The Access to Justice Foundation (ATJF) recently received £4 million in unclaimed cash from a class action settlement. It then launched a grants programme to distribute that cash to legal advice organisations across the UK. 

ATJF has since received a flood of applications from hundreds of advice organisations, approximately 30 times the number of grants on offer. The advice organisations are asking for roughly 17 times the amount of money that is available in total. This includes over £13m applied for by organisations based in Scotland.

In January 2025, ATJF announced the Improving Lives Through Advice 2026 programme, a new three-year unrestricted grants programme designed to support the delivery of free legal advice to communities most in need. The grants are primarily made using £3.7m in unclaimed settlement funds from the Gutmann v SW Trains case (Boundary Fare class action).

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) decided to award these funds to the ATJF last year, commenting in its ruling that the money “could make a huge difference in facilitating access to justice for the needy and vulnerable”.

Clare Carter, CEO of the Access to Justice Foundation, said: “£4 million sounds like a lot of money but these figures show the serious funding shortfall for frontline organisations across the UK. 

“These legal and consumer advice charities are often the only way people can understand and enforce their rights when it comes to debt, employment, education, housing and other basic rights.

“We’re therefore pleased to have the ability to distribute this money in an efficient and targeted way to ensure it makes an impact.”