Deadline: 27-Oct-2025
The Strategic Legal Fund (SLF) in the UK supports legal initiatives that go beyond individual cases and aim to create broader impact in law, practice, and procedures, upholding the rights of asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants.
The fund prioritizes work that strengthens legal protections and promotes systemic change for migrant communities.
Grants through the SLF are designed to respond to urgent legal opportunities, with a maximum funding of £30,000 per application. Given the limited resources, smaller applications are encouraged, and the average grant size typically ranges between £12,000 and £15,000. Grants may be approved for a lesser amount than requested, and the maximum duration is 12 months.
Eligible applicants include UK-based not-for-profit organizations providing specialist legal advice to those disadvantaged due to migration status. Organizations regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) must ensure that staff leading proposed work are accredited at Level 3 for Advocacy and Representation in the relevant legal category. Solicitor firms providing specialist legal services to migrants may also apply, provided the funded work does not generate profit.
The SLF does not fund applications for pre-litigation research where work is already underway, cases with low prospects of success, or projects unlikely to create significant positive change for vulnerable migrants. Applications led by organizations outside the UK are generally excluded, though partnerships with a UK-based lead partner may be considered. The fund also excludes proposals that could be more effectively addressed through policy work, organizations that have received two grants in the past 18 months (except in exceptional circumstances), and organizations in serious financial deficit.
This fund provides critical support for legal work that strengthens protections and ensures that migrant communities in the UK can access justice and systemic improvements in legal practice.
For more information, visit ILPA.