Carter: Collaboration is at the heart of the ATJF’s approach
The Access to Justice Foundation (ATJF) has announced its strategy for dispensing grants from money received from collective actions.
The charity said it planned to launch its first grants round funded by collective actions early next year.
Last month, the Competition Appeal Tribunal approved a £3.8m payment [1] from unclaimed damages in a settled collective action to the ATJF, and it could receive money from the Merricks settlement [2] too.
As the nominated charity to receive undistributed damages from collective actions following a judgment by the CAT, the ATJF could also receive unclaimed money from the ruling in the Kent v Apple last week [3], a £1.5bn collective action on behalf of around 36m UK iPhone and iPad users.
The ATJF said its grant-making strategy would focus on three core areas.
The first, access to legal advice for individuals in their communities, would “prioritise funding long-term costs to support access to free legal advice for the people who need it the most, both at a local and national level”.
The second, activity to support policy changes, would see the charity funding work “which addresses the underlying causes” of legal problems “and therefore reduces the overall need for advice”.
The third would also be “mass reach through citizen engagement to raise awareness of legal rights, including those around consumer redress”.
The ATJF would aim, through its networks, to encourage “better understanding of rights and responsibilities as well as the development of a research and insights infrastructure to understand areas of need”.
The charity said: “Each of these areas would be prioritised according to where the need is the greatest, the specific circumstances of the case and how impact could be maximised.
“Grant-making decisions will also be determined by the amount of funds available from each case and will balance short-term need with building capacity over the long term.”
The ATJF said it had developed its strategy over the past year with organisations including AdviceUK, Age UK, Citizens Advice, Consumer Voice, Which? and the Law Centres Network.
Clare Carter, chief executive of ATJF, commented: “This strategy will ensure we are well placed to put unclaimed money from collective actions to good use and that our grant-making delivers long-term benefits to the public.
“Collaboration is at the heart of this approach, which will be crucial in understanding and demonstrating the impact of these funds.”
While the CAT rules say the ATJF should receive residual damages following judgment, it does not say the same about settlement. The ATJF has called for this to change [4].