Recipients announced for £3.9 million grants programme using unclaimed class action funds
1 June 2026
Today we announce the grant recipients of our Improving Lives Through Advice 2026 programme, a three-year unrestricted grants programme to drive the delivery of free legal advice to communities most in need across the UK.
The funding is to be channelled to 16 organisations delivering services in London, the Southeast of England, Scotland and Wales. These regions have been selected according to where class members from the Boundary Fare case are based, areas that face the most persistent gaps in access to free legal advice, and where we have no, or very few, grants currently distributed.
The grants have been made using £3.7 million in unclaimed settlement funds from the Gutmann v SW Trains case (Boundary Fare class action). The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) awarded these funds to us last year, commenting in its ruling that this money “could make a huge difference in facilitating access to justice for the needy and vulnerable”.
Our CEO Clare Carter, commented:
Unclaimed funds from collective actions represent a significant opportunity to strengthen access to justice. This ultimately protects consumers and boosts the economy. These organisations are the first point of call for people to enforce their rights and will ensure that the outcomes of collective actions are felt by consumers across the UK. We look forward to seeing how this funding makes an impact on communities most in need.
These grants have been made in line with our grant making strategy which has been designed to maximise the impact of unclaimed damages from collective actions and put in place a monitoring, evaluation and learning framework to ensure that impact is demonstrated.
The strategy was developed in collaboration with consumer and funding experts from Advice UK, Age UK, Citizens Advice, Consumer Voice, the Law Centres Network, and Which?
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