SLAB reports rise in legal aid grants
1 Oct 07
Scottish Legal Aid Board publishes annual report for 2006-07
More than 400,000 legal aid grants were made in 2006-07 at a cost to the taxpayer of £150.2 million.
The figures are revealed in the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s annual report published today. The total spend is an increase of 2% or £2.3 million, which follows a 4% (£4.6 million) fall last year. The rise is mainly due to higher costs for criminal legal aid, up by 3% to £92.7 million.
There was also a 5% increase in the cost of civil legal aid to £19.8 million – the first rise for three years. The number of grants increased by 3% to 11,323, reversing the falls seen in previous years. The Board also reports a 12% increase in grants by the courts for children's legal aid.
More prosecutions
The increase in criminal costs is due to higher volumes of both summary and solemn cases, and a greater number of high cost solemn cases. Grants of summary criminal legal aid increased 3% to 82,686, and grants by the courts for solemn criminal legal aid were up by 18% to 13,898.
The 408,654 grants of legal assistance made in 2006-2007 were slightly less – by 1% – compared to 2005-06. Legal aid outlays such as the cost of medical reports rose by 8% to £18.2 million.
<>The increases are generally in line with a rise in the number of prosecutions. Over the last five years the number of summary criminal legal aid grants have increased by 10% and solemn criminal legal aid by 27%.
Last year payments to advocates and solicitor advocates increased by 13% to £20.8 million, giving a five year rise of 53%. Total payments to solicitors were 1% lower at £122.0 million, with an overall rise over the last five years of 5%. The number of solicitor firms registered with the Board for civil legal assistance was 8% lower at 676, and 4% less at 599 firms for criminal legal assistance.
Reforms in hand
The Board reports that the year saw significant developments to legal aid, which are bringing improvements to the legal aid system. The passing of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007, it says, gives powers that will increase access to justice. Significant progress was also made in legal aid reforms, developing criminal legal assistance reforms, legal aid fees and simplifying civil legal assistance.
Iain Robertson, chairman of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, said: "We are now playing our part in the implementing the Act and other reforms on behalf of Scottish Ministers. We are also modernising how legal aid operates through simplifying procedures and reducing bureaucracy."
Commenting on the drop in the number of firms offering legal aid, Mr Robertson said: "We have listened carefully to the many voices who are increasingly concerned about the number of solicitor firms actively providing civil legal assistance, which continues to decline.
"We remain concerned that there may be underlying access to justice issues which remain to be addressed. To ensure that there is adequate access to justice, it is essential that there are sufficient good quality practitioners available and that they are fairly rewarded.
"Where there are gaps in private sector provision, we and the Scottish Government need to look at the best and most cost effective ways of filling these gaps. This could include mechanisms such as contracting, grant funding or by using the Board's powers under Part V of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 where solicitors, directly employed by the Board, can provide services."
Society response
Oliver Adair, convener of the Law Society of Scotland's Legal Aid (Solicitors) Committee, said: "Legal aid is essential for a vulnerable group of people who might not otherwise be able to have access to legal advice and representation. The importance of that should never be threatened by cost cutting or inefficiencies in the system.
"The research which the Society published last week, showed that many solicitors who responded to a survey did not think they would be able to offer a civil legal aid service in the next four years. It is clear from the research that there is a serious funding problem which is causing access to justice issues - and this needs addressed urgently.
"The Society will continue to highlight issues around access to justice with the Scottish Legal Aid Board and the Scottish Government to ensure solicitors continue to offer this service in both criminal and civil work in the long term."
Other highlights
The report also reveals that over the past five years the number of cases dealt with by Public Defence Solicitors Office has increased by a third. In 2006-07 PDSO handled 1,491 cases, including 77 solemn cases.
Other significant points include:
- over the year the Board exceeded its targets for how quickly and accurately it dealt with legal aid applications;
- the Board's web based legal aid online service, which is easier and quicker to use than paper, is being used more and more by solicitors, with more than 200 firms registered to send online applications;
- a consultation is now being issued on new proposals for summary criminal legal assistance to support the new summary justice process;
- the work of the Board's solicitor and applicant investigations unit, which monitors and investigates possible instances of fraud and abuse of legal aid, resulted in savings of over £2.1 million in 2006-07.
In 2006-2007 the highest fee earning advocate was Donald Findlay at £358,400 and the highest earning solicitor advocate was Iain Paterson, of Fife firm Paterson Bell, who was paid £219,300.
The Board's annual report 2006-07 and details of payments made to solicitor firms, advocates and solicitor advocates is available on its website at www.slab.org.uk