Help sought in improving guidance on collecting equality data

We ask you to collect equality data from your clients. Currently, we receive a response to the equality questions in a third of applications: a big increase on 4% a few years ago.

However, only 10% are fully completed.

We will shortly be contacting firms with high equality data collection rates to hear about their experience of gathering this information from their clients.

This will help us to find examples of best practice that we can use to further improve our published guidance aimed at helping you collect equality data.

Collecting data about legal aid clients is part of our duty as a listed public authority working under the Equality Act 2010 (Scotland) (Specific Duties) Regulations 2012, as well as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024.

Collected equality data then becomes important evidence that we can use to highlight issues about the operation of legal aid and to advise the Scottish Government about the reform of legal aid.

We have published guidance on how to collect equality data from your clients.

It is available on our website: Collecting equality data: guidance for solicitors delivering legal aid.

We hope that you find it useful.

We will be contacting firms with high disclosure rates to hear about their experience of gathering equality data from their clients and to find examples of best practice.

Our findings will be used to enhance the current guidance.

Please contact equalities@slab.org.uk if you have any questions.