Lottery funding extends LawWorks in Wales

Pro bono charity LawWorks is to extend its presence in Wales over the next five years having been awarded £422,760 from the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF).

The charity aims to facilitate more clinics in healthcare and community mental health settings to improve access for vulnerable people.

LawWorks currently supports a network of 40 independent pro bono clinics in Wales, where volunteers provide free legal advice on issues such as housing, welfare benefits, employment and family law. 

Over the last three years, LawWorks has established eight new clinics and doubled the number of volunteers.

The number of clients receiving free legal advice and support from LawWorks clinics in Wales reached over 7,000.

LawWorks chief executive Martin Barnes said: “The grant will enable LawWorks to continue to support and develop existing and new clinics, enabling some of the most vulnerable in the community to access vital legal advice.  This need has become even greater during the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

Welsh government counsel general and Brexit minister Jeremy Miles MS (pictured) said: “Lawyers, voluntary organisations and charities have long been a source of free legal advice and assistance to people who are not eligible for legal aid or who cannot pay for the advice that they need. The Commission on Justice in Wales, in its review of Wales’s justice system, recognised that without this safety net there is a risk that people are denied proper access to justice and that the Rule of Law is undermined.”