2023-12-31-accounts

WO(K Lawworks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION	1
CHAIR’S FOREWORD	2
REBECCA WILKINSON, CEO OF LAWWORKS	3
OBJECTIVES	5
ACTIVITIES, ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE	8
FINANCIAL REVIEW	21
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS &
TRUSTEES OF SOLICITORS PRO BONO GROUP (“LAWWORKS”)	26
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES	31
BALANCE SHEET	32
STATEMENT OF CASHFLOWS	33
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS	34

SOLICITORS PRO BONO GROUP

(Known as ''LawWorks'') Company limited by guarantee no. 03410932 Registered charity no. 1064274 REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

Cover photography: Diva Plavalaguna

“People holding grey puzzle pieces” from pexels.com

1 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

INTRODUCTION

It is with great pleasure the Trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023.

The Trustees confirm that the annual report and financial statements of the Charity comply with current statutory requirements, the requirements of the Charity ’ s governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice for Charities (SORP 2015) (Second Edition, effective 1 January 2019).

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CHAIR’S FOREWORD

Over the past twelve months, there has been no let-up in the need for our help or increase in State support for our end of the justice system. While this means we are busier than ever and having to stretch our resources to keep up with demand, we are buoyed by the enthusiasm and support given by our wonderful volunteers - solicitors, in-house counsel, law students and academics, and others in the legal community - who so willingly give their time and expertise for the public good.

I would like to thank the law firms, corporates, grant-giving bodies, The Law Society of England and Wales and all our other financial supporters, without whose assistance we would be unable to play our part in delivering some measure of access to justice to those in need but who cannot afford a lawyer. I also wish to thank publicly all our staff for working so hard over the year, with particular thanks to our ever enthusiastic and capable CEO, Rebecca Wilkinson.

I wish to update you on our proposed merger with Advocates for International Development (‘A4ID’), the London-based global charity which, like LawWorks, delivers legal volunteering opportunities for law firms, but with a focus on the needs of the world’s poorest citizens.

Over the past year, the Board of Trustees of both charities have been conducting due diligence and engaging in discussions with staff and stakeholders regarding the merger. At the end of April, both Boards resolved to merge LawWorks with A4ID and an agreement for merger was signed in August, subject to completing due diligence and other contractual conditions and formalities. The merger will be affected by the transfer of the undertaking of LawWorks to A4ID, the Boards will amalgamate to form a new Board of the successor charity, and I will become the first Chair of the combined organisations.

As both organisations primarily facilitate pro bono opportunities, with A4ID focusing internationally and LawWorks domestically in the UK, there is significant overlap in volunteers and supporters and a shared ethos. The proposed merger aims to create efficiencies and benefits for volunteers which will ultimately have a positive impact on those who need access to justice.

In announcing our intention to merge, Roger Leese, Chair of A4ID, and I said:

“As two of the leading charities in the sector providing vital access to legal services for those who need it most, the merger will create a stronger, more resilient, efficient and effective organisation that is better able to meet the increasing demand we are seeing. The merged entity will, amongst other things, be a combined brokerage for the provision of domestic and international pro bono legal assistance for individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations.”

We look forward to your continuing support and growing our work to support pro bono and promote access to justice.

Alasdair Douglas, Chair, Board of Trustees

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REBECCA WILKINSON, CEO OF LAWWORKS

At LawWorks, collaboration is one of our core values and has been at the heart of our work in 2023. Throughout the year we have championed collaborations between pro bono volunteers and clients, law firms and not-for-profits, LawWorks and the wider advice sector.

In 2023 we brokered 585 individual pieces of pro bono support to individuals and not-forprofits across our range of programmes. These individual pieces of work represent hundreds of hours of time and expertise given by busy professionals, who are choosing to volunteer their professional skills because they know they are of value to people in society who would not otherwise be able to access the law. Whether a project is helping a client to secure a non-molestation order so they can start to rebuild their life; receive an unpaid wages payment so they can afford their rent at the end of the month; or be provided with a crucial GDPR analysis for a charity so they know they can continue to safely and securely help people in their communities, every pro bono project touches on the lives of people across England and Wales. For that we are so thankful to our solicitor volunteers, and so proud of the impact they make.

As an organisation we are always looking to support existing projects and to get new pro bono offerings off the ground. In 2023 IP Pro Bono came under the auspice of LawWorks, allowing us to streamline and upscale a well-established pro bono project in partnership with CIPA and CITMA. We saw year two of the Domestic Abuse Response Alliance; a collaboration between LawWorks, a domestic abuse charity, a specialist family law firm and eight city law firms. I was delighted to be part of the team who accepted the Public Interest Lawyers Network Local Impact Award for the project, voted for by participants of the PILnet Global Forum 2023. Additionally, we saw 30 new pro bono clinics join the LawWorks Clinics Network, each one offering something unique to the clients that utilise their services and expanding access to justice in their communities. The work of the LawWorks Clinics Network to help support and develop new pro bono projects allows us to work across England and Wales with law firms, in house teams, law schools and advice agencies to develop pro bono clinics which meet the needs of local communities. Despite funding cuts for this work, and a reduction in staff numbers as a consequence, LawWorks remains committed to supporting the wider pro bono sector as a foundation block from which all our other work stems.

The work of the clinics on our network, our members and the sector were once again celebrated and showcased at our three set piece events throughout the year: the Student Awards in April at the House of Commons, our Annual Conference in July (kindly hosted by Herbert Smith Freehills), and our Annual Pro Bono Awards in December at the Law Society. All three events highlighted best practice in pro bono and

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brought together the sector to champion both the collaborations and the individual efforts that go into enhancing access to justice via pro bono.

I want to extend sincere thanks to our volunteers but also to our generous supporters during this year. We are particularly grateful to individuals who have continued to financially support LawWorks despite increases in the cost of living in the UK. Special thanks, also, to The Law Society and our member firms and in-house teams, whose ongoing support means we can continue to grow and develop our projects in partnership with the wider sector. In addition, we are very grateful to the many trusts and foundations who have supported specific projects this year.

Although we have had many changes this past year, often driven by circumstances outside our control such as funding decisions, rising costs, and a changing work market, we seek to ensure that as an organisation we have the strength and resilience to weather these storms. As we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, we recognise that as an organisation we may be undergoing change, but we remain committed to our purpose and our mission to promote the upholding and proper administration of the law through encouraging, promoting, supporting and delivering pro bono.

Rebecca Wilkinson Chief Executive Officer, LawWorks

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OBJECTIVES

About LawWorks

LawWorks was founded on the 29 July 1997. It is a charity committed to enabling access to justice through free legal advice. LawWorks promotes, supports and facilitates pro bono legal services that extend access to the law for individuals and communities in need, and the organisations that support them. We champion pro bono because of the positive contribution and difference it makes for individuals, communities, and society.

LawWorks operates as a membership organisation, supporting volunteers from around 150 law firms and in-house legal teams across England and Wales. The pro bono work of each organisation makes a difference to communities; collectively our members play an invaluable role in extending access to justice to those in need of advice.

Partnership is at the heart of what we do, and our range of programmes and support are delivered in collaboration with legal professionals, access to justice organisations, law schools, The Law Society and other professional bodies.

Since our incorporation, LawWorks’ charitable objects have remained to promote the upholding and proper administration of the law by:

1. 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;

1. encouraging, supporting and advising 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

2. providing pro bono legal services.

Legal Pro Bono and Access to Justice

Access to justice is a fundamental principle of the rule of law. LawWorks believes all people should have access to justice and that this is an example of the proper administration of the law as set out in our charitable objects.

Pro bono makes an important contribution towards enabling individuals and organisations (in particular, smaller charities and social enterprises) to access legal support, advice and representation.

We develop innovative programmes, increasingly with the use of technology, to ensure that people and organisations who may be at risk of legal exclusion, are able to access legal advice across England and Wales.

The overall contribution of pro bono may be relatively small as a proportion of legal need, but its impact and importance is significant. Legal pro bono is not, and in LawWorks ’ view should not be seen as, an alternative to an adequately funded system of legal aid nor an alternative for funding for local advice agencies and law centres.

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Changes to legal aid (introduced from April 2013) continue to have a significant impact on many people ’ s ability to access justice. In addition, the increasing cost of living has impacted the provision and availability of free legal advice.

LawWorks encourages everyone providing and facilitating pro bono to incorporate and apply the Joint Pro Bono Protocol, developed by The Law Society and others to promote and support high standards of pro bono work. The Protocol does not replace, but rather seeks to build upon, professional codes of conduct setting out the standards and

requirements all lawyers must achieve and observe. The Protocol, and a list of signatories, is available on the LawWorks website www.lawworks.org.uk.

LawWorks also supports the Law Society ’ s Pro Bono Charter, a public statement that law firms, in-house teams and alternative business structures can sign.

accessing clinics in the LawWorks Clinics Network underlines research demonstrating that timely access to advice can have positive benefits, including to physical and mental health and wellbeing. An inability to access legal advice can result in problems worsening and escalating.

LawWorks Membership

LawWorks members are integral to our organisation and vital for our work and impact. We have around 150 members across England and Wales, including private practice law firms, in-house legal teams, universities and colleges educating the lawyers of tomorrow, and not-for-profit organisations in the access to justice sector. Membership of LawWorks provides members with the opportunity to contribute to a variety of pro bono activities, including our secondary specialisation projects, and our

Public Benefit

When planning and reviewing LawWorks’ activities for the year, the Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. LawWorks ’ charitable activities focus on enabling individuals, charities and not-for-profit organisations to access pro bono legal advice, information and support.

The charity's ultimate beneficiaries are those who would otherwise be unable to access justice. The experience and feedback of people

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support for charities and community organisations through our Not-for-Profits programme. LawWorks is also able to provide professional indemnity insurance to members for pro bono projects where it is not otherwise available.

Members have access to training and events, including conferences, roundtables and networking opportunities. Our members are also eligible to have their pro bono work recognised and celebrated by participating in our annual Pro Bono Awards.

All of LawWorks’ activities for 2023 can be read about in our Activities, Achievements and Performance section.

The Trustees of LawWorks would like to take this opportunity to thank all our volunteers for their time and dedication, as their efforts provide invaluable support to people and organisations who cannot afford representation.

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ACTIVITIES, ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

2023 at a glance

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LawWorks’ England & Wales Clinics Programme

LawWorks Clinics Network

The LawWorks Clinics Network provides support and assistance to around 300 free legal advice clinics, supported by volunteer lawyers. Clinics on the LawWorks Clinics Network provide free initial advice, predominantly in social welfare law, to individuals who are often particularly vulnerable members of the community.

The Clinics Team help set up and maintain sustainable clinic partnerships between individual lawyers, solicitor firms, in-house legal teams, law schools, charities, community groups, and advice agencies to help address unmet legal need in local communities. We provide practical guidance and resources to ensure that a high standard of service is provided to our clinics’ clients.

Clinics in the network are independent of LawWorks, with day-to-day responsibility remaining with the lawyers, law school and/or agency involved. Being part of the network brings access to training, hub meetings, tools and resources, enabling clinic coordinators, practitioners and contributors to share best practice and discuss trends.

Throughout the last year LawWorks has continued the development of new clinics alongside the continued support existing ones.

project planning and the bringing together of relevant stakeholders from across legal, education and community settings. Guidance from the Clinics Team helps these stakeholders take an initial idea through to clinic launch and ongoing development.

In 2023 we held four InfoExchange sessions, attended by clinic coordinators or administrators. Each session was recorded and complemented by a writeup and resources. The team also brought clinics together in each region through hub meetings and regular 1-2-1 support meetings.

Feedback from clinics in the network on the impact that the direct support from LawWorks had in 2023 included:

“It is extremely useful to belong to a network and we have made good connections as a result”.

“The umbrella of LawWorks enables the clinics community to stay in touch”.

“LawWorks is the voice of pro bono on behalf of solicitors and it is good to know that someone is present at national meetings and with the Ministry of Justice.”

By supporting clinics to run as efficiently as possible, this programme also has an indirect impact on the clients that receive free legal advice through these services. We will be publishing our 2023 clinic statistics in the summer of 2024.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

Achievements and Impact

Despite a reduction in capacity over the past three years, the team has continued to average the development of 30 new clinics per year. In 2023 the team went above this average, developing 35 total clinics across England and Wales. LawWorks staff provided support with

The LawWorks Clinics Network has experienced significant capacity and funding losses over the past three years, reducing clinic development and support. This threatens the network's ability to provide critical services to member clinics.

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Since 2020, we've seen a 32% drop in capacity, an 8% increase in clinics on the Network, and a 40% increase in enquiries to clinics (68,000 enquiries in 2022).

In 2023, LawWorks was not awarded funding from the Ministry of Justice, a grant that previously had covered the LawWorks Clinics Network in addition to other programmes. The range of challenges facing the network reflect cross-organisational issues of reliance on limited funding sources and lack of sustainability planning.

Not-for-Profits Programme

Our Not-for-Profits Programme engages with solicitors from our network of member law firms and in-house teams, to support small and medium-sized not-forprofit organisations in England and Wales, to access pro bono legal advice.

We run several services as part of the Not-for-Profits Programme:

• Casework service – where legal advice is required for discrete, oneoff legal issues;

• Honorary Counsel service – where broader legal support is provided on an on-going basis; and

• Training ; the – provision of free, downloadable memos and FAQs and Free Talks on common legal issues for not-for profits (all available via our website) as well as running legal webinars on common legal issues.

Applications for legal advice are assessed by LawWorks to ensure that they meet our eligibility criteria and to review the type of legal assistance sought. The application is then triaged. We publish eligible cases on the UK Pro Bono Portal for member organisations and individuals

1 Please note, the figure is higher than the number of eligible applications because this includes a case from 2022 that was brokered in 2023

to review to identify whether their volunteers can provide pro bono support. Where we cannot assist a not-for-profit organisation, for example because the organisation or legal issue is ineligible for support, we signpost to appropriate sources of help or information.

Achievements against objectives

The Not-for-Profits Programme aimed to support 160 not-for-profit organisations in 2023. During 2023, the programme:

• received 443 applications (30% more than in 2022), of which 210 were eligible for support through the programme;

• brokered support for 211 not-forprofit cases (54% more than in 2022)[1] ; and

• ran 8 training sessions with 98 attendees.

The main areas of law advised on were property, corporate and commercial, employment, litigation and dispute resolution, and data protection.

Areas of law our volunteers advised on

in 2023 :

----- Start of picture text -----
21.6%
5.6%
7.1%
4.7%
4.5%
20.6%
8.1%
14.2%
13.6%
Property
Property dispute
Litigation and dispute resolution
Intellectual Property
Honorary Counsel
Employment
Corporate
Commercial
Other (including data protection)
----- End of picture text -----

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The Not-for-Profits Programme has also explored new ways of working:

• The eligibility criteria was widened and the financial threshold for providing support was increased. These changes have simplified our processes and streamlined the programme, resulting in more cases being approved and more not-forprofit organisations being helped.

• We reviewed the Charity Registration Pilot which had provided opportunities for volunteer solicitors to advise organisations who wanted to register as a charity with the Charity Commission, but was paused in mid-2022. Some LawWorks members expressed an interest in relaunching the pilot, and we have started to scope how this might work in practice.

Impact

The non-profits LawWorks members helped in 2023 support some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. Although the breadth of their work is wide, they commonly deal with poverty, disability, abuse, social exclusion, and special educational needs. These organisations operate all over England and Wales at all levels - from small, local or new organisations to country-wide organisations – and would otherwise struggle to pay for legal advice. By helping them access legal assistance for free, the LawWorks Not-for-Profit Programme is supporting them to help their wider beneficiaries.

• 88% of non-profits felt the legal advice they received had increased their understanding of legal issues;

• 71% of non-profits felt the legal advice they received had increased their confidence to deal with legal issues;

• 100% of non-profits said they would seek assistance from LawWorks in the future.

Feedback from not-for-profit organisations in 2023 included:

“[the volunteer] kept us well-informed and us up-to-date with progress of the renewal of our lease. We received information from him in a manageable and friendly manner and as a consequence we never felt overwhelmed by the process. Thank you.”

“We are very grateful for the fantastic support we received from our volunteer lawyers, they were responsive, helpful and very quickly understood and advised on a pragmatic approach that we could implement.”

“We want to say a huge thank you to LawWorks and to the team at [the law firm] who they introduced us to. This service is a real lifeline for new nonprofits, making sure our legal governance is in a good place give funders confidence in us and allows our team to focus on the work we are set up to do with confidence. I don't know how we would have got this support had it not been for LawWorks partnering us with the right team. And [the law firm] were incredible knowledgeable and worked quickly to help us. Thank you!”

Feedback from volunteers in 2023 included:

“Great to get involved with pro bono relevant to my professional experience.”

“Really enjoyed it and learnt a lot about a new area of law.”

“Great working with LawWorks - it has been nice being able to give something back to the community”

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Challenges and Lessons Learned

Our focus on increasing case numbers in 2023 led to a surge in applications and an increase in the number of cases placed. We will monitor this in 2024 to ensure we have adequate resource to manage the demand for our services. We plan to have a renewed focus on improving our training offering for Not-for-Profit organisations, to ensure the training materials available via our website are up-to-date as well as to look at running a series of ‘live’ training sessions.

Secondary Specialisation

Our Secondary Specialisation programme supports the development of ‘in-depth’ pro bono in areas of social welfare law. Our projects currently include ‘Voices for Families’, which supports the parents and carers of children with life-limiting conditions, and an unpaid wages project. Our in-house solicitors, who are experts in their field, provide or facilitate tailored training for participating volunteers, ongoing support and supervision.

Our welfare benefits advocacy project is currently paused due to the projects’ funding coming to an end and the disruption to the level of referrals during and post-COVID.

In 2023 LawWorks continued to act as the administrator for the Domestic Abuse Response Alliance (DARA), now in its second year, providing the tech platform and the administrative support for this multi-firm advocacy alliance which provides end-to-end representation and advocacy support for domestic abuse survivors seeking protective orders against their abusers.

DARA comprises a special combination of expertise to deliver social justice: legal prowess and manpower from ten of the world's top law firms, governance from

LawWorks, clients from the NCDV and FLOWS and specialist family law oversight on every case from Beck Fitzgerald.

The DARA firms are Travers Smith, Reed Smith, Hogan Lovells, Latham & Watkins, Slaughter and May, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Debevoise & Plimpton, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

In November 2024, it received The PILnet Local Impact Award, voted for by participants of the PILnet Global Forum, recognising the work DARA has done to help victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales.

Achievements and Impact

In 2023, ninety-six low-income individuals were provided with legal assistance through the LawWorks’ Secondary Specialisation programme, with the unpaid wages project assisting clients in reclaiming £14,983 of unpaid wages at tribunal.

Seventeen referral agencies referred individuals to LawWorks throughout 2023, and we had volunteers from 21 law firms involved in the different LawWorks’ Secondary Specialisation projects.

100% of Voices for Families clients surveyed said they felt a lot less stressed and isolated. One client said:

“Before LawWorks’ help, we felt completely on our own and it was affecting our whole family. Just knowing Jess and her team were there to support us hugely relieved our stress. We were up against experts in the council who had lots of legal knowledge, and we didn’t have any, so having the LawWorks team on our side to help understand and explain the law was invaluable. The fact that the LawWorks team could point out

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to the council when they were breaking their own rules was amazing.”

100% of lawyers surveyed who

volunteered on the Unpaid Wages project said they felt the support and training they received was good. One said:

“It was very useful to have an expert lawyer at LawWorks, on call to help with our questions.”

100% of Unpaid Wages clients surveyed said they understood their legal rights better and were very satisfied with the LawWorks volunteers help. One said:

“My LawWorks solicitor was amazing!”

Challenges and Lessons Learned

Secondary Specialisation projects remain the most ‘expensive’ pro bono projects to run as they involve specialist supervision. We continue to fundraise to support these projects, and we are so thankful to the four law firms and one in house team who made additional donations to LawWorks in 2023 to support the Voices for Families Project following the ending of its longterm grant.

Capacity and conflict remain a challenge, especially with regards to employment law cases; as does the ability to source cases which do not involve additional complex areas of law. As people’s legal issues become more interwoven with other areas of law and more complex, the ability for cases which only pertain to discrete areas of law diminishes. We continue to monitor case flow and case complexity closely.

Unpaid Wages Case Study

'Maria’, who is originally from Mexico and is in the UK on a visa, was employed as a nanny and domestic worker by a family for 2 months. After 2 months, the family dismissed her as they claimed she was not a good fit for them. The family did not

pay Maria her notice pay or her last two weeks wages. They had also been paying her below national minimum wage for the length of her employment. When Maria sent her ex-employers a letter to formally ask for her owed wages, they threatened to report her to the police and falsely accused her of damaging their property and traumatising their daughter. Maria was also worried about the affect this might have on her visa and about navigating the legal system alone, especially as English is not her first language.

With the help of LawWorks Unpaid Wages volunteers, Maria was able to take her ex-employees to the Employment Tribunal and was awarded £4,679.89 for unpaid wages, notice pay and holiday pay and for compensation for unfair dismissal and failure to provide a written contract and payslips. Due to the complexity of the case, LawWorks solicitor volunteers were also assisted by a volunteer barrister through Pro Bono Connect, who provided advocacy at the Tribunal.

Maria said “I am absolutely delighted by the result LawWorks got me. Without the volunteers ’legal knowledge, I never would have known everything I was entitled too, and I would not have had the confidence to fight in the way that they have for me. Getting this money has taken so many worries off my mind, and I am so happy justice has been done” .

Voices for Families Case Study

The parents of a young child with lifelimiting neuro degenerative disease and severe scoliosis (Child X) contacted LawWorks for help obtaining suitable social housing for their family. Child X was scheduled to have an operation (one of the first of its kind in the UK) to correct the shape of their spine. Doctors were concerned that they would be unable to

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discharge Child X because the family’s existing housing could not accommodate the additional supplies and equipment required to care for Child X following the operation.

Over a period of two years (during which the operation was repeatedly delayed due to medical licensing issues and backlogs from COVID), a LawWorks solicitor and volunteers from a participating law firm worked together with the family’s doctors and hospice nurses, to demand that the council provide suitable housing to Child X’s family. Although the family was moved into the highest priority banding, the council continued to insist that no suitable properties were available.

Child X had the operation in summer of 2023 and was discharged into hospice care. LawWorks contacted the legal aid charity LawStop and together initiated a judicial review of the council’s inaction. This prompted the council to explore alternative ways of meeting the family’s housing needs, requesting the cooperation of neighbouring councils and, finally, agreeing to provide the family with two adjacent properties. The family moved towards the end of 2023 and are delighted and relieved to be able to live together again.

Pro Bono Connect

Pro Bono Connect (PBC) is a scheme which facilitates collaboration between solicitors and barristers working together pro bono on civil matters for individuals, charities and community groups who cannot afford legal advice or representation. Originally set up in 2015 by Jamie Goldsmith KC of One Essex Court Chambers, the successful scheme came under the governance of LawWorks in 2019 and is supported by a dedicated staff post. A newly formed advisory committee supports the scheme following

a new collaboration with Advocate and the National Pro Bono Centre starting in January 2023.

Achievements and Impact

PBC enables clients to have a complete legal team pursuing their case, which results in matters settling quickly and efficiently and in more successes at trial. The majority of clients report that they are extremely satisfied with the legal help they receive through the scheme.

During 2023, the scheme successfully placed 45 cases across a range of areas of law.

Most matters were requests from barristers, but there were also requests from firms and solicitors at advice agencies. These were all cases which otherwise may have gone unrepresented as the lawyer (whether it be the solicitor or barrister) would not have had the capacity to run the case alone. Several cases resulted in pro bono costs orders, thereby positively impacting funding in the access to justice space.

During 2023, PBC played a key role in pro bono roundtables in the North and Yorkshire and Humber enabling more regional members to become part of the scheme. Membership of PBC overall increased by 20% during the year to over 60 member firms. All chambers who work with Advocate are PBC members as standard.

Administrative improvements continue to be made to the scheme, with a new fair allocation process and case administration moving to the UK Pro Bono Portal in early 2024.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

Capacity and conflict persist as the main challenges to the overall aim of placing more cases. Increasing membership

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alone has not resolved this, and there is a need to recruit beyond the larger London/USA based firms, as well as specifically more specialist and niche firms.

Case numbers have fluctuated in recent years and consequently a new liaison role at Advocate has been recruited to regularise and increase case referrals into the scheme. This has resulted in increased opportunities for firms to engage in the scheme.

Free Legal Answers

Throughout 2023, LawWorks continued to grow the reach of Free Legal Answers (FLA), a website which enables lowincome individuals to access initial or one-off pro bono legal advice.

FLA is based on a service in the United States supported by the American Bar Association. The project was funded by the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ), HALS grant until July 2023. Since that time, the project has not attracted funding, though efforts are underway to maintain and improve the service.

From February to December, our Clinic Development Officer in the North worked on the FLA team and focused on volunteer engagement. The team began thinking of creative ways to expand the service and after some discussion with university partners, five university clinics (University of Sunderland, University of Law - Nottingham, Newcastle, and Birmingham, and Surrey University) signed on to utilise FLA in their clinic offering, allowing students to answer questions under solicitor supervision. This development was accompanied by updates to our user agreements, allowing students, trainees, and lawyers with less than 2 years PQE to engage with FLA questions when supervised by a qualified

solicitor successfully registered on the platform.

We also received non-casework support from universities. For one of City Law School's modules, three law students created training materials for non-lawyer professionals and volunteers to assist clients in crafting FLA submissions. This was in line with rural development work, which was focused on the North East via a partnership with Community Action Northumberland and the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise.

Lastly, the Open University, undertook to review anonymised employment law and family law questions from FLA. The purpose of this collaboration is to build on previous work done by law students and a secondee in identifying what makes a question interesting, or not, to volunteers and what frequently asked questions feature on the platform.

In September, our team met with a LawWorks member firm to discuss the ongoing development of substantive infosheets for the FLA resource bank. Eighteen infosheets have been developed by this firm's lawyers and they are currently working on template ‘scripts’ that FLA volunteers can use to draft answers to frequently asked questions. The firm is also interested in hosting an internal "FLA Sprint" in 2024. This will be a collaborative event where volunteer lawyers and trainees come together to answer FLA questions together. Depending on the success/outcome of this event, it could be rolled out to other firms, who could run such events in partnership with their clients’ legal teams.

Achievements and Impact

In 2023, 470 total questions were submitted to FLA and 231 of these questions were answered by our volunteers. 52 lawyers joined the

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platform, bringing the total number of volunteers to 176. Comparatively, 2022 saw 261 valid questions submitted and 132 of those questions receiving answers from qualified lawyers.

Lawyer engagement was the number one priority for FLA in 2023, and we received 30 new volunteer registrations just between October and December. This increase was largely due to two legal teams, who came to LawWorks with a specific interest in supporting the work of FLA.

The increase in answers throughout the year can be largely attributed to a few high-volume volunteers. Success appears to come mostly from a smaller number of solicitors who regularly and consistently use the platform.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

Lawyer engagement on FLA remains the main struggle for the platform, as well as the recognition between the legal needs of clients and the expertise of many of our volunteers. We are seeking to overcome this with the infosheets and proposed events described above. The next challenge will be the technology which we need to update to keep the FLA platform in line with ongoing technological developments. We will continue to work with our FLA colleagues in America and Australia to understand whether there are collective solutions to these issues.

Collaborative Projects

Major Incidents Response Plan (MIRP)

In February 2022, The Law Society partnered with LawWorks to launch a centralised online platform to help coordinate pro bono advice from the legal profession in the event of a major incident. In 2023, MIRP was fully

transitioned onto the UK Pro Bono Portal. The bulk of our work has focused on engaging with those member firms who have expressed interest in the Plan and encouraging them to join the MIRP Panel. Twelve (12) firms have been onboarded to the MIRP site of the UK Pro Bono Portal in 2023, with ten more firms signed up and whose onboarding is pending.

A roundtable discussion on MIRP was held during Pro Bono Week in November 2023 with representatives from The Law Society, LawWorks, Panel firms, and emergency response organisations during Pro Bono Week.

Following on this, LawWorks have been developing four past incidents as case studies: the Manchester Arena bombing; the 2011 London Riots; the 7/7 bombings; and flooding in Cumbria and Lancashire in 2015 from Storm Desmond. With this, LawWorks will turn to its Panel firms in 2024 to engage their solicitors in the work of analysing the case study incidents and determining how MIRP could have

assisted in the aftermath. The creation of these scenarios will guide MIRP development for the year.

IP Pro Bono

IP Pro Bono, an intellectual property pro bono scheme, was designed to help small businesses and individuals who are involved in a dispute about an intellectual property right such as a patent, trade mark, protected design or copyright. It provides free intellectual property advice and legal support for small businesses involved in intellectual property disputes.

Founded by The Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA) and the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), the scheme had been dormant for a number of years. In 2023, they entered into a formal agreement with LawWorks, whereby LawWorks would run the project,

16 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

funded by the trade bodies. As of October 2023, the project came fully under the auspice of LawWorks, and is now operational on the UK Pro Bono Portal, with several cases matched by the close of 2023.

LawWorks’ Training Programme

LawWorks organises training sessions for our members, clinic volunteers and community groups, which cover a broad range of legal issues and topics. Our training is delivered, often pro bono, by solicitors, barristers and others with expertise in those areas of law and practice. Over 50 training sessions were delivered in 2023, the vast majority online, and open to anyone who signed up for the training.

We also provide bespoke training in response to requests from our members, and specific training for pro bono volunteers as part of our Secondary Specialisation programme and our Notfor-Profits Programme.

Achievements and Impact

In 2023, LawWorks delivered a total of 53 training sessions across English and Welsh law, with an average attendance at each of 20 – 50 people. Registrations often exceed 50 people and occasionally rose to over 90 people.

Most training sessions are recorded, with the recording posted via LawWorks’ website shortly after the event, thereby extending the life and reach of live training sessions. The sessions have strong viewing figures, demonstrating the demand for the training, and allowing our training suite to exist beyond its live events.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

The majority of our training budget came from our Ministry of Justice grant. Now that that has ended, we are revisiting our training offer, to ensure we are using our reduced resources to maximum effect. Sourcing new trainers, particularly on a pro bono basis, can be a challenge; as can identifying the training needs of such a disparate group of volunteers – i.e. the whole pro bono sector.

Understanding the training needs of member firms and clinics on the LawWorks Clinics Network, as well as the resources needed to run bespoke training, continues to remain a priority when developing new training sessions.

UK Pro Bono Portal

The UK Pro Bono Portal went live in November 2021. Originally developed by Justice Connect in Australia, their awardwinning platform has been adapted for use in the UK (initially in England and Wales) and other international jurisdictions. The UK Pro Bono Portal connects lawyers with pro bono opportunities from one place - efficiently, simply and securely.

The UK Pro Bono Portal was initially used to run LawWorks’ Not-for-Profits Programme. Two years later and it now facilitates all our secondary specialisation programmes including Domestic Abuse Response Alliance (DARA, IP Pro Bono, Pro Bono Connect, and a pilot for the LawWorks Clinics Referral Network, designed to allow member clinics to refer potential clients to each other.

The UK Pro Bono Portal also houses the Major Incident Response Plan, in partnership with The Law Society; and we are in discussion with a number of other stakeholders to include non ‘LawWorks’

17 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

projects on the platform, allowing it to support the wider pro bono ecosystem.

Engagement

LawWorks is a leading voice for pro bono in England and Wales. Engagement is key to LawWorks promoting the importance of pro bono and our efforts are made across many fronts.

In 2023, LawWorks as the Secretariat for the APPG on Pro Bono and Public Legal Education, worked with the Secretariat of the Legal Aid APPG (LAPG) to create and launch the new APPG on Access to Justice. In November 2023, we cohosted and participated in a well-attended event with the Solicitor General introducing the new APPG’s Co-Chair’s James Daly MP and Karen Buck MP.

2023 also saw the publication of a pro bono led research project called “Mind The Gap”. LawWorks worked with Hogan Lovells, Mishcon de Reya, Addleshaw Goddard and Eversheds Sutherland to conduct a survey into unmet legal need in England and Wales, offering to join MPs in their surgeries to see what legal issues arise, and what obstacles are encountered in referring constituents on to legal advisors. This document has subsequently been used in conversations with ministers and the Ministry of Justice to demonstrate another example of unmet legal need in the community.

LawWorks also sits on many steering groups, including the Attorney General’s Pro Bono Committee Steering Group.

Pro Bono Awards

An important part of our work is to encourage pro bono across the solicitor profession and to recognise and celebrate pro bono achievement and impact amongst practitioners and students. To this end, we run two annual awards events: The LawWorks Pro bono Awards and the Attorney General & LawWorks Student Awards.

Our annual LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards was held on the Terrace of the House of Commons on Thursday 27 April. Supported by the Attorney General, the Rt Hon Victoria Prentis KC MP, the awards were presented by Lord Stewart of Dirleton KC, Advocate General for Scotland.

The winners of the 2023 Student Pro Bono Awards were:

• Best New Pro Bono Activity: City Community Legal Advice Centre, City University of London

• Best Contribution by an Individual: Benjamin O'Connell, University of Essex

18 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

• Best Contribution by a Law School: University of London Refugee Law Clinic

• Best contribution by a Team of Students: The Immigration Project, University of Chester and Eastgate Chambers

• Advocate and LawWorks Law School Challenge: Bloomsbury Campus, The University of Law

Our LawWorks Pro Bono Awards was hosted by the journalist and presenter Samira Ahmed and held at the Law Society on 5th December. LawWorks received over 60 nominations across the ten categories and the event was attended by over 100 guests.

The awards were kindly sponsored by LexisNexis and supported by the Law Society.

The winners of the 2023 LawWorks Pro Bono Awards were:

• Best Contribution by a Small or Medium Firm: Pallas Partners LLP

• Best Contribution by a Large Firm: Reed Smith LLP

• Best Contribution by an In-house Team or Solicitor: The Financial Conduct Authority Pro Bono

Group, Financial Conduct Authority

• Best Contribution by a Junior Lawyer: Alessandro Angelico, Covington & Burling

• Best Contribution by an Individual: Naga Kandiah, MTC Solicitors

• The LawWorks Cymru Award: University of South Wales Legal Advice Clinic, University of South Wales

• Best Contribution by a Pro Bono Clinic: Kent Law Clinic, University of Kent

• Best International Pro Bono Award in partnership with A4ID: Rule 39 Pro Bono Initiative

• Best New Pro Bono Activity: Islamophobia Response Unit

• Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership: Green Tech Legal Collaborative

Both awards events were at capacity, and reflected the true spirit of cooperation and civic service that is embodied in pro bono work.

LawWorks Pro Bono Conference

In 2023, we evolved our annual Clinics Conference into the first LawWorks Pro Bono Conference. The conference brought together over 100 pro bono clinic

and law firm coordinators, volunteers and stakeholders from the wider advice sector, both in person and online. The conference was an opportunity to explore, discuss and celebrate the positive impact pro bono has on communities.

With the Covid-19 pandemic in the recent past and the impact of

19 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

the cost of living crisis being felt in households across the country, the conference sessions explored the ways and means for pro bono services to continue to show their resilience and agility in the face of rising demand and increasingly complex legal issues.

The conference was kindly hosted by Herbert Smith Freehills, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them, all our speakers, and our attendees for making the day such a success.

Plans for the Future

On 13th August 2024 Solicitors Pro Bono Group completed a merger deed with Advocates for International Development (A4ID) (Company registration number 05907641 and Charity registration number 1118565) whereby the assets, liabilities and activities of the charity will be transferred to A4ID once final due diligence is completed, with the intention of the merger taking effect before the end of 2024.

Looking to the future, LawWorks’ activities will be continued within the new entity. We will continue to prioritise collaboration as the most effective and constructive way to develop and grow pro bono opportunities and practices which best serve its clients and volunteers. Prioritising the experiences, lessons and needs of our community partners will continue to direct our work, ensuring we are directing scarce resources to help maximise impact in our communities.

We are excited about the opportunities the merged charity will bring for our clients, volunteers, stakeholders and our mission to increase access to justice through pro bono legal volunteering.

20 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

FINANCIAL REVIEW

In 2021 and 2022, LawWorks saw two of its major historic funders who made up approximately 25% of its income, cut funding by approximately 60%. This decreased further in 2023, with one of its major funders ending its grant.

LawWorks went into 2023 with a budgeted deficit of £150k.

Board of financial information, variance from budgets and non-financial performance reports.

Throughout 2023, the Board has continued to review the risks presented to LawWorks and are satisfied there are adequate measures in place to mitigate the most significant risks.

Reserves Policy

The Board of Trustees, in the interest of providing adequate contingency funds to LawWorks, have continued to keep a reserves policy of six months operating costs. This is equal to £493,951 based on 2023 expenditure.

Come year ending 2023, LawWorks held £733,731, £647,290 of which is unrestricted. Unrestricted reserves are equal to 7.9 months of operating costs.

The surplus of more than £200,000 over the reserves policy is an acknowledgement of the substantial £100k structural deficit LawWorks continues to face going into 2024, if it is to continue delivering its current levels of operations.

Risk Management

The Board of Trustees (the Board) has overall responsibility for ensuring that the charity has an appropriate system of controls, financial and otherwise. The system of internal controls is designed to provide assurance that the funds are used in line with its charitable objects, for the purposes for which they were granted and for the public benefit. These controls include: a strategic plan and an annual budget approved by the Board, plus regular oversight and consideration by the

LawWorks has a risk register, which is presented annually to the Board, and the CEO presents an annual overview of the types of risk the charity faces, prioritising them in terms of potential impact and likelihood of occurrence, and identifying ways to mitigate the risks. LawWorks has identified the key risks in the coming three years as: securing sufficient core funds particularly given the ongoing impact of inflation, cost of living crisis and ending of multi-year grants; loss of key personnel; and the uncertainty that stems from a potential merger. The Trustees also consider the potential impact of political instability and a regularly changing policy environment as an additional risk for LawWorks, both from a funding perspective and an operational perspective. Mitigations are in place for each of these risks; including appointing additional staff to support fundraising efforts, not recruiting into roles for unfunded projects where the projects can be managed with existing staff, creating cautious budgets with rigorous financial oversite from the board, and ongoing staff consultation regarding changes within the organisation.

The internal financial controls used by LawWorks conform to guidelines issued by the Charity Commission.

21 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

Fundraising

In 2023, LawWorks’ income was derived from four main sources: membership fees, trusts and foundations, The Law Society and additional funding coming from individual donations, legacies and fundraising events.

Having closed the year with a £67,458 deficit, 2023 marked the first year without any Ministry of Justice Funding, following the closure in 2022 of the Litigants in Person Support Strategy. This deficit has been managed by utilising the reserves excess.

Funding cuts over the past two years have meant that LawWorks needs to diversify its income as a matter of urgency to ensure we can continue to run our programmes across England and Wales. In order to secure multi-year committed funding, we are working to strengthen unrestricted income streams, including individual donations and corporate giving.

For 2023, grants totalled £469,734 and membership fees reached £251,515. The remainder of LawWorks ’income is largely made up of sponsorship and individual donations.

With income just over £1m for 2023 and in accordance with the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016, LawWorks confirms:

1. Fundraising was conducted by LawWorks’ Chief Executive, Head of Fundraising and a self-employed fundraising consultant.

2. LawWorks is a member of the Fundraising Regulator.

3. In 2023, no failures to comply with the guidance of the Fundraising Regulator were recognised.

4. Controls in place with regard to fundraising include – mandatory

sign-off from the CEO before bids are submitted, monthly internal fundraising workshops to review progress / practices and a policy of not fundraising from clients i.e. those who cannot afford a solicitor.

1. In 2023, there were zero complaints made with regard to LawWorks’ fundraising activity.

2. As above, LawWorks has a policy to not target its clients when fundraising, as we expect many would be considered vulnerable. LawWorks directs the little individual fundraising it currently does at professionals in the legal sector.

Structure, Governance and Management

LawWorks is a registered charity and a private company limited by guarantee. The organisation was incorporated on 29th July 1997 and its governing document is a memorandum and articles of association.

The Charity has no share capital or debentures, hence there are no Trustees ’ interests requiring disclosure. In the event of the Charity being wound up each member is required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

The Charity is governed by a Board of Trustees, who are all volunteers. No paid employee of the Charity, whether in full or part time employment, can be elected to the Board. The election of members to the Board takes place at the Annual General Meeting. The Trustees may appoint any member to the Board to fill a casual vacancy or as an additional Trustee. A Trustee so appointed shall hold office only until the next Annual General Meeting. Details of those serving on the Board during the year and those serving currently are shown below.

22 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

Trustees

The Board of Trustees meet once every three months and hold an annual away day. All new trustees are routinely updated with the Commission’s guidance publications and subsequent training is made available to all trustees as needed.

The trustees, who are the directors for company law purposes, retire by rotation and are eligible for reappointment; they are elected by its company members. The names of the trustees serving in 2023 are as follows:

• Alasdair Douglas (Chair)

• Nick Emmerson (appointed October 2023)

• Jamie Goldsmith KC

• Ian Jeffery

• Robert Lay (Treasurer)

• Emma Rehal-Wilde

• Lubna Shuja (until October 2023)

• Deborah Smith

• Gemma Watts

The staff team is accountable, through the Chief Executive, to the trustees, and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the charity in accordance with the strategy, policies, procedures and budgets approved by the board and any ad hoc committees.

The key management personnel during the year were the Chief Executive together with the five-person management team.

Staff salaries are supervised by the Board, taking into account the needs of the organisation and external economic circumstances.

Post Balance Sheet Events

On 13th August 2024 Solicitors Pro Bono Group completed a merger deed with Advocates for International Development (A4ID) (Company registration number

05907641 and Charity registration number 1118565 ) whereby the assets, liabilities and activities of the charity will be transferred to A4ID once final due diligence is completed, with the intention of the merger taking effect before the end of 2024.

Statement of Trustees ’

Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Policies).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for the year.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume

• that the charitable company will continue in operation.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any

23 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the detection and prevention of fraud and other irregularities.

Preparation of the report

This report of the Board of Trustees has been prepared taking advantage of the small companies exemption of section 415A of the Companies Act 2006.

This report was approved and authorised for issue by the trustees on 17 September 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

In so far as the trustees are aware:

• there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company ’ s auditor is unaware; and

• the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

Alasdair Douglas Chair of Trustees Date: 19 September 2024

Auditors

Haysmacintyre LLP have indicated their willingness to continue in office and offer themselves for re-appointment as such, under Section 485 of the Companies Act 2006.

24 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS & TRUSTEES OF SOLICITORS PRO BONO GROUP (“LAWWORKS”)

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Solicitors Pro Bono Group for the year ended 31 December 2023 which comprise the Trustees’ Report, Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2023 and of the charitable company’s net movement in funds, including the income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s

responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Emphasis of matter – financial statements prepared on a basis other than going concern

We draw attention to the disclosure made in note 1 to the financial statements which explains that the charitable company entered into an agreement on 13 August 2024 to merge with A4ID on completion of due diligence and other contractual conditions and formalities. The merger will take place through a transfer by LawWorks of its assets, liabilities and activities to A4ID on completion of the above matters and the transfer is

expected to be completed prior to the end of 2024. The charitable company will cease activities from the date of transfer and will be wound up in due course. Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on a basis other than going concern as described in note 1. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter.

26 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ Annual Report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work

we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

• the information given in the Trustees’ Annual Report (which includes the directors’ report prepared for the purposes of company law) for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the directors’ report included within the Trustees’ Annual Report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are

required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Annual Report (which incorporates the directors’ report).

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• adequate accounting records have not been kept by the charitable company; or

• the charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

• the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies’ regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

27 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

Responsibilities of trustees for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on pages 23 and 24, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.

Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to

influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Based on our understanding of the charitable company and the environment in which it operates, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to compliance with the regulatory requirements of the Charity Commission, employment law and health and safety regulations, and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011, and payroll taxes.

We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to revenue recognition. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:

• Inspecting correspondence with regulators and tax authorities;

• Discussions with management including consideration of known or suspected instances of noncompliance with laws and regulation and fraud;

28 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

• Evaluating management’s controls designed to prevent and detect irregularities;

• Identifying and testing journals, in particular journal entries posted with unusual account combinations, postings by unusual users or with unusual descriptions; and

• Challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in their critical accounting estimates.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of noncompliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Lee Stokes (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Haysmacintyre LLP

Statutory Auditor

Date: 23 September 2024

Haysmacintyre LLP 10 Queen Street Place London, EC4R 1AG

29 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

(Incorporating Income and Expenditure Account)

For the Year Ended 31 December 2023

Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds Note 2023 2023 2023 £ £ £ Income Income from Donations 2 147,114 - 147,114 Investments 3,819 - 3,819 Other Trading Activities 3 64,553 - 64,553 Charitable activities 4 391,137 401,612 792,749 Other income 675 - 675 Total income 607,298 401,612 1,008,910 Expenditure Expenditure on raising funds 165,742 - 165,742 Expenditure on charitable activities: Supporting and promoting pro bono 125,340 9,439 134,779 Enabling access to justice through pro bono 227,190 248,083 475,273 Supporting not-for-profit organisations 173,468 38,640 212,108 DARA Expenditure - 88,466 88,466 Total expenditure 5 691,740 384,628 1,076,368 Net income/ net movement in funds (84,442) 16,984 (67,458) Net movement in funds (84,442) 16,984 (67,458) Total funds brought forward 731,732 69,457 801,189 Total funds carried forward 647,290 86,441 733,731	Total Funds 2022 £ 67,179 1,421 6,255 1,096,933 8,626
	1,180,414
	107,464 295,733 564,384 107,091 54,793
	1,129,465
	50,949
	50,949 750,240
	801,189

The Charity has no recognised gains or losses in the year other than that shown above. All the above results were derived from continuing activities. Details of comparative figures by fund are disclosed in note 1 to the financial statements.

The notes and information on pages 34 to 45 form part of these financial statements.

31 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

BALANCE SHEET

As at 31 December 2023

			2023		2022
	Notes	£	£	£	£
Fixed assets
Tangible assets	9		4,437		8,216
Current assets
Debtors	10	76,036		144,003
Cash at bank and in hand		895,401		975,573
		971,437		1,119,576
Creditors: amounts due
within one year	11	(242,143)		(326,603)
Net current assets			729,294		792,973
Net assets			733,731		801,189
Funds
Restricted Funds	12		86,441		69,457
General fund (unrestricted)	12		647,290		731,732
	13		733,731		801,189

These financial statements were approved and signed on behalf of the Trustees on 19 September 2024.

Alasdair Douglas, Chair of Trustees

32 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

STATEMENT OF CASHFLOWS

For the Year Ended 31 December 2023

Notes Cash flows from operating activities Net cash provided by operating activities A Cash flow from investing activities Purchase of fixed assets Interest Net cash (used in) investing activities Increase/ Decrease in cash and cash equivalents in the year Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year Total cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year A) RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Net income for the year as per SOFA Depreciation charge Interest (Increase) in debtors Increase in creditors Net cash provided by operating activities

2023 2022 £ £ (83,991) 74,664 - (3,423) 3,819 1,421 3,819 (2,002) (80,172) 72,662 975,573 902,911 895,401 975,573 (67,458) 50,949 3,779 3,804 (3,819) (1,421) 67,967 (26,773) (84,460) 48,105 (83,991) 74,664

33 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 December 2023

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows.

Basis of preparation of financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, the Statement of Recommended Practice for Charities (SORP 2015) (Second Edition, effective 1 January 2019) and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102).

Solicitors Pro Bono Group (LawWorks) is a company limited by guarantee. In the event of the Charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the Charity. The Charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy.

Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The charitable company entered into an agreement on 13 August 2024 to merge with A4ID on completion of due diligence and other contractual conditions and formalities. The merger will take place through a transfer by LawWorks of its assets, liabilities and activities to A4ID on completion of the above matters and the transfer is expected to be completed prior to the end of 2024. The charitable company will cease activities from the

date of transfer and will be wound up in due course. Therefore, the financial statements are prepared on a basis other than going concern. There have been no adjustments to the carrying values of assets and liabilities resulting from the change in basis.

Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objects of the Charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the Charity for particular purposes. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Income

Income is recognised when the Charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the items have been met, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably.

Income received in advance of the relevant specified service provision is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met. If the funded service is provided continually the grant is considered to accrue evenly over the period of specified support.

34 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Continued)

Grants and donations

Grants and donations received are recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities when the Charity is entitled to them as specified in the general income policy and in accordance with the terms attached to the grant or donation.

Donated services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the Charity which is the amount the Charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market. A corresponding amount is then recognised in the expenditure in the period of receipt.

In accordance with the Charities SORP FRS 102 the general volunteer time given to the Charity is not recognised.

The volunteers and individual members of the Charity benefit from events organised by the Charity in partnership with legal firms. The cost to these firms of providing these events is not treated as a donation to the Charity.

The extent of volunteering support in the Charity is acknowledged in the Annual Report.

Membership subscriptions

Income from membership subscriptions is recognised on an accruals basis, income received in advance is deferred (see Note 10).

Allocation of support costs

Support costs, which cannot be directly attributed to particular activities, have been apportioned proportionately to the direct staff costs allocated to the activities.

Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

All assets costing more than £500 are capitalised. Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost of fixed assets, less their estimated residual value, over their expected useful lives on the following bases:

Office furniture & equipment: 4 years

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments.

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been included under expense categories that aggregate all costs for allocation to activities.

35 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Continued)

Pensions

The Charity makes payments to staff members’ personal pension and defined contribution arrangements. Payments made fulfil in total the Charity’s obligations for such payments and are recorded as an expense in the period they are payable.

and in hand, together with trade and other debtors. A specific provision is made for debts for which recoverability is in doubt. Cash at bank and in hand is defined as all cash held in instant access bank accounts and used as working capital. Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise all creditors except social security and other taxes and provisions.

Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

In the application of the accounting policies, trustees are required to make judgement, estimates, and assumptions about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying

assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affected current and future periods.

In the view of the trustees, there are no areas of critical accounting judgement or estimation uncertainty used in preparing the financial statements.

Financial instruments

Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at amortised with the exception of investments which are held at fair value. Financial assets held amortised cost comprise cash at bank

36 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES COMPARATIVES DETAIL

(Incorporating Income and Expenditure Account)

Income Income from Donations Investments Charitable activities Other Income Total income Expenditure Domestic Abuse Response Alliance Expenditure Total expenditure Net income Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward Supporting not-for-profit organisations Expenditure on raising funds Expenditure on charitable activities: Supporting and promoting pro bono Enabling access to justice through pro bono	Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds 2022 2022 2022 £ £ £ 67,179 - 67,179 1,421 - 1,421 339,385 757,548 1,096,933 14,881 - 14,881
	422,866 757,548 1,180,414
	107,464 - 107,464 260,581 35,152 295,733 3,448 560,936 564,384 40,741 66,350 107,091 - 54,793 54,793 - 412,234 717,231 1,129,465
	10,632 40,317 50,949
	715,300 34,940 750,240
	725,932 75,257 801,189

37 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

2. DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

		Unrestricted	Restricted
**2. **	DONATIONS AND LEGACIES	Funds	Funds	Total Funds	Total Funds
		2023	2023	2023	2022
		£	£	£	£
	The London Legal Support Trust – Legal Walk	4,280	-	4,280	5,893
	Law School Challenge	10,871	-	10,871	856
	Christmas Carol Concert	9,681	-	9,681	10,524
	Trusts and Legacies	20,000	-	20,000	-
	Other events and donations	102,282	-	102,282	49,906
		147,114	-	147,114	67,179

Comparative information - all income shown in 2022 above related to unrestricted funds.

	Unrestricted	Restricted
DONATIONS - 2022	Funds	Funds	Total Funds	Total Funds
	2022	2022	2022	2021
	£	£	£	£
The London Legal Support Trust – Legal Walk	5,893	-	5,893	3,770
Law School Challenge	856	-	856	-
Christmas Carol Concert	10,524	-	10,524	-
Other events and donations	43,651	-	43,651	71,124
Government Grant Income	-	-	-	4,194
	60,924	-	60,924	79,088

3. OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES

3. OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES Rental Income Desk Share	Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds 2023 2023 2023 2022 £ £ £ £ 42,853 - 42,853 - 21,700 - 21,700 6,255
	64,553 - 64,553 6,255

38 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

4a. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES 2023

The Law Society National Lottery Community Fund MoJ Help Accessing Legal Support (HALS) Trust for London City Bridge Trust Together for Short Lives Sir James Knott Trust Advocate (Pro Bono Connect) Farrer & Co Charitable Trust The Rothley Trust Edgar E Lawley Foundation Grant Therium Access 29thMay 1961 Charity Simmons & Simmons Charitable Trust The Shears Foundation Batchworth Trust The Barbour Foundation Schroder Charity Trust Accenture Elizabeth Rathbone Charitable Trust Monica Rabagliati Charitable Trust Charlotte Bonham-Carter Charitable Trust Souter Charitable Trust CB & HH Taylor 1984 Trust Suffolk Community Foundation Hadrian Trust BDB Pitmans Charitable Trust TOTAL Domestic Abuse Resource Alliance (DARA) Membership Domestic Abuse Resource Alliance- (DARA) Funding Membership subscriptions Access to Justice Foundation Help- Accessing Legal Support Grant Access to Justice Foundation Litigants in- Person Support Strategy Access to Justice Foundation Legal- Support for Litigants in Person Grant

Unrestricted Restricted Total Total Funds Funds Funds Funds 2023 2023 2023 2022 £ £ £ £ 251,515 - 251,515 229,901 - 71,500 71,500 39,300 251,515 71,500 323,015 269,201 134,622 - 134,622 105,984 - 85,557 85,557 83,470 - 59,626 59,626 - - 53,900 53,900 44,000 - 38,640 38,640 66,350 - 17,250 17,250 28,376 - 10,000 10,000 10,000 - 9,439 9,439 - 5,000 - 5,000 2,000 - 1,500 1,500 1,000 - 1,500 1,500 - - - - 216,312 - - - 56,250 - - - 56,038 - - - 33,452 - - - 5,000 - - - 5,000 - - - 5,000 - - - 5,000 - - - 5,000 - - - 4,000 - - - 4,000 - - - 3,000 - - - 3,000 - - - 3,000 - - - 3,000 - - - 2,000 - - - 2,000 - - - 2,000 - - - 1,500 - 52,700 52,700 72,000 139,622 330,112 469,734 827,732

391,137 401,612 792,749 1,096,933

39 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

4b. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES 2022

The Law Society National Lottery Community Fund Trust for London Together for Short Lives City Bridge Trust Therium Access 29th May 1961 Charity Schroder Charity Trust Farrer & Co Charitable Trust Simmons & Simmons Charitable Trust Elizabeth Rathbone Charitable Trust Monica Rabagliati Charitable Trust The Shears Foundation Sir James Knott Trust The Rothley Trust CB & HH Taylor 1984 Trust BDB Pitmans Charitable Trust Batchworth Trust Accenture Suffolk Community Foundation Charlotte Bonham-Carter Charitable Trust Hadrian Trust The Barbour Foundation Souter Charitable Trust Domestic Abuse Resource Alliance (DARA) Funding TOTAL Membership subscriptions Access to Justice Foundation Litigants in Person Support Strategy Access to Justice Foundation Help- Accessing Legal Support Grant Access to Justice Foundation Legal Support for Litigants in Person Grant	Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds Funds Funds 2022 2022 2022 £ £ £ 229,901 - 229,901 - 39,300 39,300
	229,901 39,300 269,201
	- 216,312 216,312 105,984 - 105,984 - 83,470 83,470 - 33,452 33,452 - 44,000 44,000 - 28,376 28,376 - 66,350 66,350 - 56,038 56,038 - 56,250 56,250 - 5,000 5,000 - 4,000 4,000 2,000 - 2,000 - 5,000 5,000 - 3,000 3,000 - 3,000 3,000 - 5,000 5,000 - 10,000 10,000 - 1,000 1,000 - 2,000 2,000 1,500 - 1,500 - 5,000 5,000 - 4,000 4,000 - 2,000 2,000 - 3,000 3,000 - 2,000 2,000 - 5,000 5,000 - 3,000 3,000 - 72,000 72,000
	109,484 718,248 827,732
	339,385 757,548 1,096,933

40 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

5. ANALYSIS OF EXPENDITURE BY TYPE – 2023

	Staff	Direct	Support	Total
	costs	costs	costs	2023
	£	£	£	£
Raising funds
Fundraising costs	88,088	44,361	33,293	165,742
Charitable activities
Supporting and promoting pro bono	75,846	31,838	27,095	134,779
Enabling access to justice through pro bono	347,090	4,189	123,994	475,273
Supporting not-for-profit organisations	156,279	-	55,829	212,108
DARA Expenditure	-	76,466	12,000	88,466
	667,303	156,854	252,211	1,076,368

Support costs are apportioned to the various activities of the Charity on the basis of direct staff costs.

Included in the above costs are governance costs of £85,936 (2022: £74,659) which comprise audit fees of £13,868 (2022: £12,900), staff costs of £52,301 (2022: £47,635) and other allocated support costs of £19,767 (2022: £14,124).

2022

Raising funds Fundraising costs Charitable activities DARA Expenditure Supporting and promoting pro bono Supporting not-for-profit organisations Enabling access to justice through pro bono	Staff Direct Support Total costs costs costs 2022 £ £ £ £ 69,826 16,934 20,704 107,464 187,592 54,665 53,476 295,733 428,403 13,860 122,121 564,384 83,335 - 23,756 107,091 - 46,793 8,000 54,793
	769,156 132,252 228,057 1,129,465

6. SUPPORT COSTS

Rent Insurance Communications Professional fees Office costs Depreciation Bank charges IT costs including website Premises costs (recharged by NPBC)	2023 2022 £ £ - - 119,953 42,347 24,399 22,187 12,493 19,754 48,922 42,569 10,779 65,793 3,779 3,804 354 347 31,532 31,256
	252,211 228,057

41 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

7. NET INCOME FOR THE YEAR

	2023	2022
	£	£
This is stated after charging:
Depreciation	3,779	3,804
Fees payable to auditors for audit
- current year	13,868	12,900
- previous year under provision	-	2,300

During the year no Trustee received any remuneration (2022 - £Nil). No expenses were reimbursed to Truste in the year in respect of travel expenses.

8. STAFF COSTS AND NUMBERS

Salaries Social security costs Pension Other benefits costs Recruitment costs STAFF NUMBERS Chief Executive Projects Administration & Support	2023 2022 £ £ 572,983 638,602 50,070 58,756 36,571 59,260 7,448 8,781 231 3,757
	667,303 769,156
	2023 2022 1 1 17 20 1 1
	19 22

One employee was paid £60,000 or over (2022: One employee was paid £60,000 or over).

The key management posts in the charity are the Chief Executive and the Chief Operating Officer. The combined salaries and benefits for these two roles totals £116,645 (2022: £127,352).

42 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

9. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS – OFFICE FURNITURE AND EQUIPMENT

AND EQUIPMENT
Cost At the start of year At end of year Depreciation At the start of year Charge for the year At end of year Net book value At 31 December 2023 At 31 December 2022	£ 15,631 15,631 7,415 3,779
	11,194 4,437
	8,216

10. DEBTORS

10. DEBTORS
Due within one year Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments	2023 2022 £ £ 1,880 96,510 53,483 25,113 20,673 22,380
	76,036 144,003

1. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

Trade creditors Social security and other taxes Accruals Deferred income grants Deferred income subscriptions Other Creditors	2023 2022 £ £ 8,636 14,378 24,263 43,090 51,953 30,156 38,139 61,250 114,194 172,566 4,958 5,163
	242,143 326,603

43 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

12. STATEMENT OF FUNDS

RESTRICTED FUNDS LawWorks Clinics LawWorks Cymru Not for Profit Service Voices for Families Project Unpaid Wages Project Pro Bono Connect Domestic Abuse Resource Alliance (DARA) 2022 LawWorks Clinics Tribunal representation Free Legal Answers LawWorks Cymru Not for Profit Service Voices for Families Project Unpaid Wages Project Pro Bono Connect Domestic Abuse Resource Alliance (DARA)	Brought Carried Forward Income Expenditure Transfers Forward £ £ £ £ £ 18,750 72,626 (91,376) - - - 85,557 (85,557) - - - 38,640 (38,640) - - - 17,250 (17,250) - - - 53,900 (53,900) - - - 9,439 (9,439) - - 50,707 124,200 (88,466) - 86,441
	69,457 401,612 (384,628) - 86,441
	19,500 324,562 (325,312) - 18,750 - 56,038 (56,038) - - - 33,452 (33,452) - - 13,740 83,470 (97,210) - - - 66,350 (66,350) - - - 38,376 (38,376) - - - 44,000 (44,000) - - 1,700 - (1,700) - - - 111,300 (54,793) 5,800 - 50,707
	34,940 757,548 (717,231) 5,800 - 69,457

Details of restricted income in 2023:

A list of the restricted grants received in the year is shown in note 3 above. All these grants related to the charitable activities of the Charity

The Charity received funds from the charity Together For Short Lives as restricted quarterly grant funding, with effect from April 2013, contributing towards the costs of the Voices for Families Secondary Specialisation Programme which provides advice services to families with children with life-limiting illnesses. The Monica Rabagliati Charitable Trust and the Charlotte Bonham-Carter Charitable Trust also awarded small grants to support Voices for Families, and Accenture made a donation towards the project.

Trust for London continued to fund a pilot project and then agreed a two year grant of £84,000 per year from November 2019 to support the unpaid wages clinic project. A new grant of £97,000 over two years from November 2021 has subsequently been agreed for continued support of the project. City Bridge Trust awarded a grant of £132,700 over two years to support the Not-For-Profit programme starting in July 2021. In 2019 Therium Access awarded LawWorks a grant of £164,048 spread over three years to support representation at tribunals by pro bono lawyers and the Access to Justice Foundation provided grant support for the pilot phase of the Free Legal Answers platform. In 2022 the Access to Justice Foundation provided additional support to the LawWorks Clinics Network including Free Legal Answers through the Help Accessing Legal Support scheme.

The Evan Cornish Foundation, the Schroder Charity Trust, Edgar E Lawley Foundation, 29th May 1961 Charity, Souter Charitable Trust, Hadrian Trust, Barbour Foundation, the Elizabeth Rathbone Charitable Trust, The Shears Foundation, the Sir James Knott Charitable Trust, the CB & HH Taylor 1984 Trust, Suffolk Community Foundation, Simmons & Simmons Charitable Trust, Rothley Trust and the Edith Murphy Foundation all provided small grants to support the LawWorks Clinics Network. �

44 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

12. STATEMENT OF FUNDS (CONTINUED)

	Brought				Carried
	Forward	Income	Expenditure	Transfers	Forward
SUMMARY OF FUNDS	£	£	£	£	£
General funds	731,732	607,298	(691,740)	-	647,290
Restricted funds	69,457	401,612	(384,628)	-	86,441
	801,189	1,008,910	(1,076,368)	-	733,731
2022
General funds	715,300	422,866	(412,234)	5,800	731,732
Restricted funds	34,940	757,548	(717,231)	5,800 -	69,457
	750,240	1,180,414	(1,129,465)	-	801,189

13. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS

2023 Tangible fixed assets Net current assets 2022 Tangible fixed assets Net current assets	General Restricted Total Fund Funds Funds 4,437 - 4,437 642,853 86,441 729,294
	647,290 86,441 733,731
	8,216 - 8,216 723,516 69,457 792,973
	731,732 69,457 801,189

14. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS/COMMITMENTS

There are no related party transactions to report for the financial year ending 31 December 2023 (2022: none). Aggregated donations from trustees in the year were £10,000 (2022: £Nil)

15. POST BALANCE SHEET EVENTS

th On 13 August 2024 Solicitors Pro Bono Group completed a merger deed with A4ID (Company registration number 05907641 and Charity registration number 1118565) whereby the assets, liabilities and activities of the charity will be transferred to A4ID on 13th August 2024. The charity will continue to operate under A4ID, but will be wound up in due course.

45 | LawWorks Annual Report and Accounts 2023

LawWorks is a charity working in England and Wales to connect volunteer lawyers with people in need of legal advice, who are not eligible for legal aid and cannot afford to pay and with the not-for-profit organisations that support them.

www.lawworks.org.uk Registered charity number 1064274