Funding gap reveals urgent need for legal advice

The response to our Improving Lives Through Advice 2026 grants programme has been overwhelming. The application process, which closed earlier this month, generated 314 applications totalling request for over £68.5 million.

With only £4 million available from which we expect to make a maximum of 20 grants, it’s a stark illustration of just how stretched resourcing for free legal advice services is.

This latest grants programme utilises £3.7m from the Gutmann v SW Trains boundary fares class action, which the Competition Appeal Tribunal awarded to the foundation, noting it ​“could make a huge difference in facilitating access to justice for the needy and vulnerable.” Other funding sources, such as pro bono costs orders, make up the rest of the pot.

The gap between legal need and service capacity is structural and growing. Our funded partners are reporting more than a 40% increase in requests for help over five years, with one reporting 119% growth. Drivers include the cost-of-living crisis, increasingly complex cases, legislative changes, and rising mental health issues.

Our CEO, Clare Carter, stated:

This three-year grant programme showcases the first funding opportunity under our new grant making strategy, which was developed with input from Advice UK, Age UK, Citizens Advice, Consumer Voice, Law Centres Network, and consumer group Which?.

These grants will provide unrestricted funding to charities delivering free legal advice services in London, the South East of England, Scotland and Wales giving organisations the stability they need to plan ahead and keep delivering for their communities. These regions were selected according to where members of the class action are based, the areas that face the most persistent gaps in access to free legal advice, and where few or no grants have been distributed.

A 17-times oversubscription is a stark comment on the state of free legal advice in the UK. Legal and consumer advice charities are often the first and only port of call for people trying to enforce their rights, yet the sector is chronically underfunded. Undistributed damages from collective actions put to work on these issues means this money can reach the people those cases were meant to serve.