The Commissioner can assist with the bringing of legal cases by providing legal funding to practitioners. The Commissioner has a dedicated, yet limited, budget to allow her to fund legal proceedings in certain circumstances. Practitioners can apply to the Legal and Investigations Department for funding for a case which concerns children’s rights.
Cases can only be funded if they meet the relevant legal funding criteria as set out in the legislation and it must be evidenced that all other potential sources of funding have been exhausted. Any such requests should be made in writing with a full synopsis of the case, supporting documentation to include information regarding approaches to other funders. This is then passed to the Legal Funding Committee for consideration.
The Committee then decides based on the criteria whether the Commissioner will fund or part fund the case and the practitioner shall be notified accordingly. If the application is unsuccessful there is an appeal to the Commissioner directly.