Application for funding for community legal centres in NSW
A new application - based funding process for community legal centres in NSW has been introduced by the state government.
The application process closed on Wednesday 5th December 2018.
The results of the application process have not yet been finalised.
Background
Two pools of funding are available. Only certain organisations are eligible to apply for each funding pool including:
- Only organisations that are currently funded under the Community Legal Services Program are eligible for Pool 1 funding.
- Only organisations that are currently funded under the Community Legal Services Program, members or associate members of CLCNSW, or the organisations listed in section 7.5 of the Cameron Review report are eligible for Pool 2 funding.
Further information is also available on the Legal Aid NSW website.
Application Information sessions
Community Legal Centre NSW conducted two applicant Information Sessions in Sydney on Tuesday 23rd October and Monday 29th October 2018.
Legal Aid NSW provided a formal eTender briefing prior to the Information Session.
The Law and Justice Foundation presented information about it's publication "Evidence of Legal Need in NSW to support the Cameron Review Implementation". The resource provides the latest data on priority client groups and CLC catchment areas in NSW.
The resource can be downloaded directly from the Law and Justice Foundation website here.
Additional research into priority groups by gender is available here.
Additional research into priority groups in the No Generalist Central Catchment and the No Generalist Western Catchment is available here.
CLCNSW's presentation helped unpack the application assessment criteria for the purposes of preparing responses to the application.
Download CLCNSW Application Information Presentation from the October Information Sessions.
CLCNSW Application Resource Guide
CLCNSW developed an Application Resource Guide to support applicants which is Part F of the Application documents.
Prospective applicants from regional, rural and remote organisations (one person per organisation) who attended the information sessions can seek reimbursement for reasonable travel expenses to attend the information sessions. For enquiries please contact Vijhai Utheyan Office Manager CLCNSW PH: 02 9212 7333 vijhai.utheyan@clcnsw.org.au
Funding available
The application process consists of two components:
- Pool 1 Funding: up to $10.5 million per annum for three years, available only to the organisations that are currently funded under the CLSP for core services, and any service enhancements that are related to their services.
- Pool 2 Funding: $2.2 million per annum for three years to address critical service gaps and fund services that do not currently receive funding under the CLSP, available to any organisation that complies with the mandatory requirements set out in Part A (Introduction and Description of the Requirement).
The total amount in State and PPF funding to be allocated over the three-year funding cycle from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2022 is up to $38.1 million.
Cameron Review
The recent review of NSW Community Legal Centres – the Cameron Review - strongly endorsed the work that Community Legal Centres do.
The NSW government has supported implementation of key recommendations from the Cameron Review including:
- An application based funding model from 2019-20 for all State funding to community legal centres
- A 3 year funding model
- Development of an evidence base to inform applications for funding
- Support the community legal sector through the application process
Initial Information sessions about the procurement process were held in August 2018.
- CLCNSW presentation - August 2018
More information
Contact the CLCNSW Capacity Building Coordinator Laurel Draffen laurel.draffen@clcnsw.org.au PH: 02 92127333.