also be a potential source of learning or capacity for other organisations, although the evidence does not confirm whom it trains.

    Show evidence

    • “One charitable object is to advance education, particularly training in advocacy skills and disability issues, throughout the UK.”

      Source:Charity Commission

    • “The charity is recorded as providing human resources and advocacy, advice or information.”

      Source:Charity Commission

    Remaining uncertainties

  • Which barriers and beneficiary groups are the main focus of current advocacy work.
  • Whether UK-wide advocacy training is actively delivered and who receives it.
  • Which statutory, health, housing or community organisations the charity works alongside.

    Additional evidence needed

  • Recent annual reports or service information showing advocacy cases, outcomes, locations and referral routes.
  • Evidence of training delivery, partner organisations and funding sources.
Charity Commission profile
Source:Charity Commission

Activities

Provision of Advocacy for vulnerable people.

Charity objects

1. TO PROMOTE THE RELIEF OF THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SICKNESS OF PERSONS IN NEED BY REASON OF ADDICTION, BEREAVEMENT OR LOSS, AND TO PROMOTE SOCIAL INCLUSION FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT BY PREVENTING PEOPLE FROM BECOMING SOCIALLY EXCLUDED, RELIEVING THE NEEDS OF THOSE PEOPLE, WHO ARE SOCIALLY EXCLUDED, ASSISTING THEM TO INTEGRATE INTO SOCIETY AND IMPROVING THEIR CONDITIONS OF LIFE, BY THE PROVISION OF AN ADVOCACY SERVICE IN THE COUNTIES OF WEST MIDLANDS, WARWICKSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE, STAFFORDSHIRE AND HEREFORDSHIRE WITH THE OBJECT OF IMPROVING THEIR CONDITIONS OF LIFE. FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS CLAUSE, ‘SOCIALLY EXCLUDED’ MEANS BEING EXCLUDED FROM SOCIETY OR PARTS OF SOCIETY AS A RESULT OF ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING FACTORS: UNEMPLOYMENT; FINANCIAL HARDSHIP; YOUTH AND OLD AGE; ILL HEALTH, (PHYSICAL OR MENTAL); SUBSTANCE ABUSE OR DEPENDENCY, INCLUDING ALCOHOL AND DRUGS, DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF SEX, RACE, DISABILITY, ETHNIC ORIGIN, RELIGION, BELIEF, CREED, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER REASSIGNMENT; POOR EDUCATION OR SKILLS ATTAINMENT; RELATIONSHIP AND FAMILY BREAKDOWN; POOR HOUSING (THAT IS HOUSING THAT DOES NOT MEET BASIC HABITABLE STANDARDS); CRIME (IE. EITHER AS A VICTIM OF CRIME OR AS AN OFFENDER REHABILITATING INTO SOCIETY). 2. TO ADVANCE EDUCATION IN PARTICULAR TRAINING IN ADVOCACY SKILLS AND DISABILITY ISSUES THROUGHOUT THE UK