FIAP

Overview

The Frontline Immigration Advice project (FIAP) was introduced in 2016 as a response to drastic changes in Legal Aid provision in the UK that were enforced by major policy changes. The FIAP aims to widen early access to free, good quality and appropriately regulated legal advice for migrants and refugees in order to understand their options and make informed decisions about their futures.

The FIAP introduces a new model of community-based legal advice provision that involves strategic work with frontline organisations to strengthen their service capability to provide immigration advice, tailored to their specific context and needs, and linking them with immigration advice practice networks to sustain their provision of this service. As part of this, the FIAP also includes a professional development programme for practitioners in the charitable sector (i.e. caseworkers, advisors, volunteers) that builds upon the possibilities offered by online technologies.

The evaluation of the Frontline Immigration Advice Project (FIAP) will demonstrate the impact and development options of the FIAP and will provide strategic insight to Refugee Action. The aims of the evaluation are as follows:

• To assess the FIAP’s online provision and provide short-term development options for the FIAP programme, by considering the wider Community-based Legal Advice context within which the FIAP is operating.
• To provide baseline data on existing provision of immigration legal advice to vulnerable people in the UK.
• To assess the impact of the FIAP on advisors and their organisations.
• To identify tools and systems to support access to quality immigration advice through a robust monitoring and evaluation framework.
• To provide concise and informative insight reports to Refugee Action, with evidence-based indications of successes, issues and lessons learnt.
• To provide recommendations to Refugee Action on how to embed and deliver high-quality services that are scalable and sustainable in an environment of reduced funding.