Advice and representation provided through police and court duty schemes

We have issued this update to clarify how the police and court duty schemes we run operate and their effectiveness in providing advice.

The purpose of the following information is to offer reassurance that the duty schemes are providing access to a solicitor for anyone requiring one in a police station or at court.

If an individual needs advice or representation about a criminal matter, they can contact a registered solicitor and, if they are eligible, legal aid can pay for the work.

Solicitors have to register with us to provide services under legal aid. Of those registered, there were 773 active solicitors across Scotland providing criminal legal aid in the twelve months to June 2024.

Grants of legal aid in summary cases for the last 12 months are 14% higher than the previous year and level with pre-Covid volumes. Grants of solemn legal aid have reduced in the last 12 months but are still 5% above pre-Covid volumes.

If an individual doesn’t have their own solicitor and needs assistance at a police station or when appearing in court from police custody, a duty solicitor is available to act for them.

Being on a duty scheme is not a pre-requisite for providing criminal legal assistance. While not all choose to take part, around two-thirds of active solicitors are on the court duty plan and over half on the police station plan.

The duty schemes are a small but important part of the system: duty payments represent just over 0.5% of all payments for criminal legal assistance, so private solicitor participation in the schemes is by no means a gauge of levels of private sector engagement, activity or availability to provide criminal legal assistance more broadly.

Solicitors registered for criminal legal aid can decide to join one of the two duty schemes we run – the police station duty scheme and the court duty scheme:

• Court duty scheme – we arrange for duty solicitors to be available for the purposes of providing legal aid or advice and assistance in each sheriff court district and JP court district, at all times throughout the year
• Police station duty scheme – we arrange for solicitors to be made available to suspects detained in police stations.

Our most recent figures for the duty schemes show that 395 solicitors were on the police station duty scheme and 530 on the court duty plan.

It is not uncommon for solicitors to withdraw from the duty plans during the year.

This can be due to various reasons, including solicitors retiring or moving firms.

We also regularly receive new applications for the plans.

For example, between January and March this year, we had:

• three solicitors withdrawing from the court duty plans, and five new applications
• three solicitors withdrawing from the police station plans, and seven new applications.

Recent media coverage suggested a major withdrawal from the duty schemes between 2021 and 2023 but failed to take account of the number of solicitors who joined the duty schemes in the same period.

Importantly, the figures for that period were skewed by organised but temporary withdrawals from the plans in some areas in early 2022 due to a wider dispute with the Scottish Government about legal aid funding.

Most of those who withdrew rejoined the plans about a year later in early 2023. Some areas – such as Aberdeen, Banff, Edinburgh, Livingston, Jedburgh and Selkirk – rejoined court duty plans but stayed off the police station scheme. In several of these areas, local firms had not participated in the police station plans since 2018.

Police station duty: About 30% of all police station advice is provided by the Solicitor Contact Line (SCL) with much of the rest by named solicitors.

That means that private police station duty solicitors are only called upon when:

• the detainee does not have their own solicitor; and
• requires an attendance.

Most detainees do not require an attendance and most that do have their own solicitor.

Police station advice is widely available and called upon, with around 18,000 acts of assistance each year, but that availability does not generally rely upon the duty scheme. The police station duty scheme, backed by both private solicitors and SCL, is effective as a service of last resort.

Court duty: A minority of criminal cases appear from custody, and a minority of those require the duty solicitor.

About a quarter of all duty appearances are by the Public Defence Solicitors’ Office (PDSO), which is a core part of the duty scheme and not generally intended to be a provider of last resort.

But in 2022-23 – when many private solicitors withdrew from the duty scheme – PDSO solicitors ensured the continued effectiveness of the scheme, covering 56% of all duty appearances.

There are enough firms providing duty services in the majority of areas.

If private solicitors are not available, cover is provided by solicitors from our SCL and PDSO, and private solicitors from other areas.

If a duty solicitor is required in person then it may on occasions take longer to attend in rural and remote areas if there are no local private solicitors available, but solicitors liaise with local police to ensure plans can be put in place.

If you would like more information about the duty schemes please contact:

Kingsley Thomas

Head of Criminal Legal Assistance

Email: thomaski@slab.org.uk