| Legal
aid in a changing world
Research
into the reduction in civil legal aid applications in Scotland between
1992 and 2001.
About
the research
This research
was published in December 2001. The Board has been concerned to establish
the reasons behind the significant decrease in the volume of applications
for civil legal aid. Applications are currently at their lowest level
in almost twenty years - 21,018 in 2000/2001. This is around 15,000 lower
than their peak year of 1992/93. The Board undertook research to try to
explain this change.
The research
findings suggest that:
- the fall
in applications for civil legal aid is due primarily to external changes
in the way dispute resolution is conducted, including a reduction in
court business, particularly in family and matrimonial proceedings
- although
overall financial eligibility has changed little, the 1993 eligibility
changes moved a substantial number of people from being eligible with
no contribution into contributory eligibility. The level of contributions
also increased. These changes did have a significant effect on the number
of applications in the following two years. Even so, over the period
from 1992/93 to 2000/01 as a whole, the impact of changes in eligibility
is outweighed by that of external changes. In particular, the impact
of changes in eligibility subsequent to those made in 1993 has been
relatively minor.
- overall
numbers of solicitors' outlets - 1041 outlets in 2000/1 - are higher
than in 1992, although there has been some reduction over the past three
years. This, on the face of it, would not therefore explain a reduction
in numbers of applications.
Nevertheless,
the Board is concerned that the system can make access to civil legal
aid more difficult for certain groups. The Board is continuing to improve
the system to remove as many barriers as possible and it will undertake
further research to identify potential problem areas.
A follow
up research study, "Distribution of the supply of legal
aid in Scotland" was published in December 2002. Find
out more about this research.
Find out
more
You can download of view the following in Adobe Acrobat pdf format:
Alternatively, if you wish to request these publications in print format,
please send us an email with
your request and contact details.
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