Following a competitive tendering process, EMB was recently appointed by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to provide grant management services for a pilot scheme, called the Legal Aid Training Grant.
The scheme is designed to support legal aid providers develop qualified welfare law professionals by providing funding for salary and training costs for trainee solicitors over a two year period. The pilot grant scheme was open to legal aid providers contracted to deliver a new legal aid service called the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS), which launched earlier this year.
Since being awarded the contract at the beginning of July, EMB has provided support to the MoJ to design the competition for grant funding, which included proposing the scoring criteria, designing the digital application form and guidance notes and agreeing the appraisal process.
The scheme opened for applications at the beginning of August, closing three weeks later. At that point, EMB rapidly appraised, scored and ranked the submitted applications, submitting a detailed report to the MoJ, who then decided which applicants had made the best case to receive the funding.
27 HLPAS providers were awarded funding to support 33 trainees, with recruitment already underway. From November onwards, EMB will provide the monitoring process for grant recipients and their trainees ensuring public funds are appropriately spent. EMB’s sister company, research and insight specialist Pye Tait, will also provide data to help the MoJ evaluate the outcome and impact of the pilot scheme.