On this Page

The Public Purpose Fund (PPF) is a Victorian statutory fund established by the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (Vic). Its primary function is to help meet the costs of regulating the legal profession in Victoria, while also providing funding for several other purposes that benefit the general public and consumers of legal services in particular, such as legal aid and community legal services.

The Victorian Legal Services Board (the Board) is responsible for the administration of the PPF.

What is the PPF used for?

The primary purpose of the PPF is to generate sufficient income to help pay for the regulation of the legal profession as well as to provide an ongoing stream of funding support for a range of other legal bodies and programs. The legislation specifies the different bodies and activities that may receive funds from the PPF, which is discussed in more detail on this webpage. All funding allocations are included in an annual budget approved by the Victorian Attorney-General. Details of the amounts allocated each year are listed in the Board’s annual reports.

Where does the money come from?

Lawyers and approved barristers’ clerks hold money in trust on behalf of their clients. The funds held in trust generate interest which is paid into the PPF. This provides one major income stream of the PPF. A proportion of the funds in trust accounts may also be invested by the Board to provide additional income. Other sources of income are the annual fees paid by lawyers for their practising certificates, and any fines imposed on lawyers following disciplinary action taken against them in the courts.

A diagram of how the money is received by the PPF and spent from the PPF’s different accounts is at the bottom of the page.

The cyclical nature of the financial markets affects the financial returns available for the PPF’s beneficiaries each year. The variations may result in smaller amounts being available in some years for new allocations or to maintain existing allocations.

PPF expenditure themes

There are three main themes that guide the allocations made from the PPF:

1. Regulation
2. Access to justice
3. System improvement.

Regulation

This group of allocations captures the costs of regulating the legal profession in Victoria.  It includes the costs of:

• the Board
• the Legal Services Commissioner
• the Victorian Legal Admissions Board, by supplementing revenue obtained from admission fees
• the Legal Practice List of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
• Victoria’s contribution to the cost of the Uniform Law Framework, which provides the overall regulatory structure for the jurisdictions that use the Uniform Law to regulate their legal professions. Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia are the current members of the Uniform Law scheme
• Fidelity Fund costs, if the Fidelity Fund is unable to satisfy claims or is likely to become insolvent. The Fidelity Fund is a separate fund that provides compensation for clients whose lawyers have stolen or misappropriated money that was deposited with them in relation to the provision of legal services, and
• other miscellaneous regulatory functions, such as the costs of external interveners in legal practices, judgments against the Board or Commissioner, and auditing.

The Board and Commissioner’s costs include the costs of any regulatory activities undertaken by the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar under delegation from the Board or Commissioner.

Access to justice

Our Access to justice (A2J) funding aims to boost services for those who can’t afford legal advice and representation, and to develop more effective ways to help those who are especially disadvantaged or marginalised. Read the Access to Justice Policy Statement.

The statutory funding objectives that fall within the A2J category are:

• Victoria Legal Aid
• innovative improvements to access to justice, and
• allocations to the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar Council for programs to improve the quality of legal services or public access to legal services provided by law practices.

The largest single annual allocation from the PPF is made to Victoria Legal Aid. This funding is a significant contribution to the annual costs of delivering legal aid to the Victorian community.

Other allocations that support A2J objectives are made under the Board’s Grants Strategy, which focuses on three goals:

• Accessible legal services
• Holistic and diversionary responses
• Fairer laws and processes.

We are committed to improving access to justice for Victorians through targeted funding that helps meet these goals.

The Grants Strategy is organised around two funding streams:

• Funding Stream 1, which is project-based and aligns with specific themes and priorities set by the Board.  This stream focuses on providing individual grants for one-off projects.
• Funding Stream 2, which focuses on supporting organisations for up to five years who have demonstrated capability and capacity in their work and can play a leadership role in the justice sector.

Many of the recipients of discretionary grants are community legal centres. Programs that receive funding are carefully monitored and their outcomes evaluated to ensure the grant recipients have met their stated objectives.

For more information, see our Grants program page.

System improvement

The Board is also empowered to support wider improvements in the justice system’s operation. The statutory funding objectives that fall within the system improvement category are:

• the Victorian Law Reform Commission and law reform activities more generally
• legal education
• judicial education
• legal research
• continuing professional development programs and other programs aimed at improving the quality of legal services operated by the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar, and
• any purpose relating to the legal profession or the law that the Board considers appropriate.

The Board uses these funding powers to support organisations and activities that improve the justice system’s capability, such as by maintaining professional standards, developing new laws and policies, improving data, information and knowledge about the justice system, or developing innovative solutions to new and existing challenges.

The Board focuses on the parts of the justice system for which the Victorian Attorney-General is responsible. The Attorney-General has ministerial responsibility for human rights, the courts, the regulation of lawyers, legal assistance for those who are unable to afford their own legal representation, and a wide range of civil and criminal justice laws, including police investigative powers and sentencing law.

How the Board makes decisions about the PPF

The Board makes decisions about allocations from the PPF on the basis that they must be within the limits of the Victorian legislation and must align with the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner’s (VLSB+C) vision, goals and strategies. These are found in policies and plans such as its Corporate Plan, Grants Strategy, Access to Justice policy and relevant financial and risk management frameworks.

The amount of funding in any year is dependent on the amount available in the PPF for allocation. All allocations are subject to approval by the Victorian Attorney-General.

The Board’s priorities are:

1. Regulatory costs incurred by the VLSB+C and other regulatory bodies
2. Victoria Legal Aid and the Victorian Law Reform Commission, as statutorily prescribed funding recipients that support access to justice and improve the operation of the justice system
3. Other organisations and activities that promote access to justice or improve the justice system’s capability, such as community legal centres, the Victoria Law Foundation and the Sentencing Advisory Council.

The Board gives additional weighting to proposals from First Nations organisations in recognition of the role that the justice system played in the dispossession of First Nations people, the damage subsequently inflicted on their communities, and the over-representation of First Nations people in the justice system.

Allocations are prioritised for organisations and activities within the Attorney-General’s portfolio, although collaboration with bodies outside the portfolio is possible.  The Board also takes into account other sources of funding that might be available to an applicant body.

Applications for grants funding are considered under our Grants Strategy.

Allocations from the PPF are subject to the Board’s monitoring and evaluation requirements to ensure that the anticipated benefits of the funding are being delivered.