Deadline: 24-Nov-20
The Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Young Migrants (SLF) has been announced to support legal work in the UK 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 vulnerable migrant children and young people more generally.
The SLF aims to tackle injustices and inconsistencies in law and practice that disadvantage or discriminate against vulnerable young migrants as a result of their migration status. The SLF uses the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as a framework for its work with both children and young people.
Funding Information
- The total amount available for SLF grants from October 2017 to September 2020 is £450,000. 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.
- The maximum grant length is 12 months, and most grants are for six months or less.
General Principles
It aims to advance the general principles of the UNCRC as follows:
- The right to life, survival and development.
- The right to non-discrimination.
- Respect for the views of children.
- The requirement to give primary consideration to the child’s best interests in all matters affecting them.
Eligibility Criteria
Those eligible to apply to the SLF are organisations based in the UK which are:
- Not-for-profit (NFP) organizations that provide specialist level legal advice to vulnerable young migrants. If you work for a NFP organization 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 vulnerable young migrants. Solicitors’ firms need to demonstrate that the funded work does not include any element of profit and, as for all applicants, 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 organization(s) being subcontracted to do the work at an appropriate rate.
How to apply
The Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Young Migrants is managed by the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA).
- Read the funding guidelines
- Please read the funding guidelines carefully to check whether your proposed work fits with what the SLF funds.
- Download SLF Funding Guidelines.
- You should also check out the list of previous SLF grants to make sure your proposal does not duplicate any existing work.
- Prospective applicants need to get in touch with ILPA to outline their proposal. If your request for funding fits the eligibility criteria they send out the application form to complete. This is to save you and their time and resources.
- Any questions?
- After reading the funding guidelines, if you are unsure as to whether your work fits or would like to discuss an idea for an application then please contact ILPA.
- Complete the application form
- If you have been in touch with ILPA and your proposal fits their eligibility criteria, please fill in the Word application form which they will email you.
- They only accept SLF applications written using the Word application form. They do not accept applications in any other format. If you have any problems please contact them.
- Closing dates
- There are usually six closing dates for applications during the year, roughly every two months.
- Applications must be received by 5pm on the closing date. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered until the next closing date.
- Processing your application
- ILPA’s in-house team will check all applications to ensure they are complete, valid and meet the eligibility criteria.
- ILPA will contact applicants if further information is needed and, where possible, to discuss and check the details of the application.
- Expert Panel
- All eligible applications received by the deadline will normally be considered at the next Expert Panel meeting.
- A minimum of three Expert Panel members will consider the applications and meet to agree on recommendations for funding. Where there are conflicts of interest, Expert Panel members will not be involved in assessing the relevant applications.
- Application decision
- Following the recommendation from the Expert Panel, the ILPA decision-making panel will make the final decision on whether to award a grant.
- You will normally hear within three weeks of the closing date whether or not the SLF has offered a grant to your organisation.
For more information, visit http://strategiclegalfund.org.uk/how-to-apply/