Suspension of civil legal aid: relevant scenarios and impact

Regulation 29 of the Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) Regulations 2002 gives us power to suspend legal aid for up to 90 days in certain circumstances:

• When your client is in arrears of contribution.
• Where your client has not provided necessary information or documents .
• Where, following a re-assessment of your client’s financial circumstances it has been found that they have income or capital that exceed the upper limits and, as a result we are considering the termination of the grant of legal aid.
• When we have to consider whether, based on information received, legal aid should be terminated because your client no longer has probable cause.
• Because your client has made an untrue statement to us or has failed to disclose information.

During any period of suspension legal aid is not available. Work you do during a suspension cannot be charged under legal aid, even if legal aid is again made available after the period of suspension.