26/02/2026
With heavy hearts, we announce that On Your Side will close on 31 March 2026.
This decision comes in the context of an extremely challenging funding climate. Over the past year, we have worked tirelessly to secure sustainable funding to ensure the future of the service. Despite these efforts, we have not been able to raise the level of funding required to continue delivering a national service of this scale and depth.
Since launching in August 2022, On Your Side has provided more than 5,000 hours of specialist support to over 800 people from East and Southeast Asian communities facing racism, discrimination, and hate across the UK. Behind every one of those hours is a person who needed to be believed, supported, and treated with dignity, and a community that stepped up to make that possible.
On Your Side was never just a service. From the beginning, it was built by and for ESEA communities and shaped through collaboration. Over the years, it has been developed and delivered by 15 organisations, the majority ESEA-led and rooted in the communities they serve. Today, the service is delivered by Chinese Community Wellbeing Society, East and Southeast Asian Scotland, the East and Southeast Asian Community Centre, Kanlungan Filipino Consortium, Protection Approaches, and the Southeast and East Asian Centre, combining community leadership with specialist expertise in hate crime prevention and victim support.
We are deeply proud of the involvement of so many ESEA organisations in building, shaping, and delivering On Your Side, and of what we have achieved together: supporting individuals through some of the most difficult moments of their lives; raising awareness of the racism, hate crime, and discrimination faced by ESEA communities; and challenging the silence and invisibility that too often surround these experiences.
This work has only been possible because of the community itself. More than 100 community champions gave their time, care, and energy to volunteer with the service. Dozens of people raised funds, donated, and helped sustain the work. Many more shared resources, posts, and messages across social media, ensuring that those who needed support knew where to find it. On Your Side has always been rooted in mutual aid, solidarity, and the belief that no one should face hate alone.
Until the service closes, our helpline will remain open, and our casework advocates will continue working closely with current clients to ensure they are supported and connected to the help they need.
While the On Your Side service will not continue in its current form after March 2026, the need for support will not disappear. East and Southeast Asian communities will continue to face racism, discrimination, and harm, and they will continue to need care, advocacy, and pathways to justice.
If you have donated to On Your Side in recent weeks, please know that your contribution will be put to good use. We are grateful that, through the funding that we have been able to secure, some elements of casework will continue to be delivered by partner organisations. While this cannot replace the full service, the organisations that built and delivered On Your Side are not going anywhere. The relationships, learning, and commitment developed over the past few years live on, and we will continue our vital work supporting communities in different ways, doing everything we can to ensure that those who experience hate and discrimination are not left without options or support.
As we look ahead to a challenging future, we return to the values that have always guided this work: community care, mutual support, and standing alongside one another. We call on everyone – organisations, allies, funders, and community members – to think about how we can continue to support each other, speak out, and ensure that those affected by hate are not forgotten.
On Your Side was built by the community, for the community. The service may be closing, but our collective determination to keep going remains.
We have worked with too many wonderful partners to list them all, but with special thanks to the 15 consortium partners past and present who have made On Your Side:
Chinese Community Centre Birmingham
Chinese Community Wellbeing Society
Chinese In Wales Association
East and Southeast Asian Scotland
Sesame Organisation
Hackney Chinese
Hong Kong Umbrella Community
Hongkongers in Britain 英國港僑協會
Kanlungan Filipino Consortium
Protection Approaches
Reportable
Southeast and East Asian Centre - SEEAC
Stop Hate UK
Vietnamese Family Partnership
Wai Yin Society
