LEGAL AID REFORMS BRING IMPROVEMENTS, AS COSTS INCREASE

Wednesday 21 December 2005

Changes to the legal aid system are making it more effective for people who want access to justice, the Scottish Legal Aid Board said today on publication of its annual report for 2004-2005. It says that it further improved its service levels to applicants and the legal profession and made significant progress with the modernisation of the legal aid system.

It reports that 428,821 grants of legal aid were made, which was 3% lower than the previous year. However, the cost to taxpayers of funding legal aid grew 4% last year to £152.4 million, the highest ever level. The rise is mainly because of an increase in the number of grants and costs of criminal legal aid.

Jean Couper, Chairman of the Scottish Legal Aid Board said:

"Legal aid is important. Without it, many people simply wouldn’t be able to get the legal help and advice they need. Last year we received nearly 2,500 legal aid cases applications each working day. Our prompt and accurate decision on whether someone meets the tests for legal aid is an important step in the possible resolution of their problem. That’s why our improved service performance to applicants is important.”

“It is also vital to people seeking legal help that we continue to improve the legal aid system. Legal aid plays a key part in helping the justice system work. We’re playing our part together with our partners in Scottish Ministers’ modernisation of the system. This work improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the legal aid system and also gives the taxpayer the best possible value for money.”

“The achievements of the past year consolidate our previous progress and demonstrate the Board’s capacity to deliver high quality operational services and effective policy development. The reform programme that we face and want to take forward is huge. We’ve made real progress, but looking ahead there is still much more to be done.”

The Strategic Review on the Delivery of Legal Aid, Advice and Information was published in October 2004, and in summer 2005 Ministers ran a consultation “Advice for All.” Jean Couper commented:

“The review has shown the need for greater co-ordination of the supply of and demand for legal services within Scotland. Also highlighted was the need for much more and much better co-ordination between those publicly funded services provided by solicitors, and those provided through local authorities and the advice sector. Overall the Board is very supportive of the recommendations made. Whilst Ministers have not yet decided how to proceed, I believe the Board is well placed to accept and fulfil an enhanced role in delivering Scottish Ministers’ commitment to ensuring appropriate access to justice for those who need it.”

The report explains that the Board's performance is measured against targets for accuracy of decisions and speed of service. These are agreed by Scottish Ministers. In 2004-2005 the Board hit all of its six main performance targets. These targets were set higher than the year before, pushing it to deliver an even better service. The Board also has 48 individual targets. It met or beat 47 of them. These figures show the Board is performing better than ever before.

The report highlights that the last year saw a period of substantial development work. The Board helped with reforms of the High Court that went live in April 2005 and worked with the Faculty of Advocates and the Scottish Executive to develop new feeing arrangements for counsel doing criminal work.

The Board continued to work closely with the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Executive in the development of civil legal aid. The major reform of civil legal aid, which started in October 2003, is now fully operational and the changes were monitored to see where there was any need for further adjustment. With its partners, the Board also developed proposals for the reform of civil advice and assistance and consulted upon them. These reforms will be implemented during 2005-2006.

Jean Couper will retire as Chairman of the Board in March 2006. Looking back, she added:

“I reflect with pride upon the many positive developments in legal aid and upon the improvement in the Board as an organisation to deal with and to work for. Over the years we have forged strong and highly productive working relationships with members of the Law Society of Scotland, Faculty of Advocates, Scottish Executive and many other organisations; they have worked in partnership with us through many complex issues and some difficult times, always focussing on what we could achieve together rather than what we could not.”

Further key information from the Report is attached to this release. The Board's Annual Report 2003-2004 and details of payments made to solicitor firms, advocates and solicitor advocates is available on its website at www.slab.org.uk and from its Communications Department.

Ends

Journalists please contact:

Colin Sim tel (direct) 0131 240 2033, mob 07768 707454 or email simco@slab.org.uk

APPENDIX: KEY FACTS AND FIGURES 2004-2005

COSTS AND VOLUMES OF LEGAL ASSISTANCE

There were 428,821 grants of legal assistance, which is 3% less than in 2003-2004. There were (shown as type, number of grants and percentage change on the previous year):

* Criminal legal assistance: 279,306 grants - 1% fall

* Civil legal assistance: 139,933 grants - 7% fall

* Children's legal assistance and contempt of court: 9,355 grants - unchanged

Legal assistance cost the taxpayer £152.4 million, an increase of 4% or £6.4 million on the previous year. The breakdown was:

* Criminal legal assistance: £109.0 m - 6% increase from £102.5 m - this is a now the highest ever level

* Civil legal assistance: £39.9 m - 1% fall from £40.1 m

* Children's legal assistance and contempt : £3.4 m - 4% increase from £3.3 million

The Board’s administration costs were £11.3 m, 3% more than the previous year.

PAYMENTS MADE

Payments are made for fees charged by solicitors, advocates and solicitor advocates, and for outlays, such as expert reports. Last year expenditure was:

* solicitors fees: £127.3 m - 4% increase from £122.9 m

* advocates and solicitors advocates fees: £18.8 m - 5% increase from £17.9 m

* outlays: £17.6 m - 10% increase from £16.0 m

(These figures are gross expenditure and include VAT. The Board’s website www.slab.org.uk includes the list for payments made to solicitor firms, advocates and solicitor advocates in 2004-2005.)

TRENDS OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS

Over the last five years (2000-2005):

* the number of legal assistance grants has fallen by 4%

* but the cost to the taxpayer has increased by 26%, which is £31.2 million more

* criminal cases cost £29.0m or 36% more than in 2000, with 6% or 16,623 more grants

* civil cases cost just 3% more, but there are 22% or 40,612 fewer grants

* payments to solicitors for fees have grown by 20%, which is £21.0 m more

* advocates and solicitor advocates fees have grown by 76%, an increase of £8.1m

* outlays cost 35% more, a rise of £4.5m

CIVIL LEGAL ASSISTANCE

Civil legal aid

* The number of civil legal aid applications and grants continued to fall. There were 11% fewer grants than in 2003/2004: 10,989. At a net cost of £18.6m, civil legal aid cases cost the same as the year before.

Civil advice and assistance and ABWOR

* People who received civil legal assistance paid back £12.2 million, an increase of 8%. That’s 24% of the total spend on civil legal aid cases.

* There were 128,944 grants of civil advice and assistance and ABWOR, down 7% on 2003/2004. The costs also fell by 1% to £21.3 m.

Immigration

* Grants of advice and assistance for immigration, including general advice on immigration and nationality, such as work permits, grew 16% to 6,257 grants. Costs for these cases also increased by £0.3m to £1.9m.

* Grants of ABWOR for immigration, which is the category for the more extensive work often needed for immigration appeals, fell by 5% to 2,027 grants. The costs of this category of case grew by 3% to £1.6m. This is in contrast to the higher increase seen the previous year.

CRIMINAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE

Criminal advice and assistance and ABWOR

* 152,174 grants were for criminal advice and assistance and ABWOR, down 4% on 2003-2004

* The costs increased by 4% to £12.9m.

Summary criminal legal aid

* There were 80,496 grants for summary criminal legal aid made by the Board and the courts. This was a rise of 5% on the previous year to the highest ever total. Over the last five years the number of grants has gone up by 26%.

* The cost of summary criminal legal aid, was £51.0 m, which was 4% more than the previous year. The increase is because of more cases, as the average cost of the case was almost unchanged at £646.

Solemn criminal legal aid

* 10,967 grants were made by the courts for solemn criminal legal aid (which are cases such as murder, rape and manslaughter). However, for the first time in four years there’s been a drop in these grants: they were down 4% on the previous year.

* The costs were £39.2m for solemn criminal legal aid, up 5% on the previous year. Solemn criminal legal costs have grown by 55% over the past five years and are now at the highest ever level.

Other criminal cases

* There were 2,551 grants for appeals, a drop of 3% on the previous year.

* Duty solicitors made 32,579 appearances for people on criminal matters, which was 5% more than 2003-2004.

* PDSO, the public defence solicitors’ office dealt with 1,565 cases, an increase of 32% on the previous year. This included 54 solemn cases.

* £4.1m was spent on appeals, £0.8m on the PDSO and £1.0m on the duty solicitor scheme.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Taxpayers want to know that every pound of public money invested in legal aid is spent properly and gives best value. This is a vital part of the Board's work.

The Board assesses applications to ensure that only those who qualify get legal aid, and it will only authorise and pay accounts for work that is necessary for the case. It has also introduced a range of measures to cut bureaucracy in legal aid and to prevent fraud. Through the work of its investigations team last year:

* Applicants - it saved over £845,000, refused 70 applications and stopped legal aid in 194 cases. The Board also referred 2 cases to the procurator fiscal for possible prosecution.

* Solicitors – the Board referred 1 formal compliant to the Law Society of Scotland, the regulatory body for solicitors, and 2 cases to the police and procurator fiscal.

ENDS

JOURNALISTS PLEASE CONTACT:

Colin Sim tel (direct) 0131 240 2033, or email simco@slab.org.uk

Notes for editors

1. The Board’s Annual Report and information on payments made to all firms of solicitors, advocates and solicitor advocates is available on the Board's website, www.slab.org.uk

2. Legal aid allows people who would not otherwise be able to afford it to get help for their legal problems. Legal aid and advice and assistance can only be accessed through a solicitor. The Board’s mission is to promote the development and delivery of appropriate access to quality legal assistance for those eligible, in a cost-effective manner.

3. For more information, visit the Board's website www.slab.org.uk