Civil legal aid - applicants and assisted persons

Our service standards for 2009-2010

Our service standards for applicants for civil legal aid and assisted persons tell you the level of service you can expect from us, including how long it will take us to do things.

We work hard to meet our service standards, but accept that there will be circumstances when we are unable to do so. If this happens with your case, we will tell you why we are unable to meet our standards and when you can expect us to carry out the work.

If you feel that we have not done something within the timescale we have set and we have not written to you to explain why, please contact our Civil Applications Department on 0131 240 2072.

If you feel that we have failed to meet any of our other standards or not given the level of service you are entitled to expect, you can read information about our complaints procedure, either on our website or by contacting our Communications Department on tel 0131 240 1985.

There may, however, be some information which we are unable to provide. The nature of the work we do means that we are often entrusted with sensitive information - for example, the financial circumstances of an applicant for legal aid or details about his or her case. Under section 34 of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 we are not allowed to pass on details given to us under the Act, including in connection with an application (whether by the applicant or someone else) to anyone else unless one of the exceptions to this rule applies, such as that the person who gave us the information has given his/her permission to the disclosure. It is a criminal offence for a member of our staff to disclose information in breach of this section.

Service standards

Our commitment to you

• We will deal with your application in a timely, accurate and fair manner.
  
  
• We will always treat you with courtesy and respect your right to confidentiality.

Your application

• Where we receive an application for civil legal aid which contains the necessary information to allow us to make a decision we will do so within 32 days of receiving the application, or 30 days where it is made online. If we refuse your application, we will tell you and your solicitor our reasons for that decision. If we need further information from you or your solicitor to allow us to make an informed decision, then the period during which we are waiting for a response or information will not count against the 32 day period.

• If we refuse your application for legal aid you, preferably through your solicitor, can ask us to review that decision. We will do so and tell you and your solicitor our decision within 29 days, or 25 days where it is made online.
  
  

• If you are granted legal aid and your solicitor then asks us to agree to him/her employing counsel or expert witnesses or carrying out work of an unusual nature or likely to involve unusually large expenditure, we will tell your solicitor our decision within 7 days, or 5 days where it is made online. If we refuse the application we will tell your solicitor our reasons for that decision.

• If your solicitor asks us to extend your legal aid to cover new aspects of your case, with 14 day intimation period, we will tell your solicitor our decision within 25 days, or 20 days where it is made online.
  
  
• If your solicitor asks us to extend your legal aid to cover new aspects of your case, with 28 day intimation period, we will tell your solicitor our decision within 32 days, or 28 days where it is made online.
  
  
• If we receive an application for you to change the solicitor acting for you we will tell the solicitor to whom you wish to transfer our decision within 9 days, or 7 days where it is made online.
  
  
• If your solicitor asks us to reassess your financial circumstances at any stage of your case, we will tell your solicitor our decision within 28 days, or 20 days where it is made online.
  
  
• If your solicitor applies to do work under the "special urgency provisions" and we receive it Monday- Thursday, we will tell your solicitor our decision within 2 days (for both paper and online applications).

• If your solicitor applies to do work under the “special urgency provisions” and we receive it Friday - Sunday, we will tell your solicitor our decision within 4 days, or 2 days where it is made online.
  
  
• Where your solicitor sends us a stage report about progress in the case, we will assess whether it is appropriate for legal aid to continue and tell your solicitor our decision within 12 days, or 10 days where it is made online.
  

Communicating with you

• We will reply to correspondence about your case, where it is indicated that a response is to be made, within 14 days or 12 days where it is made via the online service. We will provide a full repsponse or information on when your correspondence can be dealt with and what factors have prevented us from dealing with it within the 14 days.
  
  
• If you telephone us, we will answer your call promptly. If we are unable to respond immediately to your request for information, we will call you back no later than close of business the next working day.
  
  
• If you make a complaint about the service we have provided, we will investigate the complaint and reply within 28 days.
  
  
• If you make an appointment and come to our office in person, we will see you promptly. If we are unable to give a full response to any query during the course of the meeting, we will arrange a date for a further meeting or for someone to write to you within 28 days of your visit or for someone to telephone you within 7 days.
  
  
• If you do not have an appointment and come to our office in person, we will take details of your query within 15 minutes of your arrival and arrange a date for a further meeting or for someone to write to you within 28 days of your visit or for someone to telephone you within 7 days.
  
  
• Where the matter is very urgent and you tell us, we will make sure we respond as soon as we can and that we use the most appropriate method of communication (e.g. telephone, fax etc.).
  
  
• Whether you write, telephone or visit our offices, you will always be treated with courtesy and respect. We will tell you our names so that you know who you have been dealing with.
  
  
• When we can supply the information you ask for, we will do so. If we cannot - perhaps because of someone's right to confidentiality - we will explain this to you.
  
  
• We will respect your right to confidentiality.
  
  

Notes

• All references to days mean calendar days, excluding public holidays.

• All time periods begin on the date we receive the properly completed application and end on the date we tell you or your solicitor our decision (by letter, fax, telephone or other appropriate means).

• A decision on an application is considered to have been made if we have told you our decision to either grant or refuse legal aid, or to abandon the application. If we need further information from you or your solicitor to allow us to make an informed decision, then the period during which we are waiting for a response or information from you will not count against the 32 day period.