The Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Young Migrants (SLF) is a fund to support legal work in the UK that goes beyond securing justice for an individual and makes a significant contribution to law, practice and procedures to uphold and promote the rights of vulnerable migrant children and young people more generally.

The SLF aims to tackle injustices and inconsistencies in law and practice that disadvantage or discriminate against vulnerable young migrants as a result of their migration status. The SLF uses the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as a framework for its work with both children and young people.

It aims to advance the general principles of the UNCRC as follows:

• The right to life, survival and development.
• The right to non-discrimination.
• Respect for the views of children.
• The requirement to give primary consideration to the child’s best interests in all matters affecting them.

Funding Information

• The total amount available for SLF grants from October 2017 to September 2020 is £450,000. Maximum funding for any one application will be £30,000 but, in view of the limited funding available, lower applications are encouraged. The average grant size is around £12,000.
• The maximum grant length is 12 months, and most grants are for six months or less.

Eligibility Criteria

Those eligible to apply to the SLF are organisations based in the UK which are:

• Not-for-profit (NFP) organizations that provide specialist level legal advice to vulnerable young migrants. If you work for a NFP organization regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) and are applying to undertake work in the asylum or immigration field, you must confirm that staff leading on the proposed work are accredited at Level 3, Advocacy and Representation, in the relevant category of law.
• Firms of solicitors that provide specialist level legal advice to vulnerable young migrants. Solicitors’ firms need to demonstrate that the funded work does not include any element of profit and, as for all applicants, that there is a pro bono element included.
• All applicants must demonstrate that staff has appropriate skills, experience and expertise to undertake the strategic legal work proposed. All applicants are asked to provide supporting documents with their application, for example annual accounts, governing documents, or other financial information.
• The SLF welcomes applications from specialist legal representatives working in partnership with voluntary and community groups, who may be able to assist with research, gathering evidence and identifying clients. This type of application should be made by the legal representative with the other organization(s) being subcontracted to do the work at an appropriate rate.

For more information, visit Strategic Legal Fund.