Our Corporate Plan 2024–25 outlines our priorities for the year, our performance targets and annual budget, as well as our strategic advocacy priorities.
This plan aligns to our Strategy 26 and our Outcomes Framework.
Over the next 12 months, we will be concentrating on activities to achieve our purpose to make a difference for clients and the community, supporting the coordination of a strong and dynamic legal assistance sector, and working with partners to create fairer laws and systems.
Our 2024–25 priorities
Clients have increased access to justice
- Pilot an integrated remand service in the Bail and Remand Court to better meet the legal and non-legal needs of people facing first remand.
- Embed and expand the Independent Family Advocacy and Support and Help Before Court services.
- Establish new services in Victoria’s north-east, in the Ovens Murray region, to meet unmet demand and strengthen the ‘mixed model’.
- Review and update our service delivery model in the Assessment and Referral Courts (ARC) across the state and expand ARC services to Dandenong, Sunshine, and Shepparton Magistrates’ Courts.
- Work with sector partners to expand our migration legal assistance services for people appealing permanent protection visa decisions (merit review to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and judicial review to the federal courts).
- Work with the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and Djirra to create and implement a First Nations Helpline for community, and a cultural capability framework for practitioners.
Improved legal understanding in the community
- Modernise our Legal Help service to ensure it provides accessible client-centred services as it continues to grow and develop new ways to assist people.
Collaborative and coordinated legal assistance sector
- Complete a targeted review of criminal and family law fees and implement initial changes.
- Collaborate with Legal Aid Commissions and the legal assistance sector on a new national funding agreement, and other sector reform opportunities.
- Work with sector partners on the specialist Victims Legal Service, including transitioning to the Financial Assistance Scheme.
Fairer laws and systems
We work to achieve this outcome through our strategic advocacy priorities.
Effective and sustainable Victoria Legal Aid
- Develop a diversity, equity and inclusion strategy that takes an intersectional approach to improving how our staff and our clients experience VLA and the broader sector.
- Implement a psychosocial wellbeing framework to ensure staff are supported and psychosocial risks are identified, assessed and managed.
- Work with the Department of Justice and Community Safety and the Victorian Government to develop a sector-wide demand-based funding model.
- Enhance rostering and payroll systems to better cater for shiftwork in legal and non-legal services and commence work to introduce a new human resource information system.
- Develop a new grants management system to improve the partner and staff experience when accessing VLA services.
Read our Corporate plan 2024–25
Updated