Corporate and Business Plans

Please see below for the full downloadable report.

We started a programme of transformation with our 2020-23 corporate plan, built on transforming how we manage legal aid and being prepared for the future.

Our new plan has a continued focus on making legal assistance available to those eligible for it while advising ministers on what we hope is a reformed system of legal aid post 2026.

Our advice will be driven by our vision, founded not on our own organisational interests but on the interests of the public and in support of a just, safe and resilient Scotland.

This objective is about maintaining and delivering high quality systems, guidance, policies and procedures. The interests of our customers, fairness, and good governance practice will drive this. Work will be based on improving evidence and insight into our customers’ needs and how best to meet them.

How we will deliver this objective

• Develop and launch a Customer Insight Strategy that will help us gain a better understanding of what customers want and expect from their interactions with us, and the issues they face when doing so
• Update our internal systems to create more accessible and user friendly processes that enable quicker processing of decisions
• Continue to review all of our applications and accounts decision making through our Guidance on the Administration of Legal Assistance project, including finalising all remaining decision-makers’ guidance on accounts and certain decisions around financial assessment.

How we will measure our success

• Future policy, procedures and performance management draw on insight obtained through our Customer Insight Strategy
• Staff and customer feedback is reflected in the changes we make
• The speed, accuracy and consistency of our administrative decision making is in line with our published benchmarks.

This objective is about developing and delivering our Client Legal Services business plans, and targeted funding programmes as directed by Scottish Ministers.

How we will deliver this objective

• Review the delivery models and operation of our client legal services to ensure they are aligned with our strategic priorities
• Reflect our client groups’ needs and respond to changes in our operating environment.

How we will measure our success

• Performance indicators, and feedback from internal and external stakeholders, demonstrates effective delivery and continuous improvement.

This objective is about being a responsible, forward-thinking and supportive employer with high quality people policies, ample development opportunities and skills in planning our workforce.

How we will deliver this objective

• Carry out a review of our pay and grading structures, evaluating all jobs to ensure that our pay and job evaluation systems are used consistently whilst working towards pay coherence with Scottish Government
• Deliver reforms to the SLAB pension scheme in line with the Public Services Pension Reform Act 2013 and, dependent on Scottish Government decisions, consult with the union and staff on reforms
• Develop and deliver a leadership and management development programme, as outlined within our People Strategy, to ensure that our team has the skill sets needed to rise to external challenges and seize the opportunities that come with them.

How we will measure our success

• Staff feedback
• Legal compliance
• Clarity for our staff on future pension arrangements
• Staff performance and engagement metrics.

This objective is about developing and delivering evidence based advice on how a reformed legal aid system could better deliver Scottish Government outcomes by working with others and engaging positively in public debate about the future.

How we will deliver this objective

• Develop and deliver a workforce plan, which will set out how we seek to ensure we have a workforce of the right size and with the right skills to enable us to deliver our corporate objectives, taking account of our Long Term Financial Planning, the Scottish Government’s response to the Legal Aid Review, projected trends in the wider justice system, and our existing business plans and strategies
• Contribute to Scottish Government’s Research Advisory Group on legal aid payments, as the group plans to commission and manage a research project to inform the development of future payment arrangements, and review mechanisms for the delivery of publicly funded legal services
• Contribute to Scottish Government’s planned reforms of legal aid, including potential legislation to reform the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986, which has the potential to change the current system of legal aid, and our role, significantly
• Develop a corporate communications strategy
• Develop a data analytics strategy that will consider how our data tools, structures, storage and analysis can better contribute to the delivery of our corporate objectives.

How we will measure our success

• Staffing structure is aligned with the delivery of our objectives
• Reform process reflects our advice or is otherwise informed by our insight and evidence
• Strategies in place and aligned with delivery of our objectives.