Legal aid response: 10% over two years, plus support
A 10% uplift in legal aid fees, delivered over the next two financial years, and a "resilience fund" to support solicitors and law centres who have lost legal aid income due to COVID-19, is the Scottish Government's response to the pleas for additional support for the sector from the Law Society of Scotland and the profession.
Announcing the additional funding, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf also promised reform of fees for criminal summary and solemn business. Including the previously announced enhanced fee for early guilty pleas in solemn cases and the £1m fund to pay half the cost of up to 40 trainees in legal aid firms, the value of the total package would be up to £20m.
The Society had pressed for an immediate 50% rise in fees to make up for loss of court work during the pandemic and years of cuts in real terms to legal aid fees, which have left many legal practices struggling to survive and to meet necessary professional costs.
Mr Yousaf said: "Scotland’s legal profession has worked hard since the COVID-19 outbreak to help maintain access to justice services, so I'm pleased to be able to confirm this significant additional support for the sector.
"The Scottish Government has worked closely with the profession from the outset of the pandemic and we have had constructive meetings with the Law Society to discuss the support available to them, helping us to identify ways we can offer further support.
"This significant package of support will offer grants to legal aid providers to help address financial hardship faced by some in the sector as a result of the pandemic, and will continue to provide additional support over the coming years as the justice system responds to the impact of COVID-19. Despite the constraints of more than a decade of UK austerity, the package includes the biggest overall uplift in legal aid fees over that period."
He added that it also recognised the important contribution that legal aid makes towards tackling inequalities across Scotland, supporting the rule of law and protecting individual rights.