The Refugee Council today welcomes the launch of a new project that will help children and young people seeking asylum in the UK will in future be able to access the legal advice they need.

The Strategic Legal Fund for Refugee Children and Young People (SLF) is a new pilot project to support strategic legal work, work that goes beyond securing justice for an individual and makes a significant contribution to law, practice and procedures that upholds and promotes the rights of refugee and asylum seeking children and young people.

In the context of unprecedented cuts to legal aid and the advice sector, the primary aim of SLF is to achieve the best possible outcomes for this vulnerable group. It will do this by funding interventions in Court and pre-litigation legal research for cases involving asylum seeking and refugee children and young people.

Judith Dennis, Refugee Council Advocacy Officer said:

“We welcome the timely launch of this fund that will enable organisations to make a lasting change to the provision of legal advice for refugee children and young people.

“Research we carried out earlier this year showed that the quality of legal advice given to young people seeking asylum is often poor, and with cuts to legal aid, the situation will no doubt worsen.

It is vital that young people can access high quality legal help to ensure they are given the protection they need, so we are delighted that this fund will provide an opportunity to improve legal provision from a strategic level.”

The SLF is funded by The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and is being delivered in partnership with Trust for London. The day-to-day management and administration of the fund will be carried out by MigrationWork CIC.