Please note that our family law support is limited. We give preference to people who do not have legal representation and cannot get family law advice elsewhere. Over the 2020-2021 period, we provided a total of 531,451 customer services, of which over 57.4% were in rural and regional areas (including Wollongong and Newcastle). More than 19.4% of our services were provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, our sixth year of continued growth in the proportion of our services supporting these communities. We provide free legal advice and support to people in New South Wales who have money problems or family law issues due to financial abuse. If we are unable to assist you in resolving your legal or non-legal issue, we will attempt to refer you to another service that can. The Financial Abuse Service NSW is supported by the Ecstra Foundation, which has provided a grant for policy, legislative and capacity building. The legal arm of the service is a proud partner of CommBank Next Chapter; our foundations are American Express, PwC Australia, Ashurst and Telstra. Our service provides free and confidential advice to people in New South Wales who have money problems due to financial abuse.
Our latest annual report covers our work to support communities in New South Wales following the bushfires, floods and initial COVID-19 lockdowns, and to develop programmes that build resilience and continue to support our most vulnerable customers. In addition to key customer data and financial information, the report covers some of the ways we have responded to the needs of various clients over the past fiscal year. We have implemented a new universal triage so that everyone who asks for help is consistently directed to the right level and type of service. We delivered 1,293 municipal legal education sessions, focusing on COVID-19 sessions for culturally and linguistically diverse communities in partnership with community organizations. We distributed more than 420,000 fact sheets, pamphlets and other legal publications and provided legal support to hundreds of people affected by bushfires and floods. We also advise you on family financial law matters, such as: You can request a free telephone interpreter if you need one. If you leave a voicemail, please let us know your name and how we can safely contact you. Financial abuse is a form of family and family violence.
It is a model of abuse in which money is used as a form of power or control. Financial abuse often occurs in intimate partner relationships. Financial abuse can happen to anyone, regardless of age, income or financial ability. We work to improve outcomes for victims of financial abuse and ensure that financial abuse is recognized and addressed by government and industry. Our change work is supported by the Ecstra Foundation. RLC coordinates the NSW section of the Economic Abuse Reference Group (EARG). We welcome the recommendations of community workers. Call us and we will be happy to discuss if we can help you.
