THE Wiltshire Law Centre has received funding to support Swindon Women’s Aid.

The centre has recently received agrant of £5,000 from the Nationwide Foundation to support its work and the funding will be used to provide outreach debt and housing advice clinics.

This will take the form of outreach sessions with clients and also one-to-one debt and housing advice interviews to assist with clients’ debt and housing issues which will benefit people in Swindon and Wiltshire who have been the victims of domestic abuse.

Martin Kerr, debt adviser at The Wiltshire Law Centre said: “We are grateful to the Nation-wide Foundation for this donation.

“It will assist the service users of Swindon Women’s Aid to deal with their debt and housing issues frequently incurred as a result of financial abuse in their previous relationship.

“The impact of this will be in often being able to take the stress out of their lives in these areas by a range of solutions that our housing and debt advisers provide – often solutions the clients were unaware existed.”

Lisa Suchet, the Nationwide Foundation’s chief executive, said: “Every donation made by Nationwide Foundation aims to help people in need, with a focus on funding charities helping survivors of domestic abuse.

“We are confident our grant will make a significant impact to the Wiltshire Law Centre in assisting Swindon Women’s Aid.”

The Nationwide Foundation is a registered charity which makes donations to registered charities.

It is funded principally by contributions from the Nationwide Building Society and is run by an independent board of trustees.

Jackie Pennington, Refuge services manager, said the debt advice clinics would help remove added stress for the victims of domestic abuse.

She said: “We are seeing more and more victims of domestic abuse with significant amounts of debt.

“Already frightened by the situation in which they find themselves, this additional burden can have a serious impact upon the choices open to them for the future if it is ignored.

“The debt advice clinics will provide safe access to expert information and assistance helping remove stress and increase choice.

“Our thanks go to the Nationwide Foundation for their donation and to Wiltshire Law Centre for offering this service and working in collaboration with us.”