Of these 25 venues, 13 failed to pick up on the ‘Angela’ code word.
The following month, in December 2024, the Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, commented she found the scheme ‘wanting’ after routinely going undercover at venues across the UK.
As conversations on the prevalence of violence against women girls grow, it is important operators implement the Ask for Angela initiative correctly to safeguard all who enter their premises. Below we have outlined some things to think about to ensure everyone in your premises stays safe.
Ask for Angela initiative
Ask for Angela is a national scheme to help anyone feeling vulnerable or unsafe to get the support they need. Support may be needed on a date, a night out, when meeting friends and other scenarios.
The scheme is not mandatory but is now becoming a condition imposed by some local authorities in new licence or variation applications. It is recognised in the industry as being good practice.
Why is Ask for Angela needed? The Ask for Angela organisation report states:
- 97% of women aged 18 to 24, and 80% of all women said they had been sexually harassed in public spaces in the UK
- 53% of women experience sexual harassment in a pub, club or bar
- 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ individuals have experienced a hate crime or incident because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Sadly, not everyone entering licensed venues has good intentions. The Ask for Angela initiative can be used by everyone, not just women so it is important that staff are trained to look out for anyone who may be in need.
Implementing Ask for Angela in your premises
The scheme works by training staff in managing vulnerability on your premises, and what to do when someone asks for ‘Angela’. You may find that it is a condition on your premises licence to partake in Ask for Angela or a similar initiative.
Staff members should be trained to understand the ‘Angela’ code word means that an individual needs help. Not all individuals in need may be able to get to the bar, so staff should be trained to look for other indicative behaviours such as body language, or where one party can be seen to be exerting control over another.
Staff should be trained to respond in a discreet way whether that be to call the individual a taxi or help them find their way back to their friends.
Training here is key so review your records to make sure staff have received training on dealing with vulnerability on your premises, if it has been a while since training has been delivered consider delivering refresher training.
Your internal policies and procedures or premises licence conditions may give you a steer on how often refresher training should take place.
Make sure any training is recorded in your staff training logs. Even if your premises licence conditions don’t require you to complete staff training logs, we advise this as a matter of good practice.
Help and support
For any new venues, or existing premises who would like to implement the scheme on their premises the Ask for Angela website offers a variety of free, and paid for resources.
More information can be found here - Home - Ask For Angela.
