The five-year project will improve law centers' ability to outline issues and build a case for funding
The UK's Law Centres Network has initiated a five-year data development project to bolster its abiltity to leverage data in addressing justice concerns, outlining on-the-ground issues, and making decisions, reported the Law Society Gazette.
The City Bridge Foundation is financing the program, which Law Centres Network's IT and data head Alex Charles described as "highly ambitious" in a statement published by the Gazette. Charles said that one "big ambition" was to obtain data that could be applied locally and regionally to help law centers detail on-the-ground concerns and build a case for funding.
"Wherever law centres are on the scale of data maturity, we’re hoping to build their understanding of what is meant by data, what goes into good data management and good data practices; having a clearer consensus across our network on the uses for data; what are we collecting and why are we collecting it; and how are we going to use the data for whatever purpose," he said in a statement published by the Gazette.
In the first year, the project will concentrate on research, discovery and planning. Charles said that it will concentrate on determining core issues, law centers' focus, and actionable steps, which will then be collated in a draft plan.
He told the Gazette that the project would improve law centers' understanding of "what we mean when we’re talking about improving the use of data and how everyone has a role to play in that."
The Law Centres Network will also offer law center staff fully funded Level 3 data apprenticeships. Moreover, it is crafting a "data leaders" course, according to the Gazette.
Last November, chancellor Rachel Reeves boosted the the rate of employers’ national insurance contributions by 1.2 percentage points to 15% from April 6, 2024. The move impacted the law center group South West London Law Centres, which highlighted concerns about its current funding at the time.
