POhWER is a charity and membership organisation. We provide information, advice, support and advocacy to people who experience disability, vulnerability, distress and social exclusion.

POhWER was set up in 1996 by service users who, tired of others making assumptions about their capabilities and views, wanted equal access to information and a voice of their own.

There is a film in which our a group of our members talk about how POhWER came about and what the organisation means to them. You can watch this on our YouTube Channel.

Our independence:

We are an independent organisation, separate from the government, local councils, the NHS and other organisations that provide health and social care. Although some of these organisations pay us to provide advocacy this will never stop us from challenging them or representing the wishes and needs of the people we work with.

Our Advocates are trained so they can describe how they are independent from other service providers. They speak up for, and stand alongside individuals or groups, and are not influenced by the views of others. We always put the wishes and needs of the people we work with first.

We make sure that all of our contracts and service level agreements protect our independence and do not result in a conflict of interest.

We have suitable policies and processes in place that support us to challenge decisions made on behalf of our beneficiaries by practitioners working in health and social services. Our Code of Practice provides a framework for good practice for delivering independent advocacy.

Our independence from statutory services is important because we uphold and promote people’s rights. Everyone has basic rights and freedoms, including the right to live with dignity. These human rights are protected by laws and we respect, defend and pursue these rights, making sure people’s voices and opinions are meaningfully heard by statutory services, and that these services also deliver human rights-based approaches and practices.

Our values:

Our values are our core principles, the qualities and beliefs that drive all of our work. These have evolved over the years and can now be restated to ensure we put people at the heart of everything we do:-