Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies has welcomed the launch of HSBC UK’s Safe Spaces in each of their branches, including Denbigh and Rhyl.
People experiencing domestic abuse can now walk into any of HSBC UK’s branches and access a Safe Space where they can seek specialist support and advice.
Locally, this means there are now Safe Spaces in HSBC branches in Rhyl and Denbigh.
Welcoming the news, James said:
“One in four women and one in six men will experience domestic abuse in their lifetimes. I therefore welcome the fact that HSBC UK has signed up to the Safe Spaces initiative, which was launched by the domestic abuse charity Hestia and its UK SAYS NO MORE campaign, with support from People’s Postcode Lottery Recovery fund,
“Safe Spaces aims to increase the availability of specialist support for victims of domestic abuse and I very much welcome the fact that local people experiencing domestic abuse will now be able to access a helpline, or be able to contact a support service or talk to a friend or family member from a safe space.”
HSBC UK is the largest high street bank to offer the service, which was originally piloted last year in Southampton. Specialist training has been delivered to over 4,000 employees across HSBC UK’s branch network.
The introduction of Safe Spaces complements HSBC UK’s support for customers experiencing financial abuse.
The bank adheres to the UK Finance financial abuse code of practice and supports customers in a variety of ways, including being the first bank to open accounts with a sort code that is non-traceable to a geographic location, separating joint accounts and removing additional cardholders to prevent any further abuse, and reporting concerns to the Office of the Public Guardian where a Power of Attorney is the alleged abuser.
