Finance Score: 8
Governance Score: 9
Support Score: 14
  • Good reserves management: +3
  • Future income +5
  • Good trustee age range: +3
  • Dynamic board: +3
  • Gender balanced board: +3
  • Overall weighted support: +14
Overall GiG Score: 31 ?

SOLICITORS PRO BONO GROUP

To promote the upholding and proper administration of the law.To encourage, support and advise lawyers and their staff to undertake charitable voluntary work in the administration of the law, education, social services, community work and other charitable activities for the benefit of the community.To provide pro bono legal services.
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • Reserves management has been consistently within official guidelines
  • A significant proportion of recent income was derived from major grant makers including the Government and there are significant future grants due to be received
  • The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of age and gender and dynamic in terms of composition

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?
Sources of Income ?
Y/E Income
£k
Spending
£k
Surplus/
Deficit £k
Fundraising
Cost £k
Total
Funds £k
Unrestricted
Funds £k
Mths
Rsrvs
Staff Volun-
teers
31/12/23£1,009£1,076£-67£166£734£6477.219100
31/12/22£1,180£1,129£51£107£801£7327.822100
31/12/21£1,110£1,033£77£63£750£7158.3199,000
31/12/20£1,046£984£62£41£673£6197.5231
31/12/19£1,005£989£16£63£611£5626.820100
31/12/18£1,016£910£105£49£595£5617.4180
31/12/17£968£870£97£46£490£4686.5180
31/12/16£908£776£132£29£393£3916.1140
31/12/15£861£810£50£69£260£2593.8150
31/12/14£699£805£-106£58£210£2103.1140
31/12/13£639£752£-113£56£316£3064.9160
31/12/12£827£667£160£57£429£3626.5130
31/12/11£619£635£-17£57£269£2314.4130
31/12/10*£768£863£-95£42£285£2122.9150
31/12/09£603£693£-90£32£381£2504.3160
31/12/08£685£665£20£29£471£2724.9150
31/12/07£727£660£67£39£451£1923.5140
31/12/06£666£519£147n/an/an/an/an/an/a
31/12/05£578£491£88n/an/an/an/an/an/a
31/12/04£441£564£-123n/an/an/an/an/an/a

Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 17.6%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 15.4%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 8%
Highest pay band: £70,000-£80,000
Liabilities/Assets: 25%
Liabilities/Income: 24%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 88%
Reserves/Spending: 7.2 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 8 months
Quick Ratio: 3.7
Asset Split ?
Balance Sheet History
Established: 27 years

www.lawworks.org.uk

info@lawworks.org.uk

02070923942

Charity Commission for England and WalesCompanies HouseFacebookX
UN SDGs
?
Listed activities
  • Other Charitable Purposes
GiG Classification
  • Professional associations
How it operates
  • Other charitable activities
  • Provides advocacy/advice/information
  • Provides services
Where it operates
  • Throughout England And Wales,
Who it helps
  • Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
  • The General Public/Mankind

Who supports them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Major supporters in last 5 years
Access to Justice Foundation£458,586
National Lottery Community Fund£457,597
City Bridge Trust£449,500
Trust for London£209,709
Masonic Trust£60,000
Sam and Bella Sebba Charitable Foundation£45,400
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months
To be used for
Masonic Trust - MCF Large Grant
£60,000 17/04/2024
Contribution towards the salary of the Head of Projects of Voices for Families.
Essex Community Foundation - Solicitors Pro Bono Group (known as LawWorks)
£5,000 21/03/2024
towards the costs of setting up and running pro bono law clinics in Colchester, Basildon, and around Essex University for people and not-for-profit organisations facing the risk of legal exclusion and promoting access to justice
City Bridge Trust - Grant to LawWorks
£299,700 20/03/2024
60
£299,700 over five years (£53,900; £56,400; £63,100; £61,700; £64,600) to continue, expand, and improve the aspects of the Not-for-Profits Programme that benefit Londoners.
Trust for London - LawWorks
£107,809 09/01/2024
24
This funding is for the continuation of our Unpaid Wages Project which helps clients in insecure work. The clients are advised by volunteer lawyers who are trained, supported and supervised by a LawWorks specialist employment solicitor. The funding ....more
Trust for London - LawWorks (Solicitors Pro Bono Group)
£4,900 29/09/2022
This is a cost of living uplift for grant reference 360G-trustforlondon-MAIN-S2-01.06.2021-9127
Access to Justice Foundation - Help Accessing Legal Support (HALS)
£112,500 13/09/2022
Help Accessing Legal Support (HALS) is a programme of The Access to Justice Foundation with the Ministry of Justice. We are working with organisations to sustain and improve access to early social welfare and family legal advice, to enable users ....more
The Shears Foundation - LawWorks (the operating name of the Solicitors Pro Bono Group)
£5,000 29/04/2022
LawWorks Clinics Programme (North East)
Sam and Bella Sebba Charitable Foundation - Grant to Domestic Abuse Response Alliance
£45,400 24/02/2022
Towards DARA project
Trust for London - LawWorks (Solicitors Pro Bono Group)
£97,000 13/10/2021
24
This funding is for the continuation of the Unpaid Wages Project which helps clients in insecure work. The clients are advised by volunteer lawyers who are trained and supported by a LawWorks specialist employment solicitor.
City Bridge Trust - Grant to LawWorks
£132,200 23/09/2021
24
£132,700 over a further and final two years years (£65,500; £67,200) towards the salaries of the Head of NfPP (0.65FTE); NfPP Caseworker (0.65FTE); Head of Programmes (0.65FTE); and associated running costs.
Access to Justice Foundation - 1. ATJF National Grant 2021/22
£20,000 08/09/2021
1. Through this funding, the Foundation aims to support the sustainability and efficiency of pro bono help for those going through the legal system alone. Therefore the organisations were given flexibility in their proposals to suggest allocation to ....more
Access to Justice Foundation - Legal Support for Litigants in Person
£236,880 10/05/2021
The Litigant in Person Support Strategy (LIPSS) is a partnership of national organisations working together to improve the experience of people facing the legal process alone throughout England and Wales.
The London Community Foundation - Grant to Solicitors Pro Bono Group
£6,803 14/10/2020
The funding is for our Voices for Families (VFF) project, which supports children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses and their families who access our legal services through referrals made from children’s ....more
National Lottery Community Fund - Connecting communities with free legal advisers
£34,837 26/08/2020
11
The funding will provide free web-based legal advice resource called The Jeanie Project (TJP). This platform will enable non-legal front-line staff and volunteers to conduct an initial assessment of the legal problems faced by vulnerable people so ....more
Access to Justice Foundation - Legal Support for Litigants in Person Grant
£89,206 13/07/2020
LSLIP is a two-year project funded by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). It aims to enhance services that support the earliest possible interventions for litigants in person reducing the risk of their problems escalating. To develop our understanding of ....more
City Bridge Trust - Grant to LawWorks
£17,600 11/06/2020
£17,600 towards remaining costs of the work as outlined in your application, excluding evaluation costs.
National Lottery Community Fund - LawWorks Cymru (phase three)
£422,760 24/01/2020
59
Building on previous projects to provide free legal advice, the project will expand the network of independent clinics in Wales providing free legal advice with the aim of facilitating more clinics in healthcare and community mental health settings ....more
Trust for London - LawWorks (Solicitors Pro Bono Group)
£84,000 13/06/2019
24
The funding is for the expansion of a pilot project which helps clients in insecure work claim unpaid wages from their employers at the Employment Tribunal. Law Centres and legal clinics refer cases to a LawWorks specialist employment solicitor who ....more
Tudor Trust - Grant to Solicitors Pro Bono Group
£80,000 03/08/2018
24
over two years as continuation funding towards the salary of the clinics support and development manager, supporting the expansion of legal clinics across England and Wales
City Bridge Trust - Grant to LawWorks
£162,700 20/09/2017
36
£162,700 over three years (53,000; £54,200; £55,500) towards the salaries of the Head of NfPP; NfPP Caseworker; Head of Programmes; and associated running costs.
Ministry of Justice - Litigants in Person Scheme 2
£177,660 01/07/2017
To provide support to litigants in person to help them access sources of information and free legal advice, to assist them to navigate the court process, and where appropriate to support them to represent themselves at court.
Trust for London - LawWorks (Solicitors Pro Bono Group)
£38,000 07/06/2017
12
The funding is towards LawWorks plans to set up a pilot virtual unpaid wages clinic to help clients in insecure work by hiring a part-time employment solicitor to whom Law Centres and legal clinics in London will refer unpaid wages cases. The ....more
Ministry of Justice - Litigants in Person Scheme 1
£59,220 01/04/2017
To provide support to litigants in person to help them access sources of information and free legal advice, to assist them to navigate the court process, and where appropriate to support them to represent themselves at court.
National Lottery Community Fund - LawWorks Cyrmu: phase two
£250,000 27/07/2016
36
LawWorks Cyrmu: phase two
Tudor Trust - Grant to Solicitors Pro Bono Group
£139,000 12/06/2015
36
over three years towards the salary of a clinic support and development manager to support the expansion of a legal clinic network in the North of England
National Lottery Community Fund - LawWorks Cymru
£185,164 26/09/2012
36
This three year project will provide free legal advice to individuals and small community groups who cannot access legal aid or pay legal fees. It will be based in Rhyl, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea, Bridgend, Wrexham and ....more
Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (8)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 41-71
  • ALASDAIR FERGUSON DOUGLAS (Chair) Appointed: 2016, Occupation: Solicitor
  • DEBORAH SMITH Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Executive Director
  • EMMA REHAL-WILDE Appointed: 2019, Occupation: Pro Bono Manager
  • GEMMA WATTS Appointed: 2018, Occupation: Communication Consultant
  • IAN JEFFERY Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Ceo
  • JAMES GOLDSMITH KC Appointed: 2018
  • NICHOLAS PAUL EMMERSON Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Solicitor
  • ROBERT CHARLES LAY Appointed: 2017, Occupation: Retired
Legal constitution
  • Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 09/09/1997, number: 1064274
  • Registered at Companies House on 29/07/1997, number: 03410932
Gift Aid
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
  • Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
  • Complaints handling
  • Complaints policy and procedures
  • Conflicting interests
  • Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
  • Financial reserves policy and procedures
  • Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
  • Internal risk management policy and procedures
  • Investing charity funds policy and procedures
  • Investment
  • Paying staff
  • Risk management
  • Safeguarding policy and procedures
  • Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
  • Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
  • Social media policy and procedures
  • Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
  • Trustee expenses policy and procedures
  • Volunteer management
Filing Record
20 returns made; AR10: 31 days late,
Main office

Lawworks Dx 115
50-52 Chancery Lane
LONDON

Objectives

(A)(I) TO PROMOTE THE UPHOLDING AND PROPER ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAW BY: ENCOURAGING, SUPPORTING AND ADVISING SOLICITORS AND FIRMS OF SOLICITORS AND THEIR STAFFS IN THE PROVISION OF PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES; AND ADVANCING THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF SOLICITORS AND FIRMS OF SOLICITORS AND THEIR STAFFS UNDERTAKING OR INTENDING TO UNDERTAKE PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES; (II) TO ENCOURAGE, SUPPORT AND ADVISE SOLICITORS TO UNDERTAKE CHARITABLE VOLUNTARY WORK IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAW, EDUCATION, SOCIAL SERVICES, COMMUNITY WORK AND OTHER CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMUNITY; AND (III) TO PROVIDE PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES. (B) IN CLAUSE 3.A. PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES MEANS: (I) LEGAL ADVICE AND REPRESENTATION AND OTHER LEGAL SERVICES BY INDIVIDUAL SOLICITORS, FIRMS OF SOLICITORS AND THEIR STAFFS AT A SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED OR NO COST TO INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS OF INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS WHO BY REASON OF THEIR INADEQUATE MEANS CANNOT AFFORD SUCH LEGAL ADVICE, REPRESENTATION OR SERVICES; AND (II) THE PROVISION OF FINANCIAL AND OTHER RESOURCES IN SUPPORT OF SUCH SERVICES.

Defined Area of Benefit:

NATIONAL

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving

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