Civil justice

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Our civil justice research improves understanding of how the system is working and identifies how it might be improved to protect people’s rights.

Our aim is to improve understanding of the accessibility of the legal system for people, particularly those who are vulnerable and those without legal representation. Digital technology, for example, is increasingly used to deliver justice and dispute resolution and this raises both new opportunities and risks around access to justice.

We are interested in a range of areas and topics in Civil Justice but particularly in administrative justice – the decisions public authorities make, particularly on social welfare issues such as benefits entitlement, housing, immigration, and special educational needs, and the options available for people to review or challenge those decisions. Here and in other areas the formal processes available connect with other earlier measures to address and resolve problems and disputes. The inter-relationship between the two, and the incentives and advice for people to pursue less formal routes, are important issues.

Our team


  • Ash Patel headshot
    Ash Patel

Our impact in civil justice


  • Dr Sarah Nason’s work on Paths to Administrative Justice in Wales sought to inform administrative justice policy in Wales by developing detailed network maps of the system, coupled with legal analysis and insights from practitioners and users. The research has received wide ranging support from institutions of government, including the Welsh Government and Senedd Cymru and legal reformers such as the Commission on Justice in Wales and the Law Commission, with many of the project’s recommendations laced into wider proposals for policy and practice reform within the Welsh Administrative Justice system.

  • Professor Naomi Creutzfeldt and colleagues explored how the delivery of administrative justice has changed in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing on issues related to housing and Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), the research tracks how changes introduced in the system in response to the pandemic, particularly the shift to a predominately digital processes, have endured. It makes recommendations to improve access to support and resolution for those experiencing problems in these areas.

  • Professors Robert Thomas and Joe Tomlinson’s research on immigration tribunals provided deep insight into the operation of the system of immigration and judicial review. The research landed at a critical time when, due to Brexit and proposed reforms to UK constitutional law, the immigration system was in a state of flux, and informed policy thinking within government (specifically the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, and the Office of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration), and the judiciary.

Civil justice projects

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We aim to improve people’s lives by funding research that informs social policy, primarily in Education, Welfare and Justice. We also fund student programmes that give young people skills and confidence in science and research.

We are an open, collaborative and engaged funder that offers more than money. Through connecting the individual projects we fund, we strengthen their collective impact and give voice to an overarching narrative.

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