Justice Together is a funder collaboration working to increase fair and equal access to justice in the immigration system.
Being subject to immigration control or having an insecure immigration status restricts every aspect of a person’s life and their human rights. Having to access legal advice can be key to achieving longer-term outcomes like being allowed to work or access benefits.
Our collaboration was born out of a sense of frustration. The founding funders came together as they recognised the need for a more strategic, long-term approach to the injustice of the immigration system. This included the need for more co-ordinated influencing work, as well as improved funding infrastructure to sustainably resource the immigration advice sector.
We launched Justice Together in 2020 with a decade-long vision. Established as a subsidiary of the Legal Education Foundation, our growing collaboration now brings together 14 funding partners, with shared values including trust, inclusion and anti-racism at the heart of our funding and support.
We believe that our approach must be driven by lived experience of the immigration system and a commitment to anti-racism. These principles have shaped both the development of our aims and priorities and how we make our funding decisions. 50% of the members of our Grants Committee, which decides who to fund, have lived experience of the immigration system and are paid for their role.
Although the funding partners aren't directly involved in grant decisions, they guide the development of our overall strategy and share intelligence from their own work. Our funders, grant partners and other key stakeholders form a Community of Impact, which regularly comes together to exchange knowledge and learning, and to build relationships. This has been particularly useful as a space for funders to learn about specific challenges and solutions in the immigration advice sector, which may only be a small part of their overall funding programmes.
When the invasion of Ukraine began in March 2022, we were quickly able to connect with grant partners and assess the additional capacity needed to handle the increasing pressure on immigration advice services
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Long-term capacity, short-term agility
We fund region by region, working to build long-term partnerships and strengthen networks around access to immigration advice across the UK. In order to gain a better understanding of gaps and needs, we have held regional workshops and consulted with local organisations. Using that learning, we have awarded development grants in the East Midlands, East of England and South West, for organisations to research a plan for immigration advice and get a better idea of what’s needed in regions where there are massive 'advice deserts'.
This deeper understanding of the sector and our engagement with different stakeholders has also created a helpful structure for responding to emerging needs. When the invasion of Ukraine began in March 2022, we were quickly able to connect with grant partners and assess the additional capacity needed to handle the increasing pressure on immigration advice services. We put together a briefing for funders explaining these needs, which generated more than £620,000 of additional funding for advice and influencing work in line with our strategy. The agile nature of the collaboration, as well as our infrastructure and sector knowledge, means we can respond rapidly and effectively to the needs of the sector.
Embedding anti-racism
One of our key commitments is to embed an anti-racist approach in all our work. We ask in our application form what organisations are doing to be anti-racist, which has been useful for seeing where the sector is up to and what support is needed in this area. Our Grants Committee, staff team and board have been working with consultants to develop our own understanding of anti-oppression and we are supporting grant partners to do the same.
Our collaboration's approach, priorities and areas of work came out of a two-year period of research and roundtable consultations with people who use the immigration system. We have continued to shape our funding approach by listening closely to the experiences of organisations on the ground. Following each grant round, we carry out surveys to gather feedback about the grant application process, from both those who received funding and those who didn’t. Each time, we have slightly refined our processes, including by significantly shortening our application form while allowing higher word counts for some questions.
A big challenge has been the high level of demand and expectations from the sector. We’ve had to learn to better communicate our strategic priorities and available budget to ensure organisations understand our remit and their likelihood of being funded. We also want to avoid fuelling competition for funding between organisations in some regions, so we have been encouraging organisations to connect and discuss their plans with each other.
Sensitive to the needs of the sector, we have developed an evaluation process whereby we call grant partners and write up reports based on these conversations. We’re exploring alternatives to written applications too, such as video submissions. The organisations we’re funding are the experts and it’s important that we trust them. We have the gift and privilege to be able to offer them practical support to build their capacity. Our role is to make it easier for the organisations we fund to continue doing their inspiring work in an increasingly hostile and challenging climate.
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