Law firm Addleshaw Goddard has successfully provided pro-bono legal advice to Stopcocks Women Plumbers, in its bid to set up a National Register of Tradeswomen. 

The organisation plans to create a robust platform, that doesn't just list, but verifies all tradeswomen, making it ideal for those who are experiencing or escaping from domestic violence or don't feel safe having tradesmen in their homes. Stopcocks founder Hattie Hasan MBE says that a National Register of Tradeswomen is now more important and needed than ever, following the disturbing increase of and emerging situations of vulnerable women reported in the news since the beginning of lockdown.

Stopcocks has received pro-bono support from Addleshaw Goddard, which has helped to draw up the necessary legal paperwork, and is now helping to set up the CIC (Community Interest Company), and is now looking for sponsors and funding to help get the service off the ground quickly.

Karen Ingala Smith, Chief Executive of Nia: Ending Violence Against Women and the Femicide Census, comments: 

"It’s well known but often ignored that home is not a place of safety for many women and children and that the most serious threat of danger usually comes from her partner. It is much less well known that some men in trusted trades roles have used their position as a way to access women and harm them including robbery, sexual violence and in some extreme though fortunately rare cases, as we have seen from our work on the Femicide Census, murder.

"Every woman deserves to feel safe in her home. For many that might mean not allowing men, especially those that are not known to us, into our homes. A register of tradeswomen would not only help keep women safe, because men are statistically much more likely to commit violence; it would also help women feel safe and less vulnerable by reducing the occasions we have open our doors to men that we don’t know and allow them access into our homes.”

Polly Sprenger, the Partner at Addleshaw Goddard who has led on the project, adds: 

"Stopcocks Women Plumbers is a fantastic organisation and its idea for a National Register of Tradeswomen will not only help to generate work for skilled tradeswomen, but also provide much needed security to vulnerable women who need to feel safe allowing strangers into their homes.

"At Addleshaw Goddard, it is incredibly important to us that we use our skills and expertise for good, and offering Pro-Bono work to individuals or organisations in need remains one of our key priorities as a firm, so we are thrilled to have been able to assist Stopcocks with this work."

To sponsor, or work with Stopcocks Women Plumbers on this project please email mica@stopcocks.uk. 

A crowdfund campaign is running throughout August; donations can be made here (from 5th August - 5th September 2020).