Evaluation shows value of funding strategic legal action
The latest independent evaluation of the Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Young Migrants (SLF), published this week, shows the value of investing small amounts in enabling NGOs to undertake strategic legal action.
The SLF provides small grants for pre-litigation research and third party interventions at court which contribute towards upholding and promoting the rights of vulnerable migrant children and young people in the UK. It is hosted by Trust for London and co-funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Unbound Philanthropy. It is delivered in partnership with MigrationWork CIC.
The evaluation found that:
Vulnerable young migrants have benefited.
SLF grants have helped both to prevent the introduction of discriminatory law and policy (e.g. the Legal Aid residence test); and to mount effective challenges to existing laws and policies causing significant disadvantage to young migrants, such as exclusion from student loans.
SLF-funded work has influenced court judgments, contributed to policy change
and is feeding further legal casework, for example for young migrants refused Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Relatively small injections of funding can have profound and long-lasting effects.
The level of impact cannot be determined by the amount of funding invested, as the value of the SLF is sometimes in enabling critical research and thinking time when it matters.
Almost all projects funded by the SLF have yielded some positive benefits in relation to legal or policy change.
This may be due to tight screening for appropriately strategic projects, including by the Expert Panel of legal and policy advisors.
Incorporating legal challenge (or its threat) into a strategy to tackle the discrimination and disadvantage facing young migrants is proving effective
even when change through other routes has failed.
The need for the SLF is increasing.
Given the government’s stated aim of making the environment ‘hostile to migrants’, the law is a critical tool to protect young people.
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