York law firm partners with Yorkshire’s largest domestic abuse charity

Torque Law have formed a corporate partnership with IDAS, who are the largest specialist charity in Yorkshire supporting anyone experiencing or affected by domestic abuse or sexual violence.

IDAS services include providing refuge accommodation, community-based support, peer mentoring, group work and access to a free, confidential out of hours’ helpline. The IDAS Team support people through the criminal justice system in addition to providing emotional support and safety planning advice.

Torque Law are the largest employment law specialist team in North Yorkshire and offer their clients over 60 years’ combined employment law experience, priding themselves on delivering high quality results on complex and challenging issues for employers and senior executives across Yorkshire and the UK.

Torque Law are a member of The Employer’s Initiative on Domestic Abuse, a network that works with employers to tackle domestic abuse and, during the pandemic, the team have responded to the alarming statistics around domestic abuse by providing advice and raising awareness on steps which can take to respond to the rise of domestic abuse cases.

Tiggy Clifford, partner, said: “We encourage our team to give back to the community we work in, in a way which suits their personal priorities and values. Over the last year we have been collaborating with local women’s charities and our established support for women and individuals experiencing domestic abuse continues as we partner with IDAS to provide vital income and practical help through our team and our wide business network.”

Sarah Hill, CEO of IDAS, said: “This has been an incredibly busy and challenging time. The impact of COVID on those living with abusers has been extreme, with victims having had less access to their normal support networks, friends or family members. There has been an unprecedented demand for our support with referrals growing to over 20,000 per year. Our helplines were the busiest they have ever been taking more than 380 calls every week. There has also been more demand for emergency accommodation across North and South Yorkshire.”

“We are pleased to partner with Torque Law, who’s have a strong interest in the area of domestic abuse and domestic violence. Corporate partnerships provide a vital source of income, so that we can keep supporting people subjected to abuse and violence, to rebuild their self-esteem and support children who have been impacted to recover from their experience. We rely on support to keep this vital source of income and hope that this partnership encourages other businesses to follow suit.”

Firm partners, Tiggy Clifford and Emma Whiting who originally met at university, founded Torque Law in 2016 with a vision to ‘do things differently’. The firm, which entire team are female, has since grown to be the largest employment law specialist in North Yorkshire winning numerous awards and accolades.