Apply for a Grant

Improving Lives Through Advice (ILTA) programme now open for expressions of interest - Click here to apply - deadline 4pm on 15 September

The Fund

Improving Lives Through Advice is supported by £30 million from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK, to provide access to specialist social welfare legal advice. Thanks to National Lottery players, the funding will enable approximately 75 expert organisations to support some of the most marginalised communities in England – including people with disabilities, women fleeing abuse and families facing eviction.

Improving Lives Through Advice (ILTA) is a new five-year funding programme delivered by the Access to Justice Foundation with support from the Community Justice Fund. It is designed to support the delivery of free legal advice to marginalised people and communities across England. The programme will open in 2023 with two funding rounds and grants launching in 2024.

ILTA will provide multi-year core costs grants to charities based in England only.

The Expressions of Interest (EOI) stage will open on the 7 August 2023 and close on 15 September 2023 at 4pm.

What is the aim of the fund?

The aim is to improve access to high quality specialist advice for the people who need it most. We will make multi -year core cost grants to organisations who can help us achieve the following outcomes:

  1. Advice to people from marginalised communities is sustained and improved.
    We recognise that certain areas of England and certain communities have poorer access to specialist legal advice than others. We want to make grants to organisations working to improve access to advice for people, places and communities who experience the greatest need dues to poverty, disadvantage, and discrimination.
  2. More people from marginalised communities are empowered to identify, understand and resolve their legal problems.
    We recognise that specialist advice organisations are powerfully placed across community, statutory services and the wider advice sector to enable connection and collaborative relationship building. We want to make grants so that specialist advice organisations can connect with communities through greater sharing and advice coordination, so that people are empowered in their legal matters and supported through the process.
  3. Organisations have more capacity to engage in influencing, partnerships and fundraising work, which helps them meet the needs of their communities.
    We want to make grants that enable specialist advice organisations to have the capacity and resource to engage with their communities and continue to offer vital advice and support where it’s needed most. We recognise that longer term funding means that organisations can develop partnerships, work to leverage further funding and influence policy and/or practice (but will not use this funding for lobbying, or to influence Government or political parties).
  4. Organisations are better able to demonstrate the difference they make to people’s lives.
    We understand that organisations that sit at the heart of their communities (and communities of interest) and which have been developed for and by those communities are often better placed to demonstrate their impact and the difference they make to people’s lives. We want to make grants to organisations with a track record and commitment to learning, evaluation and using advice as a tool for community wide impact.

Funding Rounds

There will be two funding rounds as part of this programme with round one focused on funding specialist legal advice organisations, further details below.

There will be a second round of funding available as part of this programme. This round will open for Expressions of Interest later in 2023 with further details and guidance to follow.

Who is eligible to apply for round one?

To be eligible for funding, an organisation must be:

  • registered with the Charity Commission and working in England;
    AND
  • able to demonstrate a track record of delivering legal advice in one or more of the following areas of law: asylum, community care, debt, disability, discrimination, education, employment, family, housing, immigration, mental health, public and administrative law and welfare benefits;
    AND
  • able to demonstrate a track record in delivering advice at specialist level including carrying out end-to-end casework for clients, carrying out representation in a court or tribunal and/or holding legal aid contracts.

The advice must relate to a legal problem or the resolution of a legal problem. Some examples are as follows:

  • acting for a client in a homelessness or eviction case;
  • appealing a refusal of benefits (after the initial application);
  • dealing with legal threats from creditors;
  • applying for debt relief orders/insolvency;
  • advising on immigration and asylum applications and appeals;
  • advice on employment rights or disputes;
  • challenging decisions of public bodies;
  • challenging cases of discrimination etc.,
  • providing assistance and advocacy in Courts or Tribunals.

It does not include, for instance, initial applications for benefits; help with general money management or debt management programmes (except where they arise as a result of threats from creditors); general advice on rights and obligations (i.e. advice on data access or leave entitlements etc.).

The services must also include end-to-end casework (where you progress the case for the client). It would not normally include one-off interventions, though we of course accept that the resolution of some legal problems can be achieved through a single one-off intervention.

The provision of advice regulated by OISC (at Levels 2 or 3), the SRA, BSB or CILEX (through an employed solicitor, barrister or Chartered Legal Executive with a current practising certificate) or delivered via a legal aid contract will automatically be treated as being specialist advice. This does not mean however, that a legal qualification is required for the advice to be considered specialist.

We recognise that generalist advice agencies, private sector legal aid practices, pro bono providers and individuals play important roles in helping people to address their legal problems. However, given the pressures on limited resources, we are not able to support these via this fund.

How will we decide who to fund?

We will fund organisations, not projects. This section of the guidelines sets out the process for how we will identify organisations that we think will best help us to deliver on the aim and outcomes of the fund.

We will be assessing expressions of interest against the following priorities: -

  1. Can demonstrate a commitment to the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion in their ways of working both internally and externally.
    We will prioritise organisations that can demonstrate they recognise and are actively attempting to dismantle the multiple barriers to accessing justice that exist for many in their communities due to race, disability, gender, or any other reason, particularly organisations developing strong connections with local communities, including in staffing and governance, or by working collaboratively. We will prioritise organisations that can clearly demonstrate a commitment to EDI at all levels of their organisation and its activities, and who listen to the people they seek to support about their needs and experiences of accessing services making any necessary changes.

    We recognise that organisations may be at different stages and therefore we welcome expressions of interest from organisations who have vision for how they want to address this but who may be at the start of this journey, as well as from organisations who want to use the funding to expand or develop their approach.
  2. Challenge themselves to ensure the services they provide meet need, are high quality and represent value for money.
    We are keen to work with organisations that;
    • have systems in place to identify and prioritise those most in need, adapting services accordingly;
    • are reflective about the quality of their services and have adopted a positive learning culture to make changes where needed and
    • ensure that their limited resources are used in the most impactful way.
  3. Have a commitment to learning and evidence and can demonstrate the difference they make and the impact they have.
    This programme will have a strong emphasis on learning together, so it is important we work with organisations who are committed to an open and honest approach to sharing what works and what doesn’t, and who are open to developing ways of evaluating and learning to demonstrate impact.
  4. Have strong connections with people, places and communities and can evidence meaningful community involvement, including in their staffing and governance, and by working collaboratively.
    We want to work with organisations keen to build on existing and/or develop new partnerships with organisations embedded in their local communities. This will involve a more thoughtful and systematic approach to how you engage and work with communities, and an understanding of where your advice organisation sits within the overall ecosystem of the relevant community.

    We can do more when supported by others. This can take many forms, such as working with other organisations as part of a wider network, and by listening to the people you seek to support. We are interested in those playing a leading or coordinating role in a particular area of law, or in supporting a beneficiary group with particular needs. This could include the development of a health justice partnership or a collaboration aimed at addressing racial justice by connecting with other services, organisations or groups to achieve this.
  5. Are well run, making best use of resources and following best practice (e.g. in governance, financial management, safeguarding) and invest in staff well-being and in being supportive, inclusive places to work.
    We will prioritise organisations who can demonstrate how they challenge themselves to deliver impactful services in the most efficient and effective ways, including thoughtful use of technology and and recognising the importance of investing in staff training and well-being.
  6. Use the learning from their work to influence broader change, whether locally or nationally.
    We want to support organisations who share knowledge where possible, for example with colleagues in the sector, or to influence attitudes to an issue or policy. We will prioritise those which use a range of tools to leverage the impact of their individual casework, either through strategic use of law (eg: judicial reviews, appeals) or by influencing policy or practice at a local or national level.

What will we fund?

This is a five-year core costs funding programme and the requirement is that all of the funding be spent in England only.

Some examples of what we will fund can be found below;

  • direct costs associated with delivering services - this can include project staff, materials, equipment, room hire, volunteer expenses and project evaluations
  • organisational development - this can include business planning, testing new ways of working, staff training and development, developing governance and leadership, tech or IT upgrades/purchases, developing and sharing impact and learning, and increasing capacity to support collaboration and partnership working
  • core/fixed costs to support the day-to-day running of your organisation - this can include core salaries, rent, utilities, equipment

You can apply for funding through Improving Lives Through Advice (ILTA) if you have applied for, or are in receipt of, a grant from The National Lottery Community Fund. There must be no duplication of costs between any current award that you are in receipt of from The National Lottery Community Fund and through ILTA. Your organisation’s accounts should clearly detail information of all grants that you are in receipt of and confirm that they are for different purposes. Please get in touch if you need any clarification or have any questions about this.

What won’t we fund?

The Grant may not be used for the following activities:

  • Organisations and activities outside of England
  • Specific projects or services
  • Generalist advice
  • Matters covered by the Legal Aid Scheme
  • Private sector legal aid practices
  • Individuals
  • Activities that make profits for private gain
  • Payment that supports lobbying or activity intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, Government or political parties, or attempting to influence the awarding or renewal of contracts and grants, or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action (any lobbying activity);
  • Using grant funding to petition for additional funding;
  • Input VAT reclaimable by Grant Recipient from HMRC;
  • Payments for activities of an exclusively religious nature
  • Payments reimbursed or to be reimbursed by other public or private sector grants;
  • Contributions in kind (i.e. a contribution in goods or services, as opposed to money);
  • The acquisition or improvement of fixed assets
  • Gifts to individuals other than promotional items with a value of no more than £25 a year to any one individual;
  • Entertaining (entertaining for this purpose means anything that would be a taxable benefit to the person being entertained, according to current UK tax regulations);
  • Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties;
  • Liabilities incurred by the Grant Recipient before the issue of any Grant Agreement unless agreed in writing by the Fund.

How much funding is available?

The funding available will depend on the size of your organisation. When applying please indicate how much funding you are applying for based on your annual income as per the information below:

  • Annual income above £250k: Can apply for funding up to £100k per annum - maximum of £500,000 over 5 years
  • Annual income between £150 - £250k: Can apply for funding up to £75K per annum – maximum of £375,000 over 5 years
  • Annual income below £150k: Can apply for funding up to £50k per annum – maximum of £250,000 over 5 years

Grants will run for 5 years from 2024 to 2029.

We will make grants across England but cannot guarantee that the funding will include every region. Exact locations will depend on the nature of applications received.

Application Process

There is a two-stage application process.

We are now inviting expressions of interest from organisations committed to improving access to advice for marginalised communities who can demonstrate how they would use the funding to better understand their communities and involve them in shaping their approach in order to improve and sustain access to justice in the long term.

We recognise that organisations may be at different stages and therefore we welcome expressions of interest from organisations who have a vision for how they want to address this but who may be at the start of this journey, as well as from organisations who want to use the funding to expand or develop their approach.

You can find the expression of interest form HERE.

If you require this in an alternative format please email [email protected]. An offline copy of the expression of interest form can be found here. All expressions must be submitted via the online form.

A cohort of applicants who meet the criteria will then be invited to complete an application form and we will complete a detailed financial assessment as part of the application process. We may also ask to speak with you as part of the assessment process.

Timeframe for round one

The Expressions of Interest (EOI) stage will open on the 7 August 2023 and close on 15 September 2023 at 4pm. We are unable to accept expressions of interest beyond this date.

All organisations will be notified of the outcome of their expression of interest once the process has been completed. We anticipate notifying organisations at the beginning of October 2023.

The second stage application process for those who are successful will open on 9 October 2023 and close on 17 November 2023. We hope to be able to notify applicants of the outcome in December 2023.

Grants will then begin in March 2024.

Next steps

We will be holding a Q&A session via Zoom at 12pm on Monday, 14th August 2023 to answer any questions you may have about the Improving Lives Through Advice programme and the application process. You can register HERE.

A recording of the event is now available HERE.

For those unable to attend event, please feel free to send in any queries you may have and we will aim to answer them at the session or add them to the FAQs. You may email your queries to [email protected].

Improving Lives Through Advice (ILTA) programme now open for expressions of interest - Click here to apply - deadline 4pm on 15 September

Frequently Asked Questions

Please review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) before making contact with any queries about this funding.