Deadline: 30-Aug-22
Applications are now open for the Strategic Legal Fund (SLF) to support legal work that goes beyond securing justice for an individual and makes a significant contribution to law, practice and procedures to uphold and promote the rights of migrant groups in the UK.
The SLF is an initiative delivered by The Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA) in partnership with Trust for London, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Aims
The SLF aims to tackle injustices and inconsistencies in law and practice that disadvantage or discriminate against people as a result of their migration status.
They do this by making grants to organisations to:
- Undertake pre-litigation research, or
- Make third party interventions to ensure that the key legal points are made in existing cases.
They include families seeking refuge from war and persecution, children who need asylum, men and women facing injustice after moving here, or even after living in the UK most of their lives.
Goal
Their goal is to make sure all migrants in the UK can get justice when they need it through the legal system that guides, connects and protects them all.
Focus Areas
The SLF funds strategic legal work in any area of law where asylum seekers, refugees and migrants experience disadvantage or discrimination as a result of migration status. This includes (but is not restricted to) potential cases in the areas of:
- Immigration
- Asylum and asylum support
- Human rights
- Education
- Housing
- Welfare benefits
- Discrimination
- Access to justice
- Community care
They do not usually fund work involving issues of criminal or family law unless they also involve one of the above issues.
The SLF may from time to time issue calls for applications in certain areas of law, or on particular points of law, which will then be given priority. Information about calls will be publicised on the SLF website.
Funding Information
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Size of grants
- Maximum funding for any one application will be £30,000 but, in view of the limited funding available, lower applications are encouraged. The average grant size is around £12,000. You need to demonstrate that your application represents value for money. Grants may be approved for a lesser amount than requested.
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Length of grants
- The SLF aims to complement longer-term funding with short-term grants to respond to legal opportunities. The maximum grant length is 12 months, and most grants are for six months or less.
Types of Activities
The SLF only supports strategic legal work in the UK. They define this as work where the impact is likely to go beyond an individual case, and to result in changes to law, policy and practice that will benefit a wider group of people.
Applications must be to fund one of two kinds of strategic legal work:
- The research and development of cases pre-litigation including: gathering evidence to test a hypothesis or research to establish authorities’ policy and practice, identifying potential plaintiffs/applicants/appellants; researching whether to proceed; translating relevant material; and evaluating a litigation strategy.
- The SLF cannot be used to fund the costs of conducting litigation, it is limited to pre-litigation work only. A small proportion of an application may be used for advice, and for representation in the First Tier and Upper Tribunals where no other funding is available and where this is necessary to develop a strategic legal challenge.
- Third party “interventions” in existing cases, which allow a non-party intervener to assist the court in arriving in its decision in a case, acting as an amicus curiae, a friend of the court. Funds can be used for evidence-gathering, instructing counsel, preparing the application for permission to intervene. They ask that you have notified the parties that you intend to intervene before submitting a proposal to the SLF.
Please note that the SLF ONLY funds research that is tied to the possible future taking of legal cases. It does not fund general research, advice provision or campaigning work. See page 8 for application criteria and exclusions.
They recognise that some research and interventions may not lead to the desired legal outcome, but will only fund those where they believe that those undertaking the work have sufficient expertise and experience to maximise the chances of success. In your request for funding, name the counsel and legal team where possible.
They fund research and interventions that are likely to benefit people who fit the definition above. Some research and interventions may have a wider or even different focus, and they do consider funding these, but only if they are convinced that the outcome will substantially benefit people disadvantaged or discriminated against because of their migration status.
Eligibility Criteria
Those eligible to apply to the SLF are organisations based in the UK which are:
- Not-for-profit (NFP) organisations that provide specialist level legal advice to people discriminated or disadvantaged by their migration status. If you work for a NFP organisation regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) and are applying to undertake work in the asylum or immigration field, you must confirm that staff leading on the proposed work are accredited at Level 3, Advocacy and Representation, in the relevant category of law.
- Firms of solicitors that provide specialist level legal advice to people discriminated or disadvantaged by their migration status. Solicitors’ firms need to demonstrate that the funded work does not include any element of profit and that there is a pro bono element included.
- All applicants must demonstrate that staff has appropriate skills, experience and expertise to undertake the strategic legal work proposed. All applicants are asked to provide supporting documents with their application, for example annual accounts, governing documents, or other financial information.
- The SLF welcomes applications from specialist legal representatives working in partnership with voluntary and community groups, who may be able to assist with research, gathering evidence and identifying clients. This type of application should be made by the legal representative with the other organisation(s) being sub-contracted to do the work at an appropriate rate.
Please note that organisations may be in receipt of multiple grants simultaneously. This is because the SLF does not want to deter organisations from applying that would be best suited to carry out the work.
For more information, visit SLF.
For more information, visit http://strategiclegalfund.org.uk/