The Access to Justice Foundation recently published analysis from 360Giving on funding for Specialist Legal Advice Providers in England and Wales. Providing useful insights into the operating context of two funder collaborations that support this area of work, this new report is a must-read not only for funders of legal advice, but for any funder interested in using data and working more collaboratively.
Who funds with who?
Based on data from funders who publish using the 360Giving Data Standard, the report includes a table of the 20 largest grant-makers of specialist legal advice in England and Wales, highlighting which are members of the Community Justice Fund and/or the Justice Together Initiative. These 20 funders, together with 19 Community Foundations, were responsible for 95% of published grant funding received by legal advice charities between 2019 and 2022, and 83% of the number of grants. In fact, the top six funders of specialist legal advice gave more than 50% of the funding received by these organisations.
We’ve also looked at ‘who funds with who’ within these collaborations. It's clear that in some cases there is significant overlap between funders and their grant recipients. For example, looking at two of the foundations in the Community Justice Fund, the AB Charitable Trust and the Access to Justice Foundation have over 50 recipients in common. By sharing data and publishing grants using the 360Giving Data Standard, it becomes much easier to understand what role a funder plays in a collaboration.
Funder collaborations are only part of the picture
Although most funders included in the report are members of one or both of the collaborations, there are some notable exceptions, including the Henry Smith Charity, which was one of the top funders of the providers identified. This illustrates that funder collaborations are only part of the picture, and that some generalist funders give significant amounts in grants to specialist legal advice organisations.
It is important for funders and collaborations to understand how they fit into this wider picture of funding for this sector, and consider the impact of external changes
Looking with a wider lens, government grants and contracts are still the biggest source of income for some specialist legal advice organisations. As reported in Charity Commission Annual Returns, 41% of the income of the organisations analysed derives from government. As well as grants from trusts and foundations, organisations also receive income from other sources such as fees, donations and pro-bono services.
It is important for funders and collaborations to understand how they fit into this wider picture of funding for this sector, and to consider the impact of external changes such as reductions in government income or increases in demand for services. It is also important to reflect on how investment in specialist legal advice aligns with other funding priorities. In some cases, prioritising funding for legal advice can be a preventative measure and reduce the funding needed to respond to consequences that may be more costly - to the individuals' lives and to the charities and funders that support them.
Key findings
You can read the analysis in full to find out more about the size and scope of the specialist legal advice sector, the location of legal advice providers and the proportion of organisations receiving legal aid funding. However, the following key findings should be of concern to all funders.
- There has been a significant decline in legal aid funding for the specialist legal advice providers in the cohort analysed (down from over £20m in 2010-11 to below £15m in 2019-20).
- Income growth has stalled for the majority of charities and law centres in the cohort, in many cases not even keeping up with inflation.
- The landscape has been more difficult for legal advice charities than the numbers in the report suggest, as data was not available on organisations that have already closed. The sector as a whole has shrunk significantly, at a time of increasing needs and demand.
360Giving has also written a blog sharing their learning from the process and findings about the data in itself.
Next steps and actions
The Access to Justice Foundation and 360Giving continue to work together to monitor the sector. The cohort of specialist legal advice organisations in the report will be tracked, and the analysis repeated in future years so that we and others can understand what is happening from this baseline. We will, of course, share our future findings with other funders, via the Funders Collaborative Hub.
Meanwhile, what does this research mean for you as a funder?
The Access to Justice Foundation is calling for collective, strategic action to support the advice sector to maintain much needed service provision, including from grant-makers that do not necessarily see themselves as ‘advice funders’. More collaboration is needed when dealing with a precarious specialist legal advice sector whose work spills over into the charitable objectives of the majority of UK funders. View all advice-related collaboration opportunities on the Funders Collaborative Hub here.
360Giving is also calling for funders to publish their data using the 360Giving Data Standard - especially those who are a part of funder collaborations like the Community Justice Fund and Justice Together. This helps us to understand the funding picture better and supports the monitoring of trends. 360Giving is keen to drive increased analysis and shared use of open grants data to improve informed, effective and strategic charitable giving. If you found this analysis interesting or useful and would like to find out more about how 360Giving can support you to use data to improve your work or support your collaborations, find out more and get in touch.
Inspired to collaborate?
Explore the Hub to find the collaboration opportunities that relate to your interests as a funder.
