Advance joins scheme to break the cycle of homelessness

November 16, 2023

Advance has become a partner to a game-changing programme which helps people without a fixed address open a bank account and break the cycle of homelessness.

Shelter’s Breaking the Cycle programme is a specialist service available to those receiving ongoing support from a partner organisation such as Advance.

Women fleeing domestic abuse or leaving custody, often face homelessness and economic exclusion as a consequence. Not having a fixed address can prevent you opening a bank account. Not having a bank account can prevent you applying for benefits, getting employment, and paying rent. Without the Breaking the Cycle programme, women being released from custody or fleeing a home where they aren’t safe could be without any income for six months – making homelessness a very real threat.

Lianne Vuong, Advance’s West London Service Manager, said:

“Joining the Shelter Breaking the Cycle scheme will enable us to support women facing homelessness return to employment and manage their finances. This scheme will enable our advocates to further support women survivors across many of their needs as part of our holistic services in the community, so that they can overcome the never-ending barriers and challenges they face.”

The Shelter scheme launched in June and has since helped 4500 take control of their finances and rebuild their lives. More than 300 local and national organisations use the scheme to support their clients including St Mungo’s Shelter and Crisis – and now Advance.

Clients are currently accessing the Breaking the Cycle scheme through selected HSBC branches, including Finsbury Park, Wimbledon, Richmond, Stratford, Ilford, Paddington, Putney, and Palmer’s Green, in London. It is hoped that other financial institutions will partner the scheme in the future.

Rob Bloomer, Break the Cycle Relationship Manager with Shelter, said:

“We have helped thousands of people through this service to get access to banking which has been a huge success for some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Banking is one of the fundamental needs of people in the UK and without it – it can be very difficult to get accommodation, be in employment, receive benefits and even to be able to purchase basics such as food and toiletries. Our service has hugely supported people across the UK to be able to get access to this basic need and, as a result, get back on their feet. We hope that with more organisations joining this cause; we will be able to further support the most vulnerable in our society with this service.”

For all press enquiries, please contact:

E: press@advancecharity.org.uk
T: 020 39533111

About Advance

Advance’s vision is a world in which women and children lead safe, equal, violence-free lives so that they can flourish and actively contribute to society. The charity works with women who experience domestic abuse to be safe and take control of their lives, and women who have committed crime or are at risk of offending to break the cycle.
Women must be referred to Advance, via statutory services or the charity’s self-referral scheme. For more information about who Advance is able to support, please visit Get Help
For facts and statistics about domestic abuse and women in the criminal justice system, as well as Advance’s work, please visit Our Impact

A safe, just and equal world for women