People-Centred Justice meets new dimensions: read our latest annual review!

Law Centres’ membership fees made up just 10% of the income of the Law Centres Network (LCN) in the past year, while 87% of its expenditure was on its members. This significant return on investment is reported on in the new Law Centres Network annual review published today (Friday).

LCN helped Law Centres secure nearly £3.5 million in additional funding this year, while we curated and shared over 300 grant funding opportunities.

Despite the upheaval of the Covid-19 pandemic, an external evaluation of LCN’s progress against our 2019 10-year vision found that most recommendations had been implemented and that we adapted well and quickly to new circumstances.

LCN’s efforts to achieve Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation for six Law Centres means their data is now better protected from common cyber attacks. We are already helping a further seven members follow suit.

Following on from our 2022 Annual Conference, which focused on racial justice, LCN has developed  a racial justice work plan that has five strands. These include improving work opportunities, extending services (for example, to fight discrimination), building partnerships, public advocacy and developing the evidence base through data.

In a year where we reflected on the damaging effects of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (2012), LCN also made important policy contributions. We have advocated for a systemic overhaul of civil legal aid in consultations and pamphlets, and will continue this work as the Review of Civil Legal Aid progresses.

This year’s Annual Review has a new look—and one that you’ll be seeing plenty more of. It is drawn from LCN’s refreshed brand identity, which has now been rolled out in our new website.

The review also looks to tough times ahead. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) estimates that 1 in 5 small charities are not expected to survive the winter. To bolster the Network for more uncertain times, we are focusing on three main resources: people, funding and data.

For media enquiries, please contact us at media@lawcentres.org.uk.

Read Annual Review 2022–23