Community legal centres (CLCs) are independent community organisations that provide free advice, casework and legal education to their communities. These centres are an integral part of the justice sector.
Some CLCs are generalist centres that assist people with a range of issues such as family law, family violence, victims of crime compensation, credit and debt, issues and neighbourhood disputes. Others specialise in particular areas of law, such as tenancy, consumer, employment, human rights, elder abuse, environmental and migration law.
Community Legal Services Program
The Community Legal Services Program (CLSP) supports CLCs to provide legal assistance and associated services, increasing access to justice in Victoria. Victoria Legal Aid manages the CLSP and administers funding to CLCs on behalf of the Commonwealth and state governments as well as Victoria Legal Aid's own funding for collaborative services and partnerships with CLCs. In addition to funding available through the CLSP, centres may also receive funding from various other government and non-government sources.
Victoria Legal Aid grants and administers funding to 42 CLCs, including Djirra, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Federation of Community Legal Centres Victoria (FCLC). In 2024–25, we administered $66,819,454 to these centres on behalf of the Victorian and Commonwealth governments, as well as Victoria Legal Aid’s own funding. This funding includes baseline funding and specific purpose funding attached to specific service delivery.
Agreement, policies and reporting templates
The new CLSP agreement for 2025–28 came into effect on 1 July 2025 following a review and updates to reflect government requirements, including the National Access to Justice Partnership 2025–2030. The agreement was reviewed by Victoria Legal Aid and the Department of Justice and Community Safety, in consultation with a working group of CLCs and the Federation of CLCs Victoria. Improvements to the agreement and supporting documents and templates were made based on the changes proposed by CLCs. This included clarifying service standards and streamlining reporting requirements. This review followed the sector consultation and review of the previous agreement in the CLSP Reform Project 2017–22.
For organisations receiving funding via the CLSP from 1 July 2025, the CLSP policies are set out in:
The reporting templates are:
If you have any questions or accessibility issues with these documents please contact our CLC Funding and Development Program via clcfdp@vla.vic.gov.au
Reform project
In 2017, we initiated a review of the CLSP to ensure it aligned with current expectations regarding the planning and delivery of legal services and accountability for expenditure of public money. Based on CLC’s feedback, we developed a new service agreement and guidance documents, which embedded funding principles from 1 July 2020. Victoria Legal Aid supported centres throughout the CLSP Agreement 2020–25 to adapt to new processes and to meet the CLSP requirements.
Read more about the CLSP Reform Project.
Yearly reports
This report summarises the impact of the CLSP in the 2024–25 financial year, as recorded in CLCs’ service data and progress reports.
Using CLSP funding, CLCs delivered 142,225 services (including referrals) for 54,475 people in 2024–25. CLCs support clients and community members experiencing disadvantage to access justice; providing a wide range of community-based and client-centred legal and related services across the state, particularly in the areas of family violence, family law, and civil law.
More information
For more information about the CLSP, email clcfdp@vla.vic.gov.au.
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