New streamlined policy on criminal Interests of Justice test to go live
18 March 2021
A simplified approach to the assessment of the IoJ test for summary criminal legal assistance and ABWOR will go live on Monday 22 March 2021
Civil
Review leads to improved and accessible letters for civil applicants and opponents
18 March 2021
The phased introduction of letters with improved accessibility features will start being sent to applicants and opponents from 22 March.
Criminal
New regulations extend automatic eligibility and improved payment arrangements for police station work to terrorism matters
17 February 2021
See summary of the regulation changes to apply the CJSA arrangements to the 2019 Act and other terrorism matters.
All solicitor updates
Scottish Government launches legal aid resilience fund
10 February 2021
Applications are now invited for Scottish Government's coronavirus (COVID-19) resilience fund for legal aid firms and law centres, worth up to £9 million.
All solicitor updates
Regulations amended to add Windrush Compensation and Scottish Child Payments to assessment disregard list
5 February 2021
Regulations amended to add payments to the list which can be disregarded from the assessment of an applicant's disposable income or capital
Civil
Applicant access to digital Form 2 being piloted
14 January 2021
Information on our pilot stage as we create a secure, digital Form 2 for applicants to use for Civil Financial Assessment.
Legal Aid Online
Amendments to Civ Sol online registration screen
6 January 2021
Details of some changes to the available fields when entering applicant details in the Civ Sol online form
All solicitor updates
Festive period contact details: Accounts Assessment and Finance
23 December 2020
Contact details for solicitors on how to contact accounts assessment and finance teams over the festive period.
All solicitor updates
Legal aid solicitor data on impact of Covid-19 – March to December 2020
18 December 2020
Information on solicitor applications and accounts for the period from beginning of March to early December 2020
Children's
Covid-19: Refreshed CRWIA for the emergency children’s provisions for the hearings system
11 December 2020
A refreshed Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) for the children’s provisions in the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 has been published.
