Extra help is on the way for people suffering discrimination in the form of a new government advice service.

The Equality Advisory and Support Service will give advice and support focussing on helping the vulnerable and disadvantaged to find early and informal solutions to their problems without recourse to legal action.

The free service will be open to everyone – and will include high accessibility standards especially for those with disabilities and for people who do not speak English.

Initial contact for advice on discrimination will be by the web or telephone.

Independent advocacy support will be offered to consumers who need legal help to issue a claim that cannot be resolved informally or through alternative dispute resolution. The government has also confirmed legal aid will continue for discrimination cases.

The decision by the Home Office’s Government Equality Office to run the support service follows lengthy consultation in 2010.

The consultation asked whether the government should fund a support service for discrimination victims and should the service be run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The responses confirmed the service was needed but the EHRC should not be funded to run it.

“This was because of government’s commitment to ensuring access to justice and, in particular, to helping people to resolve their problems informally before the point a claim is made and even before it is necessary to access formal alternative dispute resolution,” said a spokesman.

“The review also concluded that the government should not fund the EHRC to deliver this service. Therefore, government has decided that it will commission a new service from a private sector or civil society organisation or a combination of both.

The service expects to handle around 40,000 telephone calls and 20,000 emails a year requesting various levels of advice.

No timescales have been announced for the opening of the service.