The Southwest struggles with a shortage of legal advice, particularly immigration advice. A report (click to download) by Bristol Refugee Rights and Bristol Law Centre, funded by the Justice Together Initiative (JTI), highlighted the lack of adequate legal specialist immigration advice in the region and since it was published in September 2022 the situation has become more challenging.
The Southwest Immigration Alliance is a project funded by the Justice Together Initiative (JTI) to increase access to specialist immigration advice in the Southwest region.
This project aims to establish a more coordinated, collaborative, and sustainable legal advice ecosystem that ensures that people needing immigration & asylum advice can access justice.
The project will focus on collaboration among legal advice providers in the region and with asylum and refugee support organisations. There are 2 specific delivery plans that will form part of the solution and the learning:
- In Bristol, Gloucester, and Swindon: Improving referral pathways, with added complex casework capacity (at BLC)
- In Devon & Cornwall covering Plymouth and Exeter areas: building capacity to develop sustainable ecosystem – relationships and other development work.