Welcome and introductions

MdlR welcomed the group and introduced the session. The Network for Justice is working in partnership with the Access to Justice Foundation who are working to highlight this element of their beneficiary work. The Network has drawn in example from the rest of the justice community including, non-advice support initiatives, academics, and other networks.

The Networks has been overwhelmed by the responses received to facilitating this meeting, making clear that there is a huge amount of expertise existing across the community on this topic.

As part of the follow up work to be done, the Network will be collating sharing examples of best practice and different service delivery models, including those highlighted today, to showcase the work being done by the community in this space.

• Attendees introduced themselves and their work via the chat function.

Funders Perspective (video link here)

The meeting started with sharing some examples from funders on the work they are doing in this area, and what “working with communities” means to them.

• Lizzie Mahoney from Greater London Authority talked about their Advice in Community Settings funding including some examples of projects and the outcomes they’re expecting.

if you'd like to hear more about the London advice in community settings programme, there's more information here. Lizzie shared her email for further contact and questions: [email protected]

• Sioned Churchill from Trust for London spoke about the range of projects they are funding in this area including the CII Schools Pilot which provides immigration advice in primary school settings.

Sioned shared her email for further contact and questions: [email protected]

• Stuart Duffin from Scottish Union of Supported Employment spoke about how access to justice differs in Scotland and highlighted a particular Scottish Government commissioned project - the Disability Employment Gap Public Social Partnership (PSP).

More information can be found here: https://www.suse.org.uk/, and https://apt.scot/. Stuart’s presentation can be found here. Stuart shared his email for further contact and questions: [email protected]

Attendees thanked the speakers and shared some comments.

Additional research

C: The Money Advice Service worked with the Scottish Legal Aid Board to produce this report on Reaching Marginalise Groups: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cTA3XoBhU1FaA5x9U5mOf5jvipSPXesU/view?usp=sharing

C: So important to hear from Stuart regarding the priority of legal aid funding and civil legal assistance office, and to support legal aid traineeships. I've attached the Community Justice Fund recent report which highlights the false economy of the legal aid cuts in England and Wales - with the headline - one session of free legal advice saves the public purse £8,000

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M4bS_odazMUmsEMv6ACRROWwb1FnD4vh/view?usp=sharing