Annual Report and Accounts

The following is a summary of our Annual Report and Accounts for 2025-26.

The chart on page 20 of the Annual Report details cash spent for legal aid, as this is the basis on which funding is received from  Scottish Government.

The total cost of legal assistance between April 2024 and March 2025 was £167 million.
This is a 1% decrease on 2024-25 and an 11% increase on 2023-24.

The decrease has been driven by the 6% fall in criminal expenditure, the largest component of expenditure, which is down to £90 million.

Due to the demand led nature of the Legal Aid Fund, the budget from Scottish Government is not capped. We are allocated an annual budget by Scottish Government, which is adjusted accordingly in line with forecast demand. Scottish Government meets the cost of approved cases, which can vary from year to year depending on demand. SLAB does not control overall demand but is responsible for ensuring that funding is administered effectively, consistently and in line with the statutory framework.

2025-26: Grants of legal assistance

Total grants of legal assistance decreased by 3% to 165,000. This fall was mostly driven by a 5% reduction in criminal grants. Both the civil and children’s areas saw slight rises of 1%.  Family case numbers were level and non-family cases decreased by 1%. Total grants of legal assistance decreased by 3% to 170,000 as post Covid-19 surges subsided. The fall occurred in both civil (down 4%) and criminal (down 3%) legal aid, but children’s legal aid saw a 1% rise in grants.

Civil legal assistance

Civil legal aid applications rose 2%, driven by a 4% increase in adults with incapacity cases. Family case numbers were level and non-family cases decreased by 1%.

Family civil legal aid was level overall but some areas, primarily children focused, have seen increases in the number of grants made.

Civil advice and assistance (A&A) saw a large rise in assistance in homelessness cases. There was also a sizeable increase in judicial review cases.

Criminal legal assistance

In criminal, grants of legal aid for summary procedure cases fell by 6%, reflecting the similarly sized decline in complaints registered by the courts.

Within summary procedure, grants of ABWOR (assistance by way of representation), primarily used for guilty pleas, increased by 30% to 25,500.

Summary Criminal Case Management facilitates earlier resolution of summary cases.

Grants of summary criminal legal aid decreased by 26% to 26,700.

For the more serious allegations, grants of solemn criminal legal aid increased by 4% to 11,500.

Children’s legal assistance

In children’s legal aid, there were slight increases in the levels of children’s A&A and sheriff court grants.

Our Administration budget is distributed across three main Directorates and a central team, including the office of the Principal Legal Advisor, which provides legal support and advice across the organisation.

Our main costs are related to activity in assessing the applications and accounts we receive and corporate services to support the organisation. This includes our own in house technical team to assist with and develop our Legal Aid Online platform as the main interface with solicitors for application and account processing.

As the chart above shows, a significant amount of administrative expenditure (£6.5m) is directed at ensuring legal aid expenditure is in accordance with prevailing statutory provisions, regulations, fee tables and taxation standards.

We have 33 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the applications and accounts operational areas. Details are published on our website in our quarterly SLAB Operational Performance Overview Reports (SOPOR).

Performance for each of these is measured against their own benchmarks. The benchmarks can be adjusted each year according to the aims of the business and the wider operating environment.

The KPIs are designed to promote the timely and effective handling of applications and accounts with an emphasis on “getting it right first time”. A high initial grant rate, or payment in full rate, is of benefit to stakeholders (the legal profession, assisted persons and the justice system) as well as us for improving the efficiency of our administration.

Applications

In applications there are 14 KPIs and the 2025-26 aggregate performance rate remained at 97%.

Three applications benchmarks were made more challenging in 2025-26.

Accounts

In accounts, there are 19 KPIs and the 2025-26 aggregate performance rate fell to 77% (from 85% in 2024-25).

10 accounts benchmarks were made more demanding which, alongside delivery challenges, led to a decline in performance. The accounts teams are investing in cross-training and departmental load-balancing, which will be used to support performance in line with the 2026-27 benchmarks.

We have delivered a Customer Insight Strategy.

We have developed initiatives to improve the quality and consistency of solicitor training and support.

We have been reviewing delivery models for our direct legal services to respond to contextual changes.

We have provided opportunities for careers in legal aid by developing a talent pipeline within our direct legal services.

We have carried out a review of staff performance management.

We are on route to becoming a trauma-informed organisation.

We developed and received Ministerial approval for our 2026-29 Corporate Plan.

We advised Scottish Ministers on legal aid reform.