Scottish Legal Aid Board Online

Advice and assistance recipients

Our service standards for 2008-2009

Most of your contact will be with your solicitor. However, if you need to contact the Board, you are entitled to expect a high standard of service.

We work hard to meet our service standards, but accept that there will be circumstances when we cannot. If you feel that we have not done something within the timescale we have set , please contact us.

If you feel that we have failed to meet any of our other standards or not given the level of service you are entitled to expect, please either access it on our website or contact our Communications Department on 0131 240 1985 who will provide details of our complaints procedure.

There may, however, be some information which we are unable to provide. The nature of the work we do means that we are often entrusted with sensitive information - for example, the financial circumstances of an applicant for legal aid or details about his or her case. Under section 34 of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 we are not allowed to pass on details given to us under the Act, including in connection with an application (whether by the applicant or someone else) to anyone else unless one of the exceptions to this rule applies, such as that the person who gave us the information has given his/her permission to the disclosure. It is a criminal offence for a member of our staff to disclose information in breach of this section.

We have introduced new Online services to allow applications and accounts to be processed electronically. Online services have different service standards, with faster timescales.

Service standards

Our commitment to you

We will treat you with courtesy and respect your right to confidentiality.

The grant of advice and assistance

If your solicitor tells us that he/she has granted you advice and assistance, we will register that notification within 7 days, or 3 days where it is made online.
If your solicitor applies for an increase in authorised expenditure using a template, we will tell him/her our decision within 5 days, or 2 days where it is made online.
If your solicitor applies for an increase in authorised expenditure that does not use a template, we will tell him/her our decision within 7 days, or 4 days where it is made online.
If your solicitor asks us to reconsider a decision we will do so and tell your solicitor the result within 7 days, or 5 days where it is made online.

Communicating with you

We will acknowledge your letters within 7 days of receiving them and give you a full written reply within 28 days. If, in exceptional circumstances, we are unable to reply fully in 28 days, we will tell you the reason for this and when we will be able to do so.
If you telephone us, we will answer your call promptly. If we are unable to respond immediately to your request for information, we will call you back no later than the next working day.
If you make a complaint about the service we have provided, we will investigate the complaint and reply within 28 days.
If you make an appointment and come to our office in person, we will see you promptly. If we are unable to give a full response to any query during the course of the meeting, we will arrange a date for a meeting or for someone to write to you within 28 days of your visit or for someone to telephone you within 7 days.
If you do not have an appointment and come to our office in person, we will take details of your query within 15 minutes of your arrival and arrange a date for a further meeting or for someone to write to you within 28 days of your visit or for someone to telephone you within 7 days.
Where the matter is very urgent and you tell us, we will make sure we respond as soon as we can and that we use the most appropriate method of communication (e.g. telephone, fax etc.).
Whether you write, telephone or visit our offices, you will always be treated with courtesy and respect. We will tell you our names so that you know who you have been dealing with.
When we can supply the information you ask for, we will do so. If we cannot - perhaps because of someone's right to confidentiality - we will explain this to you.
We will respect your right to confidentiality.

Notes

All references to days mean calendar days, excluding public holidays.