Undue hardship test in summary criminal legal aid applications

After consideration of the financial circumstances of your client, we must be satisfied that the expenses of the case cannot be met without undue hardship to your client or their dependants (Section 24(1)(a) of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986).

In applying this test, we must receive full information about your client’s own financial situation and the case against them.

Unlike advice and assistance, we do not combine your client and their spouse or partner’s finances in the financial assessment. We use the information to share the cost of outgoings where the spouse or partner is in receipt of income above the current limit.

Assessing disposable income

In this section

Financial eligibility for summary criminal legal aid

Assessing disposable income

Find out how we assess disposable income and what outgoings can be included.

Financial eligibility for summary criminal legal aid

Changes in financial circumstances

Find out the standard conditions attached to grants of legal aid and our power to terminate if your client's finances change.

Financial eligibility for summary criminal legal aid

Assessing disposable capital

Find out what we consider when assessing disposable capital and what we include and exclude in our calculations.