Cost of legal aid in Scotland drops for the first time in over 10 years

17 November 1999

Legal aid payments in Scotland in 1998/99 have dropped for the first time in over 10 years - by almost 5% to £138 million ( 1997/98 - £145m). Jean Couper, Chairman of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, today presented details of legal aid expenditure in Scotland at the launch of the Board's Annual Report for 1998/99.

The Board collected £9 million in contributions, expenses and amounts recovered from assisted persons following the successful outcome of their cases, so the net cost to the taxpayer was £129 million (1997/98 - £136.1m). The cost of administering the legal aid system also reduced slightly to £7.6 million (1997/98 - £7.7m) and the Board made improvements against its performance targets in almost all areas.

Jean Couper stated that the drop of £7 million in legal aid payments was primarily due to the continuing reduction in the numbers of civil and criminal applications. The number of summary criminal legal aid applications dropped in 1998/99 by over 6% to 64,156 and civil legal aid applications fell by 8% to 23,890.

“The number of legal aid applications received has been falling for a few years but this is the first year that the amount paid out of the Legal Aid Fund has fallen. It is difficult to say exactly why the number of applications is decreasing but possible reasons for the drop in summary criminal applications could be the introduction of fixed penalties and the use of fiscal fines. We propose to undertake further research into the reasons behind the reduction in applications,” Mrs Couper said.

Criminal legal aid continues to account for more than half of legal aid payments at £75.85 million (1997/98 - £82.11m), with civil at £32.09m (£34.31m), advice and assistance at £28.46m (£27m) and children £1.72m (£1.64m). Average case costs for criminal legal aid have dropped slightly from £1,073 to £1,066 but civil case costs have continued to rise from £1,685 to £1,764, and advice and assistance rose from £99 to £103.

During 1998/99 the Board has played a key role in shaping and implementing a number of major developments in the legal aid system.

The Code of Practice in relation to criminal legal assistance came into effect on 1 October 1998. This means that solicitors must show that they comply with the standards set out in the Code before they can be registered to provide criminal legal assistance. Currently 745 firms are registered.

Also on 1 October 1998, the Public Defence Solicitors’ Office opened in Edinburgh as a five year pilot scheme, with an independent report to the Scottish Parliament after three years.

The Board successfully implemented the Government’s system of fixed payments for summary criminal legal aid work, which took effect from April 1999. Fixed payment accounts now make up around 50% of summary criminal legal aid accounts.

A number of the Board’s proposals for reform of the civil legal aid system were included in the Government’s consultation paper Access to Justice Beyond the Year 2000. The Board made a positive response to this paper and continues to press for a range of new initiatives such as a Code of Practice for civil legal aid and direct funding of employed solicitors.

“Looking to the future, the Board is determined to further improve our service. In particular we are reviewing our systems and procedures for dealing with applications, including our decision-making process, to ensure that decisions are consistent and fair. We will also be reviewing our procedures and deployment of resources throughout the Board, to make sure that our targets balance quality and consistency with turnaround times. We value the views of the public and the profession on how we can improve the service they receive, and we shall be holding a series of public meetings around the country to get their opinions first hand,” Mrs Couper said.

Mrs Couper continued, “The past year has seen significant changes in the provision of legal aid in Scotland and the Board has made a major contribution to the development and delivery of these policy initiatives, which we believe will provide increased value for money and improve the quality of service provided by the Board and by solicitors for legal aid applicants. The Board has an important role to play in seeking new and innovative ways of ensuring the legal aid system meets the needs of the people of Scotland. We look forward to working with the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Parliament and others involved in the justice system to achieve this objective.

“The early part of the current financial year saw significant changes in the Board’s senior management team. I am, however, pleased that we now have a skilled and focussed executive team working under the leadership of Lindsay Montgomery, who took up post as Chief Executive on 1 July. We also experienced a significant slowdown in the payment of criminal legal aid accounts. The backlog of payments to solicitors has now been cleared and an improved payment process is in operation for criminal legal aid accounts. We will continue to work closely with the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates to improve our service and the provision of legally aided assistance to those who require it,” Mrs Couper stated.

Notes to editors

The Scottish Legal Aid Board is a non-departmental public body which assesses legal aid applications and scrutinises and pays accounts submitted by solicitors and advocates. It also provides advice to Scottish Ministers on legal aid matters.

For further information please contact: Charlotte Townsend, Communications Project Officer, the Scottish Legal Aid Board  (0131 226 7061) .