A homelessness charity will change its name after a longstanding row with a similarly named organisation.
Julian House is based in Bath and provides support to socially excluded vulnerable people through emergency hostels, rough sleeper outreach, domestic abuse refuges and more.
The charity said it had “grown significantly” in the past 15 years and had been thinking about updating its brand to “reflect the true scope and scale of [its] work”.
In a statement, the charity said it has been in dispute with another charity with a similar name for “quite some time”.
The charity did not respond to questions about the identity of the charity it has been in dispute with.
“To avoid confusion and in the interest of protecting our charitable resources, we have taken the decision to rebrand,” the charity said.
“This is also a great opportunity to evolve our brand in line with the changing scope and scale of our work.
“A new brand will recognise this evolution and set us up to reach even more people in need in the coming years.”
Julian House expects to launch its new brand in June and said it was able to rebrand because it was in a “strong position” as a charity.
“We are not going anywhere: this rebrand is a sign of our readiness to take on whatever the future will bring, and to continue to provide the services on which our clients rely,” it said.
Julian House said it was not fundraising to support the rebrand and its marketing team was leading the work.
The charity said it is buying targeted support worth £6,000 from the multidisciplinary agency The Wind in Your Sails.
“Our trustees have agreed that this is affordable and proportionate,” the charity said.
“Our primary concern is making the best use of the charity’s money.
“We do not have lots of money spare to spend on an expensive external brand agency; nor do we believe this would be what we should spend our money on, even if we had it.
“We are lucky enough to have a highly skilled internal team who can apply their skills to this exciting project.”