Criminal legal aid - applicants and assisted persons

Our service standards for 2008-2009

Our service standards for applicants for criminal legal aid and assisted persons tell you the level of service you can expect from us, including how long it will take us to do things.

We work hard to meet our service standards, but accept that there will be circumstances when we are unable to do so. If this happens with your case, we will tell you why we are unable to meet our standards and when you can expect us to carry out the work.

If you feel that we have not done something within the timescale we have set and we have not written to you to explain why, please contact our Criminal Applications Department on 0131 226 7061 extension 684.

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 will be introducing new Online services in 2008-2009 to allow applications and accounts to be processed electronically. Online services will have different service standards, with faster timescales.

Service standards

Our commitment to you

• We will deal with your application in a timely, accurate and fair manner.
  
  
• We will treat you with courtesy and respect your right to confidentiality.

Your application

• Where we receive a summary case application which contains the necessary information to allow us to make a decision we will do so within 10 days of receiving the application, or 5 days where it is made online. If we refuse your application, we will tell you and your solicitor our reasons for that decision. If we need further information from you or your solicitor to allow us to make an informed decision then the period during which we are waiting for a response or information will not count against the 10 day period.
  
  
• If we refuse your application, you can ask us to review that decision. We will do that and tell you and your solicitor the result within 9 days, or 5 days where it is made online. If we still decide to refuse the application we will tell you and your solicitor our reasons for that decision.
  
  
• If you are granted legal aid and your solicitor then asks us to agree to him/her employing counsel or expert witnesses or carrying out work of an unusual nature, or likely to involve unusually large expenditure, we will tell your solicitor our decision within 6 days, or 5 days where it is made online.
  
  
• If your solicitor asks us to reconsider our decision about a request for authorisation for unusual work or costs we will do so and tell him/her the result within 9 days, or 5 days where it is made online.
  
  

• If you apply for legal aid for an appeal in court, we will tell you and your solicitor our decision within 7 days, or 5 days where it is made online. If we refuse a request for legal aid for an appeal we will tell you and your solicitor our reasons for that decision.

• If we receive an application for you to change the solicitor acting for you we will tell both the old and the new solicitor our decision within 6 days, or 5 days where it is made online.
  
  

• If your solicitor applies for legal aid under the special urgency rules, we will tell him/her our decision within 3 days, or 2 days where it is made online.

• If your solicitor applies for legal aid under the exception cases rules, we will tell him/her our decision within 5 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 close of business 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 further 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.

• All time periods begin on the date we receive the properly completed application and end on the date we tell you or your solicitor our decision (by letter, fax, telephone or other appropriate means).

• A decision on an application is considered to have been made if we have told you our decision to either grant or refuse legal aid. If we need further information from you or your solicitor to allow us to make an informed decision, then the period during which we are waiting for a response or information from you will not count against the 10 day period.