2024 Pro Bono grants programme launched

We are pleased to launch the 2024 Pro Bono grants programme, providing two-year funding to 10 organisations across the UK. Funded largely through income from Pro Bono Costs Orders, donors, and the legal community, the Pro Bono Grants will support advice organisations across the UK to increase access to justice through pro bono provision.

This year, our Pro Bono grants focus on supporting access to justice for disabled people. As the demand for legal advice increases, people living with disabilities face substantial barriers to accessing legal advice and navigating complex systems such as welfare benefits. People with a condition or impairment are almost three times as likely to live in material deprivation than the rest of the population, making access to legal advice when it is needed increasingly difficult.

You can read more about the aims of the programme and our funded partners here.

Disability Rights UK, one of our successful applicants, is a charity led by, run by and working for disabled people.  Kamran Mallick, the CEO said:

Access to justice is vital to ensure that disabled people are able to tackle the daily discrimination we face. This discrimination can’t be allowed to be normalised. Thanks to the funding from the Access to Justice Foundation, and the legal expertise of Inspire Legal and Cloisters Chambers, we will work with to challenge the discrimination and exclusion we face.

This funding round received 58 applications with a total ask of approximately £2.6million. From these, we were able to offer grants totaling just under £500,000 over two years to 10 organisations. We are very excited to be working with this cohort of local and national pro bono charities and legal advice charities to establish, expand, and sustain pro bono provision.

As in our previous grant programmes, the demand for funding far outstripped the funds available, highlighting the need for increased investment in access to justice. We are aware of the vital need for further investment to address the barriers faced by marginalised communities in accessing specialist legal advice, and we will continue to make the case for additional funding for improved access to justice for all.

You can support our mission by being part of the picture here.

Our Pro Bono grants funded partners:

Advocate
The funding will support the expansion of pro bono legal services across England and Wales, particularly duty schemes providing crucial face-to-face legal assistance for vulnerable individuals, especially those with disabilities who struggle to access online services. It will finance a caseworker position to manage and establish new on-the-day representation schemes nationwide, to meet the growing 40% increase in demand for their services.
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Asylum Support Appeals Project
This small national charity has been working to defend legal rights to food and shelter for people in the asylum system for over 20 years. Clients often struggle to access health care so are not registered as or do not self-identify as “disabled” despite severe physical/mental health needs. Funding will help to extend the pro bono scheme by recruiting new volunteers and training all 40 pro bono lawyers to better represent disabled people.
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Citizens Advice Braintree and South Essex
The funding will expand the South Essex Law Clinic to better serve disabled residents. It will enable the development of a disability-focused Legal Health Check-Up, improve accessibility through various technologies and formats, strengthen partnerships with disability advocacy groups, and enhance outreach efforts. A range of measures from providing sign language interpreters to conducting legal rights workshops and training so disabled people can self-advocate are planned.
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Citizens Advice Oxford
The funding will re-establish the pro bono legal clinic, which was discontinued in 2020 due to the pandemic. It will support recruiting solicitors, developing accessible interaction methods (including video, phone, and in-person), and coordinating with regional organisations to maximize legal advice accessibility. The clinic will focus on serving disabled clients, who make up 55% of the current clientele.
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Citizens Advice St Albans
The funding will continue and expand the Law Clinic which provides free specialist legal advice to low-income residents, half of which are disabled or have a long-term health condition. It will help maintain existing pro bono services, recruit new specialists, and serve 100-125 people annually, focusing on areas like family, employment, and discrimination law.
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Disability Rights UK
The funding will establish a new pro bono legal advice and representation service for Disabled People's Organisations (DPOs) in England and Wales. It will support the creation of an advisory group to select impactful test cases, provide legal advice to assess these cases, and offer pro bono representation through Inspire Legal Group and Cloisters Chambers. The service aims to strengthen the DPO sector by providing strategic legal support and publishing case studies to benefit the wider disability rights community.
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Legal Advice Centre (University House)
The funding will support the expansion of the Disability Advocacy Project, training of more volunteer lawyers to undertake disability benefit appeals at the First Tier Tribunal. The project aims to increase the number of trained advocates, maintain its high success rate (currently over 85%) in appeals, and continue providing quality-controlled legal support to disabled clients facing benefit stoppages.
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Mary Ward Legal Centre
More than 40% of people seeking advice have a disability but for those needing help with employment issues this rises to 60%. Funding will sustain and expand pro bono legal advice services to serve around 150 people annually, and will help make service more accessible with the provision of sign language interpreters, more flexible appointments and thorough assessments of client needs.
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Tower Hamlets Law Centre
Almost every person approaching this employment service for advice has a disability related query. This funding will expand pro bono services for disabled people in East London, increasing the number of pro bono clinics that support disabled people, providing training and supervision to volunteers dealing with more complex disability-related matters, deliver outreach to potential disabled clients, and ensure clinics are accessible to disabled people across impairment groups.
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Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (Z2K)
The funding will support and expand the pro bono offering, which has a 92% success rate in assisting people with disabilities in appealing incorrect benefit decisions. 85% of clients with a disability or health condition and 76% people from black, minority ethnic, and refugee communities. The project will be able to involve more law firms and volunteers, increase support at various stages of the appeal process, and explore expansion beyond London.
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