We are often asked about how our work fits alongside the legal aid system, or whether the work we fund overlaps or duplicates with legal aid. In brief, we don’t fund work which could be funded through legal aid. Legal aid funding is very limited to particular types of work in particular types of cases. We make grants to organisations who deliver legal advice, a small proportion of those hold legal aid contracts as well as part of a diverse funding base. They may use funding from us to support work outise the scope of legal aid, or for costs that legal aid funding doesn’t cover, or to generally support the sustainability of the organisation i.e. paying for overheads of the salaries of essential support staff.