The Access to Justice Foundation (ATJF) has unveiled a new three‑year £3.9m grants programme designed to bolster the UK’s legal advice sector.
The ‘Improving Lives Through Advice 2026’ initiative will be funded primarily through the £3.7m in unclaimed damages from the Boundary Fare class action Gutmann v South Western Trains, led by class representative Jason Gutmann. The scheme comes in the wake of the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s decision to award the undistributed balance to ATJF following a challenge to the settlement by campaign group Fair Civil Justice, which opposes collective actions.
The tribunal noted last year that the funds “could make a huge difference in facilitating access to justice for the needy and vulnerable”, underscoring the programme’s potential impact. Fieldfisher partner Richard Pike, who acted for the ATJF, described the donation as “a significant moment for collective actions in the UK” given that it “demonstrates how such proceedings can deliver tangible public benefit”.
As the statutory recipient of unclaimed damages in opt‑out collective proceedings under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the programme marks the first structured redistribution of unclaimed class‑action funds to support access to justice initiatives. The remaining uplift to £3.9m comes from additional sources, including a recent pro bono costs order.
ATJF chief executive Clare Carter said: “Unclaimed damages from collective actions represent a significant opportunity to strengthen access to justice. This programme allows us to channel unclaimed funds into frontline advice organisations, helping to ensure that the outcomes of collective redress are felt by the communities most in need.”
The initiative comes amid a change of leadership at the foundation, following the recent elevation of former chair Mr Justice Mansfield to the High Court bench.
The grants will be unrestricted and targeted at providers in London and Southeast England – ranging from Kent, Surrey, West and East Sussex, Berkshire and Hampshire, among others – as well as Scotland and Wales. The areas were selected based on where class members from the Boundary Fare case are located and where gaps in legal advice provision are most pronounced.
Applications will be assessed on criteria ranging from a demonstrable commitment to dismantling barriers to justice, strong community relationships, service quality and the ability to evidence the impact of unrestricted investment. The scheme was developed in collaboration with experts from Advice UK, Age UK, Citizens Advice, Consumer Voice, the Law Centres Network and consumer’s association Which?.
Applications for the initiative will open at 12pm on 16 February and close at 12pm on 16 March, with the first grants issued from June this year.
The initiative comes amid a £728m real‑terms decline in legal aid over the past decade, leading to significant unmet need affecting as many as 11 million people, according to the foundation. A decline in legal aid, acknowledged by both the Law Society and Bar Council for many years, was referenced by Bar Council chair Kirsty Brimelow KC in her inaugural address this month.
AJTF is also a potential beneficiary of undistributed damages from the proposed Mastercard settlement, which is currently the subject of judicial review proceedings by litigation funder Innsworth Capital.
While the CAT approved the deal reached by class representative Walter Merricks and Mastercard last year, following heavily contested litigation, distribution of the damages to claimants is on hold pending the conclusion of the judicial review to be heard later this year.
The foundation is also expected to receive undistributed damages following the CAT’s 2025 judgment in Kent v Apple.
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