The Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Young Migrants (SLF) is a fund to support legal work 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 supports strategic legal work which benefits vulnerable young migrants:

• Migrants or the children of migrants, 
• Who are under 25, 
• Who are living in poverty, and 
• Who face significant disadvantage or discrimination in connection with their (or their parents’) migration status.

What can be funded

The SLF funds strategic legal work in any area of law where vulnerable young migrants experience disadvantage or discrimination as a result of migration status. This includes (but is not restricted to) potential cases in the areas of:

• Immigration 
• Asylum and asylum support 
• Human rights 
• Education 
• Housing 
• Welfare benefits 
• Discrimination 
• Access to justice 
• Community care

The SLF only supports strategic legal work. We define this as work where the impact is likely to go beyond an individual case, and to result in changes to law, policy and practice that will benefit a wider group of people.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible to apply from funding from SLF, organisations need to be based in the UK and be:

• Not-for-profit (NFP) organisations that provide specialist level legal advice to vulnerable young migrants. If applicants work for a NFP organisation regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) and are applying to undertake work in the asylum or immigration field, applicants must confirm that staff leading on the proposed work is 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.

Grant size

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. The average grant size is around £12,000.

The maximum grant length is 12 months, and most grants are for six months or less. 

Deadline

Next application deadlines are:

• Friday 3 November 2017
• Friday 12 January 2018
• Friday 2 March 2018

How to apply

For further details and to apply please read the SLF funding guidelines here.