Legal aid rates blamed for huge rise in solicitors coming off police rotas

New calls have been made for the Scottish Government to act to improve legal aid rates after figures showed the number of solicitors withdrawing from police station duty schemes has quadrupled this year.

A freedom of information request by the Scottish Liberal Democrats has revealed that so far in 2018, 272 solicitors have chosen to leave the rota to provide advice to people held in police stations. This compares with 64 in 2017, and 69 in 2016.

The 2018 total includes the withdrawals by local bars in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Livingston, as well as a number of Glasgow solicitors.

The moves were prompted by the introduction in January of part 1 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, which strengthened the rights of people held at police stations to legal advice. Solicitors claimed that the increased workload was not manageable on the low rates of pay on offer.

Advice continues to be provided by those solicitors who still take part in the rotas, solicitors advising their own existing clients, public defence solicitors employed by the Scottish Legal Aid Board and solicitors operating a telephone contact line.

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur commented: "The number of solicitors withdrawing from this legal aid programme has skyrocketed. The scale of the departures show that legal aid as it currently operates doesn’t work for those tasked to provide this critical service.

"The Government knew that the rules which came into force in January would lead to significantly increased workloads.

"There was cross-party support for giving everyone being questioned in a police station the right to legal advice. However, the failure to resource and prepare properly for this has led to many professionals having to opt out."

Calling on ministers to step in to resolve the situation, Mr McArthur added: "Legal aid provision is becoming more fragile by the day. In some areas people have to rely on telephone advice. That’s not good enough in a 21st century-legal system."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said there was "no evidence of any systematic lack of availability of legal advice for those who are being held in police stations and who wish it".

An "enhanced fee package" had been approved by the Parliament for police station advice, and arrangements were in place to ensure that legal advice continued to be available.