Every year we lay our annual report before the Scottish Parliament and publish it on our website. The Annual Report and Accounts includes performance and accountability reports as well as the financial statements.

This year we are again publishing a summary on this page of our most recent Annual Report and Accounts, with the full documentation in PDF.

Please see the links below for the full downloadable report, key statistics, profession earnings and the news release.

The previous two years’ reports and documents are also available. Please contact us by email if you are looking for older reports.

2022-23 Annual Report and Accounts

The following is a summary of our Annual Report and Accounts for 2022-23.

2022-23 in Numbers

Annual Report 2022-23 in numbers

2022-23: How the Legal Aid Fund was spent

The chart at page 23 of the Annual Report details cash spend for legal aid, as this is the basis on which funding is received from the Scottish Government. The total cost of legal assistance between April 2022 and March 2023 was £135 million. This was a 14% increase on the previous year and a 36% increase on the pandemic year of 2020-21.

Annual Report Pie chart showing 2022-23 Net expenditure by delivery method

Judicare: Civil Legal Assistance

Civil judicare funding was distributed to support people in the following case types.

Annual Report Pie chart showing 2022-23 Net civil legal assistance expenditure by case type.

There was a 13% increase in net civil legal assistance expenditure on the previous year, with family disputes accounting for 53% of net expenditure. On legal aid there were significant increases in net expenditure for the second year running on contact cases (13%) and residence cases (17%).

In non-family legal aid cases, those involving adults with incapacity represented 10% of all net expenditure with a 23% increase on the previous year.

Judicare: Criminal Legal Assistance

Criminal judicare funding was distributed in the following aid types.

Annual Report Pie chart showing 2022-23 Net criminal legal assistance expenditure by case type.

There was a 16% increase in judicare expenditure on criminal legal assistance compared to the previous year. Expenditure on solemn criminal legal aid rose 16% to £34 million and expenditure on summary criminal legal aid rose 28% to £27 million.

Expenditure was 48% higher than the pandemic year of 2020-21 and a 2% increase on the pre-pandemic year. Assault, sexual offences, and offensive behaviour cases accounted for 54% of all expenditure. These cases also saw significant increases in expenditure on the previous year (20%, 15% and 21% respectively).

Children’s Legal Assistance

Children’s Legal Assistance was distributed in the following aid types.

Annual Report Pie chart showing 2022-23 Net children’s legal assistance expenditure by case type.

Children’s legal assistance was predominantly made up of ABWOR, which is used for solicitors to represent children and adults at a children’s hearing, and legal aid which is used for hearings in the sheriff court should the statement of grounds made at a children’s hearing not be accepted.

2022-23: Administration of Legal Aid

Annual Report Pie chart of SLAB Administration Expenditure 2022-23 (Applications & Accounts £5.2 million, Corporate Services £4.6 million, Policy/Strategy/Research £1.5 million, and Legal Services £0.3 million).

Our administration budget is distributed across three main Directorates and a central team comprising the office of the Principal Legal Advisor which provides legal support and advice across the organisation.

Our main costs are related to activity in assessing the applications and accounts we receive and our corporate services to support the organisation. This includes our own in house technical team to support and develop our Legal Aid Online platform as the main interface with solicitors for application and account processing.

2022-23: Operational performance analysis

To assess performance in applications we use the following key performance indicators (KPIs):

  • time to take the first decision (First decision average duration)
  • the percent of applications we can grant first time (First decision % granted)
  • the level of rework that is required (% First decision with subsequent further work).

The equivalent KPIs in accounts are:

  • time to pay an initial account (Average calendar days to bank)
  • the percent of accounts we pay in full (% paid in full)
  • the level of negotiation that is required (Ratio of negotiations to initial assessments).

Our performance across these indicators, compared to last year, is set out below. The performance figure is presented as the number of months that we either met or bettered the benchmark.

Annual Report Key Performance Indicator (KPI) summary. We met or bettered the benchmark for 16 KPI in 12 months, 2 KPI in 11 months, 3 KPI in 10 months, 5 KPI in 9 months, 1 KPI in 8 months.

Further details on our KPIs are available in the full Annual Report for 2022-23 (pages 30 -33).

Operational performance overview reports for 2022-23 and the previous two years are available on our website.

2022-23: Performance against our Strategic Objectives

Objective 1: Deliver a high quality user focused service

This objective is about building the delivery of our services around an understanding of what applicants for legal assistance need. We are developing specific policies and plans with our users in mind, including applicants, solicitors, and advocates.

Visual of Objective 1 project progress: Refreshing CLAO and PDSO business plans equals deferred and Delivery of the EHRC action plan equals On Track.

Refreshing business plans for PDSO and CLAO
Deferred due to significant changes in the structure and supply of Client Legal Services, as well as resourcing challenges whilst assisting the justice system in dealing with solicitor withdrawals from the delivery of aspects of criminal legal assistance.

Now that the resourcing position is more settled, attention will now focus on reviewing the CLAO, PDSO and SCL delivery models which form part of the new Corporate Business Plan in 2023-24.

Delivery of the EHRC Action Plan
As part of our agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was completed in August 2023, we set out an action plan to further embed equality into our policies and processes across the organisation.

Objective 2: Embed ways of working across the organisation that enhance the quality, consistency and transparency of our decisions and delivery

This objective is about improving the consistency and transparency of our decision making so it will be easier for people to anticipate and understand our decisions.

Visual of Objective 2 project progress: GALA equals On Track, Designing a New Working Environment equals Delivered and Review of people policies equals Delayed.

GALA: Accounts, applications, and financial eligibility
The Guidance on the Administration of Legal Aid (GALA) project involves the review of our decision making on legal aid applications and accounts. The size and complexity of this project requires close management, balancing the need for priority project work and managing business as usual.

We made good progress during the year, with a significant number of outputs delivered and greater consistency across legal aid types to ensure we are clear about the links between what we approve and what we can pay for.

Designing a New Working Environment
After closing the initial phase of the Covid-19 Designing a New Working Environment (DANWE) project with our offices reopening in a safe and timely manner, we moved onto a new phase focused on designing a new working environment to optimise business efficiency, trialing different ways of working and workspaces, and identifying support and technology available to help with collaboration and meetings.

We developed a new flexible working policy, as well as guidance for staff to support choices that sustain business needs, individual wellbeing, and personal preference where possible and appropriate.

Review of people policies
This has been delayed due to resourcing challenges, most notably the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development retiring in October 2022, with replacement starting in December 2022.

We are committed to a full review of policies being carried out in 2023, subsequently moving to a regular review cycle.

Objective 3: Engage with users and delivery partners across the legal aid and justice system to inform good design of our system and services

This objective is about both how we engage with users and delivery partners and how this informs our own decisions about how we deliver our service and the advice we provide to Scottish Government about the future direction of the legal aid system.
 Visual of Objective 3 project progress: Incorporation of UNCRC into Scots Law equals Not delivered, Develop a workforce place equals On Track, Supporting Scottish Government’s follow up to Payment Panel equals On Track and Supporting the development/delivery of Scottish Government’s fee reforms equals Delivered.

Incorporation of the UNCRC into Scots Law
This work could not be progressed in 2021-22 as the Supreme Court ruled in October 2021 that certain parts of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill fell outwith the competence of the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government had intended that the Bill would be reconsidered by the Scottish Parliament by the end of 2022, however, the First Minister’s ‘Vision for Scotland’ – announced in April 2023 – now includes a commitment to pass it by 2026.

Develop a workforce plan
The progress of this work was affected by changes in personnel but now has a renewed focus with a new Director and Head of Human Resources.

Supporting Scottish Government’s follow up to the Payment Panel
The focus of this work was for the Scottish Government to agree a research specification with the Legal Aid Payment and Remuneration Review Development Research Project, which includes membership from the legal profession. We advised Scottish Government on good practice in handling research projects, the data that we can provide and the data that would be needed, what outputs to seek, and general handling and communication issues with our advice well received and accepted throughout the year.

The scope of this work in 2023-24 will change as we take up a role in the Research Advisory Group.

Supporting the development and delivery of Scottish Government’s fee reforms
The Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) (No.2) Regulations 2023 came into force on 29 April 2023. which introduced revised and enhanced payment arrangements in respect of solemn legal aid and summary criminal fixed fees.

Our advisory role on the development and cost of these regulations was well received by Scottish Government and we developed the necessary internal system changes for the fee changes, accompanied by roadshows across the country where details of fee changes were presented to the legal profession.

2022-23 Annual Report and Accounts documents

2022-2023

File Type Size
Solicitor Advocate earnings 2022-23: Top 20 417 KB | 19 October 2023 PDF 417 KB
Solicitor Advocate earnings 2022-23: Alphabetical order 401 KB | 19 October 2023 PDF 401 KB
SLAB Annual Report 2022-23 Appendix 1: Key Statistics 554 KB | 19 October 2023 PDF 554 KB
Firm earnings 2022-23: Top 20 414 KB | 19 October 2023 PDF 414 KB
Advocate earnings 2022-23: Alphabetical order 444 KB | 19 October 2023 PDF 444 KB
Advocate earnings 2022-23: Top 20 160 KB | 19 October 2023 PDF 160 KB
Firm earnings 2022-23: Alphabetical order 464 KB | 19 October 2023 PDF 464 KB
SLAB 2022-23 Annual Report and Accounts 4 MB | 25 October 2023 PDF 4 MB
SLAB Annual Report news release 2022-23 79 KB | 25 October 2023 PDF 79 KB

2021-22 Annual Report and Accounts documents

File Type Size
SLAB 2021-22 Annual Report and Accounts 3 MB | 13 December 2022 PDF 3 MB
SLAB Annual Report news release 2021-22 113 KB | 13 December 2022 PDF 113 KB
SLAB Annual Report 2021-22 Appendix 1: Key Statistics 574 KB | 12 December 2022 PDF 574 KB
Advocate earnings 2021-22 - Alphabetical order 449 KB | 12 December 2022 PDF 449 KB
Advocate earnings 2021-22 - Top 20 413 KB | 12 December 2022 PDF 413 KB
Firm earnings 2021-22 - Alphabetical order 707 KB | 12 December 2022 PDF 707 KB
Firm earnings 2021-22 - Top 20 412 KB | 12 December 2022 PDF 412 KB
Solicitor Advocates Earnings Table 2021-22 - Alphabetical order 422 KB | 12 December 2022 PDF 422 KB
Solicitor Advocates Earnings Table 2021-22 - Top 20 498 KB | 12 December 2022 PDF 498 KB

2020-21 Annual Report and Accounts documents

File Type Size
2020-21 SLAB Annual Report and Accounts 2 MB | 16 December 2021 PDF 2 MB
SLAB Annual Report News Release 2020-21 118 KB | 17 December 2021 PDF 118 KB
SLAB Annual Report 2020-21 - Appendix 1: Key Statistics 94 KB | 16 December 2021 PDF 94 KB
Advocate earnings 2020-21 - Top 20 460 KB | 16 December 2021 PDF 460 KB
Advocate earnings 2020-21 - Alphabetical Order 491 KB | 16 December 2021 PDF 491 KB
Firm earnings 2020-21 - Top 20 413 KB | 16 December 2021 PDF 413 KB
Firm earnings 2020-21 - Alphabetical Order 760 KB | 16 December 2021 PDF 760 KB
Solicitor Advocate earnings 2020-21 - Top 20 554 KB | 16 December 2021 PDF 554 KB
Solicitor Advocate earnings 2020-21 - Alphabetical Order 453 KB | 16 December 2021 PDF 453 KB