How to apply

How to apply

If you wish to make an application to us for financial assistance, please read the following guidance on how to do so. We appreciate that, if you have reached this stage, you consider your need to be significant and you are likely to be anxious and worried. We encourage you however to carefully read the following points and consider them when making your application to us. This is to enable us to review your application thoroughly and fairly against our criteria and to avoid our having to contact you for further information which may make the process of reviewing your application longer than absolutely necessary.

To consider your application, we ask a number of questions, some you will consider to be personal. We appreciate that this can be difficult and feel intrusive, however it is imperative that the Trustees are aware of all of the facts surrounding your application in order to allow us to make an informed decision. All Trustees must abide by our Code of Conduct, a copy of which is available on request from the Secretary to the Fund. We are very conscious of confidentiality, particularly in a sector as small and intricately connected as ours, and please rest assured that any information you supply to us will only be shared as necessary and will be treated with absolute discretion.

To qualify to apply to this charity you must either be:

• Employed by, or recently employed by a barristers chambers or a barrister
• Self-employed and engaged (or recently have been) as a contractor directly by a barristers chambers or a barrister which makes up  the majority of your income
• A spouse/partner/dependent of an individual who is or has recently met either of the above criteria

It does not matter which role you have undertaken within this sector, simply that you can demonstrate that you have done so. It should be noted that we will take length of service in the sector into account when considering applications.

We will consider your application carefully, and ask you to demonstrate, through the questions in our application form, that you are experiencing significant financial difficulties, that you are deserving of financial assistance and that you are approaching us as a last resort. Please ensure you supply all of the information requested clearly and concisely for ease of assessment. We will also ask you to quantify the sum you are requesting. We are not able to do this for you – this is for you to judge and it is our expectation that you will quantify how you plan to use the funds if they are granted. We reserve the right to request further evidence or information prior to completing our assessment of your application. Please note that we only consider grants of lump sums, and not ongoing regular income/grants.

Please ensure you read our Data Protection Statement at the conclusion of the Application Form, which explains how we use the information you supply to us.

We also request that you complete our Equality and Diversity Monitoring Questionnaire. This document is anonymised, and will not be linked to your application. On receipt, this will be sent to our Data Protection and Diversity Officer. The form explains how the data is used. If you do not return this form, it will not have any detrimental impact on your application to us.

Application Form

Equality and Diversity Form

Once you have completed the above forms, please send them to our Secretary, marked Private and Confidential, at:

Gary Brown (Secretary to the Fund) – gbrown@3tg.co.uk

If you require any reasonable adjustments to the application process, or require a blank copy of the form to be sent to you in hard copy, please contact the Secretary who will arrange this for you.