AIMS (Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services) was founded in 1960 by Sally Willington “to support women and families to achieve the birth that they wanted.”
Since the 1960s AIMS has campaigned tirelessly for improvements to the UK's maternity services, as well as supporting women and pregnant people, their families and others who support them both directly through our helpline, and by sharing information with our books, Journal and website resources.
In 2014 we became a registered charity with the slogan “There for your mother. Here for you. Help us to be there for your daughters.”
On launching our new website in 2017 we adopted the strapline ‘Women Supporting Women’ to reflect our roots and identity as a feminist organisation. As such we recognise the oppression of women in the maternity services and have fought against this for over 60 years.
In 2017 we adopted our current mission statement (see below) to signal our support for all maternity service users. In line with this, we now use the strapline “Supporting you, Campaigning for all” to summarise the two sides of our mission.
The Trustees’ Annual Reports and accounts which we have submitted to the Charities Commission can be found here
Information about our governance and the roles and responsibilities of our trustees can be found here
Our candle image has been the AIMS logo since the late 60s. It represents our commitment to change, no matter how large or small the change may be. "It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.”
AIMS is a long standing member of the European Network of Childbirth Associations
You can read more about our history in
A future where every family has a positive maternity experience where they feel informed, heard and respected.
We support all maternity service users to navigate the system as it exists, and campaign for a system that truly meets the needs of all.
AIMS works towards better births for all by campaigning and information sharing, protecting human rights in childbirth and helping everyone to know their rights, whatever birth they want, and wherever they want it.
AIMS mission is supported by the following three pillars of work:
Providing objective, accessible, evidence-based information tailored to the needs of maternity service users and those who support them
Providing individual support and tools for self-advocacy
Campaigning and lobbying at national level for the service improvements that we believe are needed
How does AIMS know? We listen to organisations, individuals, and gather information from a wide range of sources.
AIMS has set out its position on a number of important maternity services issues in a series of position papers. These cover the following topics:
Our Advertising, Promotion and Endorsement policy commits us not to receive any funding or benefit from being linked with any commercial enterprise. This is to ensure that AIMS is, and is seen to be, wholly independent of any third parties in order to preserve our reputation for providing impartial information.
Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity policy is intended to guide those in the AIMS community in their work and advocacy, and to explain our approach to equity, diversity and inclusivity to those outside AIMS.
Our Environmental policy sets out our commitment to understanding, monitoring and reducing our environmental impact.
Our Data Protection and Privacy policy explains how we use and how we try to protect the personal data provided to us by our members, Volunteers, donors, and other contacts.
Our Anti-corruption policy is designed to help us uphold our key value of Integrity. It sets out our committment to operating ethically, professionally, fairly, and with integrity in all of our dealings and relationships, and complying with all anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws wherever we operate.
Our Safeguarding policy outlines AIMS’ commitment to safeguarding. It sets out the arrangements for protecting from harm people who access our Helpline or who come into contact with the charity in other ways, as well safeguarding and protecting our employees, volunteers and contractors from abuse.
Our Personal harassment policy explains how we seek to ensure that the working environment is sympathetic to all those who work for us, includng volunteers in all areas of the Charity. It sets out our procedure for investigating complaints of sexual or personal harassment or victimisation.
Our Resolution procedure explains the series of informal and formal steps by which we will try to resolve any ill-feeling or concerns between volunteers that are not covered by the personal harassment policy.
AIMS accepts no commercial sponsorship so relies on membership subscriptions, donations, profits from AIMS Shop sales, grants and other fundraising to be able to continue our work.
To become an AIMS member or to join our free mailing list click here
To make a donation click here
AIMS is run by a small team of Volunteers, and we always gratefully welcome more. To find out about volunteering opportunities click here
Click here for AIMS contact details