Develop Robust Evidence Base

The Legal Need Project for Wales

Grant: £78,719
August 1, 2018

A large part of the Commissions work will be establishing what the current position in legal provision is, identifying the key issues, and then making recommendations. In terms of access to justice issues there are some fundamental questions which need to be answered. These questions have been summarised as follows:

1. What are the legal needs in Wales? Can these needs be quantified?
2. To what extent are legal needs being met by current provision?
3. How do legal needs, and the extent to which they are being met, compare regionally in Wales?

Without understanding the scale of legal need in Wales, it will not be possible make informed recommendations on how this need can be met.

Measuring Success in Online Courts - An Empirical Challenge

Grant: £33,290
July 17, 2018

This expert stakeholder event will be held from Monday 22 to Tuesday 23 October 2018.The workshop brings together leading international figures from the judiciary, academia, policy and civil society to explore how we might measure whether online courts promote the correct application of substantive law and deliver improved access to justice.

Development of the General Legal Confidence (GLC Scale)

Grant: £8,800
May 21, 2018

Undertaking follow up field-work as part of a wider project by Pascoe Pleasance Ltd, funded by TLEF, to advance empirical approaches to measuring legal capability through the development of standardised inventories.

The Value of Health-Justice Partnerships – research on outcomes, implementation

Grant: £7,400
September 27, 2017

This funding provides research assistance in the run up to the International Health Justice Workshop in November 2017.

Exploring and improving children and young people’s understanding of their legal rights as suspects: A scoping study

Grant: £57,600
June 21, 2017

The criminal process adopts an adult rather than child-focused approach when dealing with children and young people (CYP) as suspects. There has been very little research undertaken which explores suspects legal rights from CYPs’ perspective. In this scoping study, the stories of CYP will contribute to the development of a robust evidence base from which to inform change. Open-ended questions will be asked about what they understand to be their legal rights and how they exercised such rights. How CYP were treated in the criminal process will also be investigated; if legal protections were upheld, and whether decision-making was fair and just. The findings will be used to help inform the design of electronic interventions intended to improve suspects’ understanding of their legal rights.

CYP will also be asked for their views on how complex information about their legal rights can best be presented to assist them in making informed decisions. This will include exploring gamification and the creation of tasks that engage and encourage knowledge and skill development. Discussion with CYP will explore using different formats to help make complex information accessible to CYP of different ages, educational and mental abilities.

Dissemination of the Scale Development Project

Grant: £12,000
June 21, 2017

Preparation of a publication on the results of research to develop standardised measures for legal capability, for submission to a high impact academic journal.

The Value of Health-Justice Partnerships

Grant: £65,000
June 21, 2017

There are three elements to this project:

1. Continuation for a further year of TLEF support for the health researcher at the Guttmann Health-Justice Partnership pilot project. Data collection on the association between legal advice and wellbeing is underway and results may be lost without more time to complete the study. The research addresses significant gaps in the evidence: results will provide data on health outcomes for clients receiving legal advice in primary care, as well as outcomes for the GP practice. Lessons from implementation will feed into new guidance to support the establishment of similar integrated health and legal services;


2. funding for a workshop in Winter 2017 to engage health-policy decision-makers in the potential of early legal advice in reducing health inequalities and contributing to better health and well-being among vulnerable groups. Sir Malcolm Grant (Chairman NHS England) has agreed to Chair the workshop and engagement is already in train with key policy makers;


3. a feasibility study of the potential for a UK national centre for Health-Justice Partnerships that might assist in removing some of the existing barriers to the establishment of partnerships, promote best practice in service delivery and rigorous evaluation research to support policy development.

Building Livelihoods

Grant: £38,000
June 21, 2017

This three-year pilot will employ an Advisor to provide legal support and coaching to targeted clients and peers - referring specialist cases to project partners when necessary. Building Groundswell's beneficiaries’ legal capability, and supporting them to overcome complex legal issues, will positively impact other areas of their lives including health and independence.

This project includes an independent evaluation to measure the impact of supporting homeless people with legal needs; developing a case for support for sustaining the work and including legal outcomes in Groundswell's contracts.

Meeting the legal needs of adults with life limiting illness

Grant: £89,811
April 11, 2017

The legal needs of people with life limiting illnesses (PwLI) such as cancer and dementia are complex, poorly understood, and poorly integrated into care packages, potentially leading to negative end-of-life experiences and costly implications for health and social care. This project will be the first known study to generate an insight into the breadth and impact of legal needs faced by PwLI and their carers, and to address those needs via an educational intervention. The study will scope the extent of current legal needs and legal service provision, and will develop strategies for measuring the impact of meeting legal needs.

Findings will be used to develop, implement and evaluate an educational package for health, social care and legal professionals involved in the care of PwLI. The package will draw on proven immersive learning techniques, supported by expert educationalists in the field. The study will be underpinned by, and already has, commitment and involvement from a key stakeholder group incorporating solicitors, clinicians, voluntary sector, patients and carers.

Top-up for (Toolkits) for Prisoners

Grant: £7,460
March 15, 2017

The project will cover the costs of additional quality control checks on the draft Toolkits and the process of obtaining feedback from prisoners on their usability and appropriateness for the client group.

These additional stages of the process will improve the quality, readability and usability of the final Toolkits.