Legal experts, advocating protection Refugee and Migrant Justice
Formerly the Refugee Legal Centre Lawyers defending human rights
Save RMJ Campaign
  • Save RMJ Campaign

The administrators had a meeting with the Legal Services Commission at 12.00 today (June 16).

The Legal Services Commission confirmed that the Minister’s decision was final and that, despite any short term cost to them, there would be no change to the current funding arrangements.

They were asked to help the organisation with rents so that it could have more time to close files down and help clients find new representatives but this was declined.

The administration papers were filed in court on 16th June.

Background to the campaign
Leaders of charities including Amnesty International, Liberty, and Barnado’s have joined faith leaders and senior legal and human rights experts in a written appeal to save Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) from closure. You can see a full list of our supporters here : if you would like to join them, please get in touch.

Refugee and Migrant Justice is facing possible closure because of bureaucratic rules that result in the Government not paying promptly for asylum and immigration legal work.

No charity can be expected to wait many months, even years for payment. RMJ is not asking for extra money, just for the Legal Services Commission to pay us the money it owes .

What this means
If RMJ is forced to close, more than 10,000 asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants will be left without legal assistance. That includes almost 900 children as well as victims of trafficking, torture and armed conflict.  Lives will be put at risk and there are likely to be many more miscarriages of justice – which, sadly, are already common on asylum.

RMJ has helped more than 110,000 people since starting work in 1992. Read some of their stories here

How you can help
We have produced a campaign leaflet which has more information about the issues. You can find it here .

Write to:
We have produced a letter template which can be copied and pasted into an email or document in 5 minutes. It can be found here . Please send it to one or all of the people below, asking them to get the Legal Services Commission to pay RMJ the money it is owed.

The Secretary of State for Justice, Kenneth Clarke MP at

Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London SW1H 0AL
Or email ,  marked for the attention of Kenneth Clarke MP

Please copy this letter to The Minister for Immigration, Damian Green MP by writing to

You may also like to copy the letter to your local MP: Find out who they are here .

Forward this page, the handout, and the letter to your friends, family, and anyone else you think might be able to help.

Join the campaign on and

With your help, RMJ will be able to continue offering asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants the legal advice and representation they so desperately need.

If you would like any information about the campaign, or would like to know how you can help, please get in touch with Kathleen Commons at  , , or .