The Scottish Legal Aid Board

44 Drumsheugh Gardens The Scottish Legal Aid Board Edinburgh EH3 7SW

Tel 0131 226 7061 Web: www.slab.org.uk News Release 31 October 2014 SCOTTISH LEGAL AID BOARD PUBLISHES ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

The cost to the taxpayer of legal aid in Scotland was almost unchanged in 2013-14 at £150.5 million. This was despite grants of summary criminal legal assistance increasing by 8% and solemn criminal legal aid by 7%.

The year also saw an increase in the expenditure to £5.5 million on SLAB’s grant funding programmes, which are aimed at helping people to resolve problems connected with debt, housing and benefits. The funding for these programmes is provided by the Scottish Government and the Money Advice Service.

Savings of around £20 million were made in 2013-14 as a result of efficiency measures introduced by the Scottish Government and SLAB. Unlike many other jurisdictions, these savings were made without reducing the broad scope of legal aid in Scotland.

With continuing pressure on public finances there will be a need to find further savings and efficiencies in legal aid expenditure.

How the Scottish Government, SLAB and the legal profession and the advice sector respond to this funding challenge will determine the future shape of legal aid in Scotland.

Iain A Robertson CBE, Chairman of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, said:

“This is by far the most challenging time for legal aid in Scotland since my appointment. The continuing pressure on public finances has led Scottish Ministers to seek further savings and efficiencies in legal aid expenditure, and legal aid must play its part in achieving savings alongside all other public services.

“The need to find savings in legal aid expenditure means that businesses have to work with us to achieve efficiencies.

“Where legal aid reforms are required to deliver savings and also enhance the long term sustainability of legal aid then they must be considered, even if they are deemed radical or unpopular by business.”

Mr Robertson added: “2014-15 will bring continued challenges. Maintaining and developing constructive relationships with the legal profession and other stakeholders will be crucial.

“With the Scottish Government, we aim to engage with the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates and the advice sector on these challenges in a positive and constructive way, both at a strategic and working level.”

Dr Lindsay Montgomery CBE, Chief Executive of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, said:

“We are fortunate in Scotland to have a legal aid system which is demand led and not cash limited. This means that the Scottish Government is duty bound to fund the cost of cases which meet the statutory tests.

“The scope of legal aid in Scotland covers a wide range of legal issues and has not been cut as in many other jurisdictions, thus providing wide access to justice for those who otherwise

Page | 1 could not afford it. This is particularly important for those on low incomes who are struggling with often related issues such as debt, housing or family breakdown involving children.

“We continue to work with the Scottish Government to identify further savings proposals which would reduce legal aid expenditure but maintain access to justice.

“There is scope to simplify and reform aspects of legal aid which would reduce costs for solicitors and SLAB.

“We also believe that the success of the Scottish Government’s Making Justice Work programme and the reform programme being led by the Scottish Civil Justice Council to improve the efficiency of the Justice System in Scotland, both of which SLAB is heavily involved in, should help secure cost reductions for legal aid in the future.

“How the Scottish Government, SLAB, other justice sector partners, the legal profession and the advice sector respond in this crucial period is likely to determine the future shape of legal aid delivery and scope in Scotland.”

Key points of the 2013-14 annual report:

Expenditure on the Legal Aid Fund remained relatively static in 2013-14 at £150.5 million. Key points on expenditure, and comparisons with 2012-13 are:

 Net expenditure1 on civil legal assistance was £47.8 million, a fall of 2.5% from £49.0 million

 Expenditure on criminal legal assistance fell by 0.8% from £94.8 million to £94.0 million

 Children’s legal assistance (legal aid and ABWOR) cost £4.9 million, a fall of 10% from £5.4 million

 Total grants relating to summary criminal legal assistance (including ABWOR and legal aid grants by SLAB and the courts) increased by 8% to 86,191.

 Grants of solemn criminal legal aid increased by 7% to 12,013.

 Payments to solicitors increased by 1.7% from £115.1 million to £117.1 million

 Payments to advocates fell by 21% from £18.3 million to £14.5 million

 Payments to solicitor advocates fell by 4.2% from £4.5 million to £4.3 million

 Payments on outlays (e.g. expert witnesses and court reports) fell by 2.3% from £19.9 million to £19.5 million

 Gross expenditure on grant funded projects was £5.5 million, which increased from £2.2 million as a result of the Scottish Government and Money Advice Service providing extra funding for an extended programme of projects providing targeted help for people with debt-related problems.

 2013-14 was the third consecutive year of cash reductions in our core administrative funding, following the three previous years of funding capped at the 2007-08 budget level. This during a period of increased responsibilities and duties being given to SLAB by Scottish ministers. It is therefore a significant achievement that we exceeded all of our key performance indicators for the year.

Page | 2  We continue to look for further efficiencies to reduce the pressure on our administration funding. To reduce our running costs further we are relocating our main office to a publicly owned building, Thistle House in the Haymarket area of Edinburgh.

 We have found further efficiencies in our staff expenditure. Our staff numbers in 2013-14 were eight less than the previous year and they have fallen by 45 since 2009- 10. This has been achieved with no compulsory redundancies.

 In order to assist with our challenging workloads, our staff have moved over the past two years from 35 to 37 hour per week contracts.

The annual report and additional documents are available on our website: http://www.slab.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/annual-report/

Journalists please contact:

David Montgomery Tel. (direct) 0131 240 1887 Media and Communications Manager Email [email protected]

Notes for editors 1. The Legal Aid Fund covers the costs of legal aid cases, most notably fees and outlays of solicitors and counsel providing legal assistance. Although a budget is set, there is no cap and the Scottish Government will provide the funding for the cases granted. The grant funding programme is also paid for from the Fund but is cash limited.

2. Administrative Budget - unlike the Legal Aid Fund, the Administrative Budget is capped. It covers the running costs of the Scottish Legal Aid Board; including staff costs (e.g. SLAB staff processing legal aid applications, accounts and treasury work, duty schemes, policy and development work and investigation and compliance work, etc.), accommodation, computer hardware, postage, telephones and travel etc.

3. SLAB saves the taxpayer money each year through the work done to administer the legal aid system. For example, in 2013-14 we saved over £45 million. This is because we:  only grant legal aid applications which meet the statutory tests;  check that applicants qualify financially for legal aid;  only approve applications for the use of counsel, experts and unusual work where it is appropriate, necessary and justified;  scrutinise accounts submitted by solicitors and counsel, including making checks with third parties, for example, prisons and the courts, and only pay for work that is done with due regard to economy;  recover funds through our audit and compliance work with solicitors’ firms and ensuring they comply with the Code of Practice for criminal legal assistance;  minimise the risk of fraud and abuse of legal aid by applicants or legal aid providers.

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