Increase in civil legal aid fees

23 May 2008

Kenny MacAskill, Cabinet Secretary for Justice has announced improvements to civil legal aid fee rates for solicitors:

• An increase in the value of the unit on which the block fees are based from the current £19 to £21. This represents the effect of inflation since the introduction of the block fee system in 2003.

• A comparable level of increase (10.52%) will also be applied to the detailed fees paid for work not covered by the block fee system.

• The introduction of exceptional arrangements to enable solicitors to be paid on a detailed rather than a block basis for certain types of family law cases which, because of the volume or complexity of the work required, would not be adequately paid under the block arrangements. This has been developed in partnership with the Family Law Association.

• Increased flexibility in the criteria where a solicitor can apply to the Board for an additional fee or uplift. (The maximum uplift will remain 50%).

• Modernisation of the table of fees for summary cause actions, to better reflect current court rules, and an increase to the value of the fees.

On announcing the details, the Justice Secretary said: “As part of the Government's ongoing commitments to the profession, we are committed to fair and affordable remuneration for solicitors for legal aid work. That is why we are bringing forward regulations to implement improvements to civil legal aid fees.”

The Justice Secretary announced the increase at the Law Society of Scotland's conference, Legal Profession in 5 Years Time.

The changes follow the Board’s review of civil legal aid fees, which informed the Justice Secretary’s decision. We are now working with the Scottish Government on implementation of the changes.  These changes will require to be considered by the Scottish Parliament, which does not reopen until after their summer recess.

We will advise in future mailings further details of the changes and how they will be implemented.