Legal Support Grant Funding

Please Note - This notice is to alert suppliers of a market engagement for the award of a grant agreement and not a contract therefore the Procurement Act 2023 does not apply.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is committed to ensuring early access to free legal support through its Legal Support Grants. Since 2015, over £30 million has been invested to help individuals facing legal or rights-based issues. A new grant programme is expected to launch from April 2026, with funding of around £6 million annually through to March 2029, subject to the Spending Review.

As part of this programme, the MoJ is seeking to appoint a grant intermediary to manage the administration and delivery of the grant. The intermediary will be responsible for:

• Running a competitive grant process (anticipated to be Nov 2025 – Feb 2026)
• Overseeing approximately 50 frontline organisations
• Managing grant performance and day-to-day delivery
• Collecting and reporting data
• Coordinating with the MoJ and an external evaluator
• Facilitating collaboration and data-sharing across funded organisations

The successful intermediary will enter into a Primary Grant Agreement with MoJ by early November 2025. The MoJ may direct funding into specific categories aligned with user needs and delivery models.

Eligibility for grant intermediary/administrator role:

Applicants must be:

• A charity or institution (other than a charity) which is established for

charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes.

It is strongly desirable that prospective intermediaries also:

• Are a specialist grant administrator.
• Have experience of administering grants in the legal support sector.
• Have sufficient resource to run a secondary competition across England and

Wales with up to 200 applications within 3-4 months.

• Have experience of working closely with data analysts and an independent

evaluator, or the capability to do so, to provide data and reports as required