Access to Justice – Round One
£6.5 million to support social welfare advice, social action, and systems change in London.
Funding is open
- Area
- Greater London
- Open to
- ‘Led by and for’ organisations only
- Duration
- Between 3 and 5 years
- Funds available
- £6.5 million total across the two streams, distributed via 3‑Year Development Grants of £75,000 and 5‑Year Transformation Grants of £200,000, £300,000 or £450,000
- Deadline
- 12 noon on Wednesday 7 January 2026
Access to Justice pre-application webinar
This webinar introduces our Access to Justice funding programme, outlines our eligibility criteria, and guides potential applicants through the application process.
Watching this 30-minute webinar is essential for any organisation considering whether to apply for the Access to Justice programme.
Our two grants
In this first round, we’re looking to offer:
- Core and flexible funding
- To ‘led by and for’ organisations
We want to hear from you if you are:
- Delivering free social welfare advice AND engaging in social action and systems change, or you have the ambition to begin this work.
- Working for the benefit of Londoners in one or more of the following areas: housing, welfare benefits, debt, employment and immigration.
These definitions are from the London Funders’ 2024 Mapping Funding for Social Welfare Advice in London report.
- Housing: access to social housing, advice on housing rights and eviction (including around the management and condition of accommodation), access to assistance when facing or experiencing homelessness.
- Welfare benefits: eligibility and access to welfare benefits, income maximisation (focusing on promoting the uptake of welfare benefits).
- Debt: advice and guidance on how to avoid debt and how to deal with it when it becomes a problem.
- Employment: rights at work, for example, around unfair dismissal, unfair treatment, and withheld pay.
- Immigration: the provision of advice on immigration issues, which is subject to its own regulatory framework.
These explanations are from the Advice Services Alliance.
- Information – general guidance to help people understand their options
- Advice – providing free expert guidance tailored to an individual’s circumstances, including some practical support – not one-off advice.
- Advice with casework – includes all of the above, but also requires the organisation to take action on behalf of the client to progress the matter, such as negotiating with third parties, following up, and supporting the client until the matter is resolved.
- Accreditation (for social welfare advice) – an organisation has been formally assessed against recognised quality standards for its advice services. For example, the Advice Quality Standard (AQS) covers organisations who provide advice on housing, welfare benefits, debt, employment and immigration.
Some areas that also have specialist regulation:
- Immigration advice – regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA), formerly known as the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC).
- Debt advice – may require Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorisation or adherence to Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) quality frameworks.
- Legal advice (in any area) – may be subject to Lexcel (Law Society quality mark) or regulation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
Our available grants
Access to Justice Programme 2025/6 Round One: Supporting social welfare advice, social action and systems change
We have £6.5 million available across both streams, and we anticipate awarding 20–25 grants in this first round. Our grants are as follows:
Development Grants
3‑Year Development Grants – core, flexible grants of £75,000 over 3 years
For ‘led by and for’ organisations who have:
- A track record of providing free social welfare advice to the most marginalised Londoners, and
- Ambitions to start using frontline experience and insight to engage in social action and drive systems change.
We expect Development Grants to be suitable for smaller groups or organisations with an annual income of £50,000 to £250,000.
Groups or organisations in this category are welcome to apply for the larger Transformation Grant, provided their work aligns with the grant’s conditions.
- Opens on
- 12 noon on Friday 14 November 2025
- Deadline
- 12 noon on Wednesday 7 January 2026
Transformation Grants
5‑Year Transformation Grants – core, flexible grants of either £200,00, £300,000 or £450,000 over 5 years
For ‘led by and for’ organisations who are:
- Providing free social welfare advice to the most marginalised Londoners, and
- Applying frontline experience and community insights in their social action work and contributing to systems change.
We expect Transformation Grants to be suitable for organisations with an annual income of £50,000 to £1.5 million.
If we shortlist an organisation for Stage 2, we will discuss which amount (£200,000, £300,000 or £450,000) is most appropriate.
- Opens on
- 12 noon on Friday 14 November 2025
- Deadline
- 12 noon on Wednesday 7 January 2026
Our grants will prioritise organisations who support, represent, and empower marginalised and underrepresented groups comprising identities such as race, disability, religion, socioeconomic background, gender identity, and sexuality. Intersectional diversity will also be taken into account when a person’s identities span multiple underrepresented identities.
When using this term, we:
- Understand the complex social, economic, and political systems at work. There are diverse ways of understanding how power and privilege operate, as well as how certain groups may feel excluded from resources, opportunities, and rights. We do not wish to oversimplify these dynamics but to provide an entry point for examining the structural inequalities that shape our society.
- Understand that these dynamics are intersectional – that different forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, ableism, and classism, intersect and compound to create harmful experiences of exclusion. These forces push certain groups to the margins of society, denying them access to wealth, political power, and social capital.
- Aim to highlight the structural barriers that maintain these inequalities while also recognising the resilience and agency of those who are fighting against them.
- Seek to reflect the complex dynamics of power and oppression across various contexts, including systems of exclusion like institutional racism and other forms of systemic injustice.
Although we offer fixed amounts, we may vary grant amounts on a case-by-case basis each year to suit an organisation’s needs. We can only accept one funding application per organisation.
Organisations in receipt of a grant from the City Bridge Foundation may apply for this round. We may prioritise organisations who are new to us or that we’ve not recently funded.
We’re comfortable with uncertainty, and we’ll be flexible. We aim to continually support organisations in meeting the needs of their communities.
Other considerations
We anticipate receiving many more high-quality and eligible applications than we can fund. In making final decisions, we’ll consider the overall portfolio of applications and take an ecosystem-based approach to funding.
We may look at geographic spread, potential duplication, and the need to ensure both breadth and depth across the funded organisations’ cohort, in line with the programme’s priorities.
Our programme’s priorities
Before you consider applying for this programme, please check that the work you’re doing fits with our programme’s priorities and long-term goals.
Meeting Needs
You support frontline work with an emphasis on advice and holistic support for London’s most marginalised communities, prioritising service delivery that applies community insights and evidence to drive meaningful change.
A commitment to community accountability
You’re a ‘led by and for’ organisation where 75% of your Board of Trustees or Management Committee, AND at least 50% of your senior staff, self-identify as being from the specific marginalised community or protected characteristic that your organisation serves. You also demonstrate community accountability and lived experience leadership:
- Your work responds to the needs and lives of the people you are trying to support, and those with lived experience contribute to decision-making in your organisation.
- You support people (who have experienced marginalisation) in moving into leadership positions and participating in your organisation’s decision-making.
- You help to build power within the communities you support.
If your organisation falls just outside of our 75% and 50% thresholds, you can still apply as long as you can demonstrate strong community accountability and representation within your work.
Catalysing change
You use your frontline experience to drive social action – such as advocacy, campaigning, and community organising – and contribute to systems change by challenging the structures, processes, and narratives that sustain inequality. We’re offering two types of grants (we only accept one application per organisation).
- 3‑Year Development Grant – you have the ambition to begin social action and systems change work.
- 5‑Year Transformation Grant – you are already engaging in social action and contributing to systems change, using your experience of supporting Londoners to access social welfare advice.
Social action and systems change work
Through the power of people actively working together (social action), you strive to influence policies, shift public narratives, and reshape institutional practices – leading to deeper, long-term transformation (systems change).
You may also use your casework and community insights to identify opportunities to shift systems that cause recurring problems, such as unfair assessment criteria or inaccessible processes. Using your frontline experience and knowledge as evidence, you’re engaging in social action and driving systems change (or you aspire to do so).
We will fund both social action and systems change work.
Learning
You’re curious and honest in your approach to understanding how your work is making a difference. You want to better understand the effectiveness of your work and the needs of those you seek to support. You’re open to adapting your approach based on your learning, and leading with new and creative ways to influence change.
Collaboration
You recognise that change requires collaboration. You already connect with others to share learning and resources, or improve access to advice, through formal or informal referrals. Or, you may want to collaborate with others and determine the best approach, but you currently lack the necessary resources and networks to do so.
High quality of service
You are an organisation providing free social welfare advice and have ways to monitor and continually improve its quality. You hold a recognised quality assurance mark and/or are regulated where legally required, or you can demonstrate tangible action towards accreditation.
Your governance, financial practices, organisational structures, pay structures, and working conditions enable you to support care-centred ways of operating. You use your resources legally and effectively. Your policies and procedures allow you to deliver high levels of service (across all your operations) to the communities you work with.
Accreditation means that an organisation has been formally assessed against recognised quality standards for its advice services.
For example, the Advice Quality Standard (AQS) assesses organisations providing social welfare advice across areas such as housing, welfare benefits, debt, employment and immigration.
Some areas also have specialist regulation, such as the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA formerly OISC), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), or Money and Pensions Service frameworks MaPS) for debt advice, and Lexcel or SRA regulation for legal advice.
Accreditation assures that an organisation’s advice services are delivered to a consistent, high-quality standard.
Check your eligibility
Please review the eligibility criteria for this programme before applying. You can do this by answering a few quick questions using our checker below.
Eligibility criteria for Access to Justice — Round one
To apply for this programme, your organisation must meet the following eligibility criteria:
In one or more of the 32 London boroughs and/or the City of London. We cannot fund work delivered outside of London or for the benefit of people living elsewhere.
Or demonstrate that you’ve started the process towards accreditation.
As set by the Living Wage Foundation (£14.80 per hour from April 2026), to all London-based staff (or you will commit to doing so following receipt of our grant). We do not require you to be accredited by the Living Wage Foundation.
The accounts you submit to the Charity Commission or other regulatory body, your internal finance report (reviewed by your trustees or directors at their most recent meeting) and your organisation’s latest income and expenditure.
That is regularly reviewed.
For example, the persons legally responsible for running the company and ensuring it complies with the law.
- In one or more of the following areas: housing, welfare benefits, debt, employment and immigration.
- Free advice – you do not charge beneficiaries or service users for this advice.
- Involves casework (rather than delivering one-off advice) – you’re helping people over time by addressing their problems, finding solutions, and supporting them throughout the process. This may include filling out forms, making phone calls, or writing letters on their behalf, and following up to help resolve issues. Even if you refer people to other services, you stay involved to help guide and support them.
- Involves advice with casework, which includes all the above but also requires you to take action on behalf of the client to progress the case, such as negotiating with third parties (by phone, letter, or in person), conducting follow-up work, and taking responsibility for advancing the case until it is resolved.
- It may include specialist legal advice, but this is not a requirement.
What we mean by an information service:
- You provide clients with the information they need to understand and address their situation, such as through leaflets, kiosks, online resources, or signposting, (without requiring staff guidance), but the responsibility for taking action rests with the client.
- You assist clients in locating information relevant to their enquiry, i.e., by providing leaflets, websites, or contact details for agencies such as the Department for Work and Pensions.
What we mean by a service where the primary offer is one-stop signposting:
- You direct people towards other organisations, without personalised follow-up or casework involvement.
- Your activity focuses on mentoring, counselling, job searching etc, rather than the provision of advice.
General eligibility and exclusions
- Who can apply?
- Your organisation must be one of our eligible legal statuses or organisation types.
- Who can’t apply?
- We can’t fund some organisations, such as schools or statutory bodies.
- What we can’t fund?
- We can’t support work that isn’t charitable or any retrospective costs.
Programme timeline and process
Important dates
-
Programme opens 10 November 2025
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Live webinar from 11.15 am (slides and recording available from Thursday 13 November) 11 November 2025
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Applications open and pre-application calls open for booking 14 November 2025
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Pre-application calls open 19 November 2025
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Pre-application calls close 12 December 2025
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Application deadline (12 noon) 7 January 2026
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Assessment Stage 1 8 January 2026
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Assessment Stage 2 4 March 2026
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Stage 2 assessment and visits 5 March 2026
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Final decisions and applicants notified of outcome 29 May 2026
Decision-making stages
We make decisions using a two-stage process. The steps below outline what you can expect.
Stage one — Application review
Our team reviews your application against the programme’s criteria, assessing how well your organisation and work align with the funding priorities.
- If shortlisted, our funding team will contact you by email and phone.
- If your application isn’t successful, you’ll receive an email. You can request written feedback.
Stage two — Conversation and assessment
If you are shortlisted, we’ll contact you to discuss further or arrange a visit with our funding team. We’ll explore your organisation’s work, communities, and approach in more depth.
- Following our meeting, we’ll compile a report to support our decision-making.
- If your application is approved, we’ll contact you about the next steps and the process for receiving your grant.
- If you’re not successful, you’ll receive feedback by email. You can request a follow-up call to discuss your application.
How to apply to Access to Justice
Thank you for your interest in our programme. Before applying, we encourage you to review these steps to ensure you understand what we fund and whether your organisation is eligible.
Pre-application checklist
Before you start your application:
- Watch a recording of our Access to Justice webinar (30 minutes)
- Check your eligibility for this programme
- Ensure your work aligns with our programme’s priorities
- Book a pre-application call if you need one
Pre-application calls
If you still have specific questions, you can apply for a 15-minute call with our team. These calls are helpful for questions about:
- Eligibility
- Suitable costs
- Our processes and timescales
Pre-application calls are offered between Wednesday 19 November and Friday 12 December 2025. Calls are subject to availability.
Before requesting a call, please read our guidance below.
Applying through our Portal
- Create or log in to your account via our Application Portal
- Start your application — you can save and progress as you go
- Upload documents as required — see our supporting documents guidance for more information.
- Submit your application before the deadline (12 noon, Wednesday, 7 January 2026) — we cannot consider incomplete applications.
For help using the Portal
Please see our How to apply section for further information on:
- How to create an account on our Application Portal
- Progressing and saving your work
- Use of AI in your application
Detailed help for applicants is also available as a downloadable PDF — see Instructions for Applicants.
Looking for more detail?
For answers to common queries, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page. We’ll update it regularly throughout November and December 2025 as new questions arise.
Accessibility and support
We’re committed to ensuring our application process is accessible for everyone. If you:
- Need to apply in a different format
- Require accessibility adjustments
- Are having difficulty using the Portal or accessing content
Please email funding@citybridgefoundation.org.uk and we’ll work with you to find a suitable solution.