Scottish Legal Aid Board Corporate Plan 2012-15
Our Purpose and Strategic Aims The Scottish Legal Aid Board s Purpose is: To provide access to justice for those people who are unable to afford to pay for it on their own. Legal aid is a vital public service for people in Scotland, many of them vulnerable. It enables people to pursue or defend their rights or to fund their criminal defence who would otherwise not be able to do so. This help is often required at difficult times in people s lives. For example, every year in Scotland, legal aid assists victims to pursue protective orders against domestic violence; people to challenge repossession of their homes; parents to challenge a spouse or partner attempting to take children out of the country; and families to seek compensation for medical negligence. Legal aid also facilitates legal challenges, including those to the Supreme Court, which are in the wider public interest. Legal aid therefore helps to prevent wider social problems and to achieve the Scottish Government s Purpose: To focus government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth. Legal aid in Scotland covers a very wide range of advice and court and tribunal cases and the Scottish Government is committed to retaining this wide scope to maintain access to justice. The Legal Aid Fund is not cash limited and we are one of the few countries to have this. Scotland s legal aid system is highly respected and justice professionals from around the world are always keen to learn more about it: how we balance a legal aid system with a wide scope and an uncapped Legal Aid Fund; how we ensure the quality of advice and representation funded by legal aid; our initiatives to fund and co-ordinate a mixed model of delivery of advice and representation; and our monitoring and checking procedures. Legal Aid Online our web-based application system - is highly regarded as a leading IT system across Europe. Our Strategic Aims contribute to the Scottish Government s National Outcomes and an efficient and effective justice system Our Strategic Aims are: To facilitate access to a range of quality assured legal help in Scotland, when and where it is needed. To provide access to service providers that deliver services in ways that benefit the justice system. To obtain best value for the taxpayer from legal aid expenditure. To contribute to an efficient justice system in Scotland by providing an efficient legal aid system. Page 2 of 24
Who we are and what we do The Board The Scottish Legal Aid Board was set up in 1987 to manage legal aid in Scotland. We are a Non- Departmental Public Body responsible to the Scottish Government. We advise Scottish Ministers on the operation of legal aid and make proposals for change and reform. It is also our responsibility to administer the funding available for legal aid. The work we do is overseen by a non-executive Board; the Chairman and Members are appointed by the Scottish Ministers, following a public appointments process. The number of members is currently 11 but can vary from 11 to 15. To give a balanced range of knowledge and experience, they include people with backgrounds in business, the advice sector and the wider community as well as solicitors and advocates and people with knowledge of court procedure and practice. Our executive management is headed by the Chief Executive, who is also the Accountable Officer, and is supported by three Directors. Decision making on legal aid Ministers in the Scottish Government decide legal aid policy. Ministers propose the legislation to set the rules for legal aid, including the fees to be paid to the legal profession and the eligibility criteria for applicants. The Scottish Parliament makes and changes legislation and we apply these eligibility criteria in every case. In advice and assistance 1, solicitors apply the initial tests, which are verified by us. For civil legal aid 2 and most criminal legal aid the Board applies the tests. In some cases involving children s legal aid, the courts determine applications, although this will transfer to the Board once the relevant sections of the Children s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 are commenced. The legislation precludes Scottish Ministers from any involvement in the decisions taken on individual applications for legal aid. About our work Legal Aid Expenditure We manage and administer the legal aid system which enables people to gain access to justice in a way which delivers value for money. Expenditure on the legal aid fund is different from many other public services because it is not capped. The Scottish Government provides us with the necessary funds to meet the cost of cases that we grant. Expenditure on the Legal Aid Fund in 2011-12 was around 156.9m. The Board s administrative budget is also funded by the Scottish Government. Unlike the Legal Aid Fund, this budget is cash limited. Over the last two years we have taken on more responsibilities, including: transfer of power to grant solemn criminal legal aid from the courts to the Board; a duty to monitor the availability of legal services across Scotland; and the operation of the 24/7 Police Station Duty Scheme and Solicitor Contact Line. In 2013-14, we will also take on responsibility for granting children s legal aid. Even though we have taken on more responsibilities, between 2007 and 2011 our administrative budget was frozen at 12.9m. In 2011-12, there was a further 1.1m reduction to 11.8m. In 2012-13, the budget has reduced further to 11.4m. These reductions are significant real terms cuts over the Spending Review period 2012-13 to 2014-15, our administrative budget will have reduced by 32% in real terms since 2007-08. Solicitors registered to provide legal assistance The numbers of solicitors and firms registered to provide legal assistance have continued to increase over the last two years. There are around 660 firms registered to provide civil legal assistance. There are over 1400 solicitors and around 589 firms registered to provide criminal legal assistance. 1 Advice and assistance covers advice on any matter of Scottish law from a solicitor, but (apart from certain instances, for example, tribunals) will not cover representation, which is, putting the case in court or in front of a tribunal. 2 Legal aid is available for criminal and civil court cases. It covers the preparation work, as well as the hearing itself, and can provide funding for advocates, experts and other costs. Page 3 of 24
Numbers of applications and accounts A significant part of our work is to assess large volumes of legal aid applications. We deal with over 400,000 applications of different types for legal assistance each year. This includes applications for advice and assistance, civil and criminal legal aid, requests to use counsel and experts and applications to review our decisions to refuse legal aid. We apply the statutory tests to each application for legal aid. The tests we have to apply differ depending on whether the legal aid is for a civil or criminal matter but for the majority of applications we apply a merits test and a financial test. We require verification of applicants financial information when they apply for legal aid. When a solicitor grants advice and assistance, they must also be satisfied that the applicant is financially eligible and we do checks on the evidence that solicitors have seen. Our targets and performance standards for the accuracy and timeliness of our decisions are agreed with the Scottish Government. Decisions whether to grant legal aid can be very complex, requiring detailed analysis of legal issues and financial data such as bank statements, benefits statements and sometimes, company accounts. We also assess and pay the claims for the work done by solicitors, counsel and the outlays incurred. We make around 280,000 payments to solicitors and counsel each year. We must be satisfied that the work has been carried out and delivered in a way that has due regard to economy. Some accounts can be very large, involving hundreds of pages of documents and payments of hundreds of thousands of pounds. Assessment of accounts can be a very detailed process involving discussions with solicitors and counsel. Investigating fraud and abuse Unfortunately, there will always be a small number of people who will attempt to defraud or abuse the legal aid system. We investigate the information provided by applicants for legal aid. We investigate information sent to us about applicants financial circumstances by other parties in civil cases and we can check with banks, employers and others to verify information applicants give to us. We can re-assess an applicant s eligibility for legal aid or we can terminate the grant of legal aid. Where there is evidence of fraud, we will refer cases to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). We also analyse solicitors firms applications and accounts, including doing checks with justice bodies such as the courts to verify the claims. We compare firms trends to identify any practices which require further analysis. We also carry out audits of solicitors firms to ensure they comply with the Code of Practice for criminal legal assistance and investigate firms and solicitors that appear to have breached the Code, not complied with the legal aid legislation or abused the legal aid system. Where appropriate, we recover payments made to firms. We can also prevent individual solicitors, firms or counsel from providing legal aid. Where there is evidence of fraud, we will refer cases to the COPFS. Direct advice and representation services and grant funding The vast majority of legal assistance is provided by solicitors in private practice. However, we also provide direct legal advice to people across Scotland. We have a small network of seven Public Defence Solicitors Offices (PDSO) across the country. Around 23 PDSO solicitors are employees of the Board and are paid a salary, not on a case by case basis as happens with private solicitors firms. The network provides opportunities to compare against private practice and provides invaluable feedback to us, the Scottish Government and justice sector partners on the operation of the criminal justice system and criminal legal assistance. As part of the Police Station Duty Scheme, we also operate the Solicitor Contact Line (SCL) which is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The SCL is the first point of call for the police where a suspect has asked for advice from a solicitor. The SCL provides direct advice by telephone to suspects who require advice when they are in a police station. If the suspect has their own solicitor, the SCL will contact the solicitor and ask them to provide advice. If they cannot do so or they are not available, the SCL can provide advice to the suspect or arrange for another solicitor from the duty scheme to attend in person, if required. Page 4 of 24
We also facilitate access to justice in civil matters. In addition to the traditional funding of cases by legal assistance through solicitors, we also provide targeted services in particular areas of Scotland and for the types of problems facing people, particularly during the economic downturn. Since 2009 we have provided grant funding to a range of organisation to support legal advice and representation services. These include the In-court Advice and other services in sheriff courts in Scotland. We will be launching a new grant funding programme in 2012-13. Cash totalling 7m will be available over the next 3 years from the Scottish Government and Money Advice Service to help Scots facing legal and financial problems associated with the economic downturn. We also operate a network of four Civil Legal Assistance Offices (CLAO) across Scotland where a team of around 13 Board employed solicitors provide civil legal advice and representation services for clients in the local geographic area who are eligible for legal aid and have unmet legal needs. The offices work closely with the advice sector and private sector solicitors and provide a referral hub which makes and receives referrals to and from other agencies and private sector solicitors. Legal aid in the justice system In order to improve and inform our work we carry out a significant amount of research and analysis of the operation of legal aid; the trends and impact on the wider justice system; and also to understand the views of those using the legal aid system. We work closely with our justice sector partners, including the Scottish Government, the Scottish Courts Service, the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service, the Police and the Tribunals Service for Scotland to improve the operation of the justice system. The Board s role is also to advise Scottish Ministers on the operation of legal aid in Scotland. We do this by observing the way in which the justice system and legal aid operates and by analysing trends in legal aid. We have recently been given a new role under the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 to monitor and report to Scottish Ministers on the availability of both publicly and privately supplied legal advice. Our analysis of trends will be important in informing this work. A considerable amount of senior staff resources is used to work on reform and development of legal aid within the justice system. We play a key role in the Scottish Government s Justice Change programme to improve the justice system and contribute to the Scottish Government s National Outcomes. In particular, we are heavily involved in the Making Justice Work programme and as part of this we are leading projects on video-conferencing and enabling access to justice. About our approach We believe the best way of achieving the purpose of legal aid and contributing to the delivery of the Scottish Government s National Outcomes is for the Board to strive to work in the following ways: Working in partnership with the Scottish Government, the legal profession, the advice sector, local authorities, others in the justice system and representative bodies. Consulting with applicants, assisted persons, opponents, solicitors, advocates and others with an interest in legal aid and access to justice. Communicating directly with applicants, assisted persons and opponents through letters, meetings and consultations, as well as through their solicitors. Sharing with others our policies and practices to achieve greater openness, understanding and effectiveness. Engaging in others consultations and development processes to play our full part in improving the justice system and the operation of legal aid within it. Continuously improving through investment in our people, processes and systems, and implementing changes to achieve efficiency and effectiveness of our operations. Page 5 of 24
We contribute to a more successful Scotland Our work is aligned to the Scottish Government s National Outcomes The work that we deliver is an important contributor to the Scottish Government s objectives of achieving a Scotland that is safer, fairer and greener and the national outcomes relating to those objectives. The diagram below sets out the connections between our aims and the Scottish Government s Purpose and National Outcomes. This shows that the work we do materially contributes to five of the National Outcomes: Scottish Government s Purpose To focus government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth Scottish Government s Strategic Objectives Helping communities become safer and stronger places to live Enabling the increasing of wealth through efficient public services Improving the environment and its sustainability Scottish Government s National Outcomes We lives our lives safe from crime and danger We have strong and resilient communities We have tackled inequalities in Scottish Society Our public services are high quality, responsive, and continually improving We reduce the impact of our consumption and production Our Strategic Aims To facilitate access to a range of quality assured legal help in Scotland, when and where it is needed. To provide access to service providers that deliver services in ways that benefit the justice system. To obtain best value for the taxpayer from legal aid expenditure. To contribute to an efficient justice system in Scotland by providing an efficient legal aid system. Page 6 of 24
We work with the Scottish Government and justice partners to reform and improve the justice system Scottish Government s Justice Change Programme The Scottish Government will shortly publish a Justice Strategy which sets out key aims for the justice system which, in tandem with tackling a number of wider social issues, should lead to a safer and fairer society. Improving access to justice and delivering efficiency in the justice system will be important elements of the Scottish Government s Justice Strategy. Legal aid will play a vital role in delivering these priorities over the next three years. Legal aid is intrinsically linked to the wider justice system. Changes to the operation of the Scottish Courts Service (SCS), the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), the Police, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and the Tribunal Service can have a direct effect on legal aid and in turn, changes to legal aid can affect these parts of the justice system. Also, changes to the courts and other dispute resolution processes will impact on the cost and nature of services delivered through legal aid. We are therefore a key partner in the Scottish Government s Making Justice Work Programme part of the wider Justice Change programme. Making Justice Work involves collaboration between a range of justice organisations working on projects across civil and criminal justice to improve the Scottish justice system, making it fairer, more accessible and efficient. The programme will make substantial savings in expenditure across the justice system. Our Chief Executive is a member of the cross organisational group, the Justice Working Group, chaired by the Scottish Government that monitors the programme s progress and our senior staff are involved in, and in some cases lead, the component projects. On behalf of the Scottish Government, we are project managing the Enabling Access to Justice project which aims to develop sustainable access to justice mechanisms for the early diagnosis, avoidance, prevention of escalation and resolution of civil problems or disputes. The Scottish Government intends that, by focussing on avoidance and prevention of escalation, through the development of legal capability and self-help; different methods of accessing information and advice; and mediation, there should be more resolution of problems at an earlier stage; and provide better co-ordination between the different levels of information, advice and representation. We are leading the project to make greater use of video conferencing for: solicitors advice to clients in prison and suspects in police stations; and for suitable court proceedings. The aim is that video conferencing will reduce the need for solicitors and others paid through legal aid to travel unless it is absolutely necessary. It will also reduce the need for prisoners to be transferred between prisons and courts for court hearings. Overall, this will contribute to a reduction in vehicular emissions and the carbon impact of legal aid expenditure. We are closely involved in projects to improve the efficiency of the justice system. The Summary Justice System Model project, being led by the COPFS, will build on the success of Summary Justice Reform in 2008 and will introduce improvements to reduce inefficiencies in the justice system and ensure that cases are disposed of appropriately and at the earliest opportunity. The Getting People to Court project aims to improve the attendance rates of accused and witnesses at court and ensure the efficient use of police witnesses in the court process. The Court Structures project will consider consolidation of the court estate, the introduction of centralised sheriff court solemn procedure centres and reduce the High Court circuit. A Sustainable Future for Legal Aid the Scottish Government s Strategy In October 2011, the Scottish Government published A Sustainable Future for Legal Aid its strategy for legal aid over the next three years. This sets out the policy and funding framework in which this Corporate Plan is placed. You can read more about the strategy at page 11. Page 7 of 24
Our current operating environment Resources In 2011, the Scottish Government announced its spending plans for 2012-13 to 2014-15. The budget provision for the Legal Aid Fund and the Board s administration budget is set out in the table below. Over the three year Spending Review period the Government s provision for the Legal Aid Fund is planned to reduce by 7.1%. As the Legal Aid Fund is not capped, achieving this will be very challenging, as the current funding gap demonstrates. If numbers of applications change or there are changes in the wider justice system which impact on legal aid expenditure, our forecasts will change. The level of savings that the Scottish Government requires from legal aid is challenging, but it is also a shared responsibility. We and the Scottish Government work in partnership with the legal profession and engage and consult with those with an interest in legal aid. To achieve the savings in a way that does not reduce access to justice, joint working and constructive engagement will be more important than ever before. Estimated out-turn 2011-12 ( m) 2012-13 Budget ( m) 2013-14 Budget ( m) 2014-15 Budget ( m) 3 year reduction ( m) 3 year reduction (%) Administration budget (running costs) 11.8 11.4 10.9 10.4 1.4 11.9 Scottish Government Legal Aid Fund budget provision Current Legal Aid Fund expenditure forecast 141.9 144.1 138.1 132.1 10.2 7.1 156.6 147.5 144.5 137.0 Funding gap 14.7 3.4 6.4 4.9 The current forecast for Legal Aid Fund expenditure already takes into account the package of savings introduced at the end of 2010-11 after negotiation with the legal profession; it is forecast to save around 11m in 2011-12 and up to 19m by 2014-15. The legal aid fund expenditure forecast above also includes savings to be achieved from the changes set out in the Scottish Government s paper, A Sustainable Future for Legal Aid. The forecasts do not include possible legal aid funding consequences of the implementation of the Carloway Review. The percentage reductions in the provision for our administration budget, which pays our staff and accommodation costs, are greater than the reductions planned for the Legal Aid Fund. Achieving these will also be challenging, particularly as they come immediately following the 1.1m cash reduction in 2011-12. Our continued work on development of Legal Aid Online and digital processes and making further efficiencies in legal aid through our Best Value Reviews will greatly assist us in achieving these savings. Inevitably this will result in some further reductions in staff numbers. However, in line with the Scottish Government s policy, we will aim to achieve these reductions through natural turnover and other means to avoid the need for compulsory redundancies. Public service reform In June 2010, the Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services (the Christie Commission) reported its findings, based on a long term analysis of the challenges facing public services. The Commission presented a roadmap to better public services which the Scottish Government supports. Page 8 of 24
While delivering reform to the justice system and legal aid we will ensure that it is in line with the key aims set out by the Commission: a decisive shift towards spending money on preventative measures. We will contribute to this through the Scottish Government s strategy to ensure that legal aid is only used by those that need it most, and as a last resort, and also empowering people in Scotland to seek alternative methods of resolution to legal help. greater integration of public services at a local level, driven by better partnership, collaboration and effective service delivery. Through the Making Justice Work Programme we will work jointly with other justice sector agencies to improve the justice system and will also help to facilitate the better co-ordination of advice services at a local level across Scotland. We will continue to provide shared services to other organisations on Internal Audit and share accommodation with other public bodies. We will also continue to investigate further opportunities to share services. workforce development. We are taking forward a number of initiatives on youth employment. significant enhancements to the transparency of performance reporting. We will publish relevant information on expenditure under the Public Services Reform Act alongside details of our performance against key performance indicators. Youth Employment The Scottish Government has committed to offer opportunities for unemployed people within its employment. This will include work and student placements, apprenticeships and mentoring. There is also an expectation that public bodies will make a similar commitment. We are actively contributing this initiative: We will continue to offer temporary summer contracts to students and our four Civil Legal Assistance Offices are active in offering work experience in 2011-12 we offered five placements and we will continue this in future years. We will periodically provide other types of work experience and support around 4 school workexperiences places per year. We have a long standing link with Napier University Business School to provide a 1 year work placement for third year students a student fills a Human Resources Administrator post. We currently support two 2-year legal traineeships (one each in the Civil Legal Assistance Office and Public Defence Solicitors Office). We are supporting 4 staff volunteers to participate in the Princes Trust progression mentoring scheme. McClelland Report Review of Public Procurement in Scotland The McClelland report, published in June 2011, included recommendations to help reduce the costs of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in the Scottish public sector. The key recommendations were to provide a single common ICT architecture for the public sector in Scotland, increase sharing and collaboration in procurement, systems and resource and to ensure the appropriate level of governance across the sector. The Scottish Government has set up a national board to ensure the recommendations are met. There will be a strong expectation on public bodies to develop plans in order to contribute to the targeted savings of between 230m - 300m a year in the 1.4bn ICT budget by 2015-16. We will contribute to this work through the further removal of paper processes from legal aid, working with our justice partners on data sharing, facilitating the increase in video links across the justice sector and using ICT to improve the efficiency of legal aid processes. Page 9 of 24
Additional challenges Volumes of applications In 2011-12, we started to see some levelling off of the high numbers of civil legal aid applications but there are still substantial uncertainties and additional pressures to face. Any worsening in the economic situation in Scotland may lead to further increased demands on civil legal aid. Pressures on expenditure Expenditure on criminal legal aid will be impacted by the ruling in the Cadder case and the subsequent Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010 which gave suspects in police detention the right of access to a solicitor before interview. We are now responsible for ensuring the availability of legal advice in these circumstances and this is being delivered through a roster of private practice and publicly employed solicitors, including the Solicitor Contact Line. In addition, Lord Carloway s Review of criminal practice and procedure in Scotland looked at a number of issues including arrest, detention and questioning of suspects; the nature of police questioning; the grounds for detaining in custody; the length and continuity of custody; the admissibility of statements by an accused and coaccused; and the sufficiency of evidence (including corroboration). We are currently considering the full impact of Lord Carloway s recommendations but there is the potential for this to impact on the cost of legal aid through the need to change legal aid processes or the additional use of solicitors. This highlights that legal aid expenditure may increase in the future as a result of other changes in legislation or court decisions. Children s Hearings Scotland Act 2011 The Children s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) will be implemented in 2013-14. It makes major changes to the operation of children s hearings and to the bodies responsible for their administration and management. It also makes significant changes to the legal aid provisions. Under the current arrangements no form of legal aid or advice and assistance (including ABWOR) is available to enable a solicitor or counsel to represent a child or any relevant person at a children s hearing. The 2011 Act changes that and now makes legal aid available. It also introduces a Registration scheme and a Code of practice and an associated scheme for quality assurance for solicitors who are paid under the children s legal assistance scheme. We will therefore need to ensure that legal aid arrangements are in place and communicate these to the legal profession and others involved in the system. Welfare Reform Act 2012 The Welfare Reform Act 2012 (the 2012 Act) makes substantial changes to the benefits in the UK. It removes the concept of passport benefits which are used to enable financial eligibility for the majority of recipients of legal aid and advice and assistance. The Act introduces the universal credits. We are working with the Scottish Government to assess the impact on legal aid in Scotland and to develop changes to the legal aid system and processes to accommodate this change. Page 10 of 24
Creating a Sustainable Future for Legal Aid The Scottish Government published its strategy, A Sustainable Future for Legal Aid in October 2011. This sets out the Government s policy on legal aid and the ways in which it proposes to deliver a sustainable level of legal aid funding over the next three years. The Scottish Government wants to retain a demand led system and maintain access to justice but achieve this at a reduced cost to the taxpayer. The legal aid strategy focuses on four key themes: ensuring legal aid is available for those who need it most, including by ensuring that those who are able to pay for at least some of their legal costs do so. Subject to the legislation being passed by the Scottish Parliament, this will include, for the first time, the introduction of contributions in criminal legal aid. improving access to justice which aims to ensure that citizens get the right help at the right time and that they are legally empowered to make decisions without the need to resort to publicly funded advice or assistance. This will be delivered in the main through the access to justice project in the Making Justice Work programme. maximising the value of legal aid expenditure. We have made significant progress on this, including simplification of civil legal aid, the introduction of Legal Aid Online and managing a greater number of responsibilities alongside real terms reductions in our running costs. However, the economic downturn puts additional pressure on our role to safeguard taxpayer s money. We are continuing our programme of Best Value Reviews to look at all aspects of legal aid to ensure that it delivers value for money without detriment to access to justice. We will also be working with the Scottish Government to move towards a contractual relationship with solicitors doing criminal legal aid work. making the justice system more efficient. We will assist in the delivery of this theme through our contribution to the Making Justice Work programme. You can read more about this on page 7 of this plan. Page 11 of 24
Delivery of legal aid outcomes Project management We have in place programme and project management to ensure the effective delivery of this plan. The Board s Executive Team is responsible for the delivery of the programme and progress is reported to the Board on a quarterly basis through our Operational Plan monitoring arrangements. We also have well developed risk management arrangements. These are reviewed and monitored regularly by the Executive Team and through individual projects. Risk management is reported on periodically to the Board and the Audit Committee. The cross justice elements of this plan will be managed and monitored through the Scottish Government s Making Justice Work Programme and the Justice Working Group. The actions we will take and the outcomes they will deliver Strategic Aim To facilitate access to a range of quality assured legal help in Scotland, when and where it is needed Outcomes we will deliver People can access justice by being able to seek the appropriate kind of legal advice and representation at the right time The justice sector makes informed decisions about planning and co-ordination of legal services to meet the needs of the people of Scotland Actions we will take Improving access to justice: As part of the Making Justice Work programme, we will project manage the Ensuring Access to Justice project which aims to develop mechanisms which will support citizens to avoid problems wherever possible, to ensure they have access to appropriate and proportionate advice where disputes do arise and to a full range of methods of dispute resolution, including courts and tribunals where necessary and appropriate alternatives. In 2012-13, the organisations involved will agree the scope, objectives and deliverables of the project. Monitoring access to legal services: As part of our duty to monitor and report on the access and availability of legal services, we will report to Scottish Ministers on the current position in 2012-13. Over the three year planning period we will further develop our approach to monitoring with periodic reports made to Scottish Ministers, supported by the Access to Legal Services Reference Group. Targeted funding: In May 2012, we launched our new grant funding programme which will run from mid 2012 to the end of March 2015. Cash totalling 7m will be available over the next 3 years from the Scottish Government and Money Advice Service to help Scots facing legal and financial problems associated with the economic downturn. Alternative sources of funding: In 2012-13, we will develop proposals to work towards the Scottish Government s aim that legal aid is treated as a funder of last resort. We will assess the feasibility of Page 12 of 24
applicants using alternative sources of funding, including insurance and no win/no fee arrangements. Depending on the decisions on the proposals, changes could be implemented in 2013-14. How success will be measured By the end of 2012-13 there will be targeted funding projects in place that are actively assisting people in Scotland with their problems related to the economic downturn. In 2012-13, the Making Justice Work Work s Enabling Access to Justice project will be effectively project managed with all partners actively engaged and agreement reached on the project s scope, objectives and deliverables. By the end of 2012-13, the Access to Legal Services Reference Group will have reported to Scottish Ministers about the accessibility and supply of legal services to enable them to take decisions on future areas of work or investigation. We will have reported on outcomes achieved by the targeted funding projects through the use of a robust performance monitoring framework. In 2013-14, we will have assessed the feasibility of a range of user focussed, quality assured, direct and indirect assistance through a range of delivery methods, including web-based information systems and made proposals for implementation. Page 13 of 24
Strategic Aim To provide access to service providers that deliver services in ways that benefit the justice system Outcomes we will deliver Criminal legal assistance contracts support improvements in the operation of the justice system and savings in the Legal Aid Fund Legal assistance services provided by solicitors are good quality Evidence is used to make further improvements to legal aid and access to justice Actions we will take Criminal contracting: We will work with the Scottish Government to develop their proposal to introduce a contractual relationship between the Board and solicitors who provide criminal legal assistance. This will encourage more effective business planning, more efficient service delivery and enable better alignment of high quality supply to need. In 2012-13, we will consult with the legal profession and others with a view to supporting the Scottish Government s development of detailed proposals. We will work with the Scottish Government on its introduction of regulations in 2013-14. Quality assurance: We will continue to work with the Law Society of Scotland on the quality assurance of civil legal aid practitioners and will continue the roll out of quality assurance for criminal legal aid practitioners that began in February 2012. This is a six year cycle of work so over this reporting period half of the firms registered to carry out criminal legal assistance will be peer-reviewed. We will communicate key findings from the Quality Assurance Committees with the legal profession twice a year. Supplier support: The Supplier Support project will provide a range of management information to firms on their use of the civil legal aid system, for example the efficiency and quality of the applications they submit and the outcome they achieve from their cases. This will help to reduce costs for both us and solicitors. In 2012-13, we will launch our Supplier Support project with the top 20 firms by volume of civil legal aid. Following feedback, we will extend this to other firms and criminal legal aid. How success will be measured Contracting will produce savings for the Legal Aid Fund from 2014-15. In 2012-13, the outcomes of the Criminal Quality Assurance scheme will inform decisions on whether any changes need to be made to the criminal legal assistance process. The outcomes of the Criminal Quality Assurance scheme will inform solicitors about best practice and where behaviours need to change, this happens. The way that the top 20 civil legal aid firms interact with us will be more efficient. Page 14 of 24
Strategic Aim To obtain best value for the taxpayer from legal aid expenditure Outcomes we will deliver The legal aid system delivers value for money The legal aid system is more efficient The environmental impact of the services that we fund is reduced There is effective monitoring of Legal Aid Fund expenditure and Spending Review savings packages Actions we will take Operate effectively with reduced running costs: Our administrative costs have been reduced to 11.4m and will reduce by 1.4m over three years. We will continue to keep our running costs under constant review and to look for ways in which the administration of legal aid can be further simplified. We will deliver efficiency improvements whilst maintaining performance against our key performance indicators. With the Scottish Government, we will monitor Legal Aid Fund expenditure and the savings packages introduced as a result of the 2010 & 2011 Scottish Government Spending Reviews. Introduction of contributions in criminal legal aid: We will assist the Scottish Government during the parliamentary progress of the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Bill introduced in May 2012 which, if passed, will introduce financial contributions in criminal legal aid in 2013-14. With the Scottish Government, we will consult with the Law Society of Scotland on the detail of the new scheme and its implementation. Changes to fees paid to the legal profession: The Scottish Government is taking forward a number of reforms in relation to the fees paid to the legal profession. We will assist the Government in formulating proposals for: Introducing a table of fees for reporters and curators; Fixed fees in mental health cases; Changes to fees paid to counsel for travel time; Changes to the fees paid to solicitors sitting behind counsel. Improving the quality of legal aid applications: We have to reject the majority of civil legal aid Financial Form 2 (for those with non-passport benefit income or capital) because essential information or evidence is missing. This is despite the form being substantially shortened and feedback that the form is straightforward to complete. We also have to reject criminal and civil legal aid applications from solicitors because key information is missing. To reduce the number of times that applicants, solicitors and we have to handle an application, we will work with solicitors and applicants to develop more guidance and support. Summary criminal legal aid applications should be sent to us within 14 days of an applicant s plea, however we receive around 35% of application after 14 days and 24% of applications after 28 days and up to 6 months after. In some situations, this might be used as a reason to postpone a court hearing. To benefit the operation of the justice system, we will be working with solicitors to improve the timescales that legal aid applications are sent to us. Legal Aid Online: We will continue the implementation of Legal Aid Online which has received many plaudits since its introduction. In 2012-13, we will make all types of accounts available online. We will also enable access to Legal Aid Online for third parties such as Law Accountants and further develop software Page 15 of 24
links for firms case management systems. We will continue to seek regular feedback from the legal profession on the operation of the system so that enhancements can be made. In 2012-13, we will consider which accounts processes can be switched permanently from paper to online only with a view to moving most accounts processes online by the end of the planning period. Best Value Reviews: We will continue with our programme of best value reviews which look at different areas of legal aid expenditure at assess whether it could deliver increased value for money. We will: Continue our review into the costs of civil cases which has already resulted in savings through changes to certain arrangements including special urgency work and the statutory reasonableness test. As well as continued monitoring of high cost cases we will complete the remaining aspects of this review covering issues such as multiple parties legally aided, cost limitations on grants of legal aid and improving the number of cases in which solicitors seek expenses. Complete the implementation of our reviews into advice in mental health and immigration and asylum cases. In 2012-13, the Scottish Government will introduce regulations to develop a block fee system for solicitors in mental health cases. Continue the review of accounts assessment which will involve a detailed review of each account type to ensure that our resource is focussed where it adds most value while maintaining the necessary level of assurance and reducing interactions with solicitors where possible. Complete our review into the use and cost of expert witnesses. Following work across other UK jurisdictions, we intend to publish fee rates chargeable by experts that we consider to be reasonable. We will also set up a process for experts to register their interest in doing work funded by legal aid to make it easier for solicitors to instruct experts. Private client reality: The Scottish Government proposes that more needs to be done to ensure that legally aided clients should not be disadvantaged when compared to those meeting their own legal costs, nor should they have an unfair or disproportionate advantage. We will develop proposals that will encourage applicants to closely monitor the way in which their cases are run and the costs involved, therefore having a regard to expenditure levels in the same way as a privately paying client. We will develop and consult on these proposals in 2012-13. Changes to advice and assistance: Linked with our work on private client reality we will develop proposals to ensure that the amount expended on the provision of advice and assistance in any given case is proportionate to the benefit the client is likely to obtain. This will include changes to financial assessment, the development of a sufficient benefit test and increasing the level of contributions. We will make proposals to the Scottish Government for it to decide which changes they want to introduce. Legal aid in family cases: Around half of civil legal aid expenditure relates to family cases. As well as looking at this through our best value review of civil case costs we will work with the Scottish Government to consider wider impact of the use of bar reports in child welfare hearings and specifically whether the cost of these could be reduced. How success will be measured We will survey the users of our services in line with our Research Programme. Taking account of the fact that legal aid a demand led-system and on the basis of current forecasts, the savings packages will produce the forecast savings. From 2013-14, we will be able to take final decisions on more legal aid applications on the first occasion we look at them because applicants and solicitors give us the information we need. The majority of accounts will be submitted using Legal Aid Online by the end of 2014-15. In 2013-14, savings will begin to be made from the new fee rates set for experts. In 2013-14, savings will begin to be made from the new table of fees for work done by reporters and curators. Our carbon footprint will improve. We will complete the Carbon Trust s Carbon Management Programme for Smaller Organisations in 2012-13. Page 16 of 24
Strategic Aim To contribute to an efficient justice system by providing an efficient legal aid system Outcomes we will deliver Legal aid supports the efficient operation of the justice system Legal aid supports the efficiency of the justice system by minimising churn of cases due to legal aid Actions we will take Working with justice sector partners: We will continue to play a significant role in the Scottish Government s Making Justice Work programme. Over the planning cycle, where possible we will align our strategic planning and risk management across the relevant justice bodies. We will ensure that any significant reforms planned for legal aid are discussed with our justice sector partners at the earliest opportunity in order to understand any impact on the wider justice system. Video-conferencing: We will manage the Making Justice Work project to increase the use of video-links in police stations, prisons and the courts. This should reduce costs and lessen the carbon impact of legal aid. In partnership with other justice sector bodies we will continue during 2012-13 with pilots to prove the technology and learn from the practicalities of working in this way, with the aim to reach agreement on plans to implement the technology across the justice system from 2013-14. Court structure efficiency: We will continue to contribute to the Making Justice Work project being led by the Scottish Court Service to improve the efficiency of the court estate. We will contribute to the development of proposals and wider public consultation. Summary justice system model: We will contribute to the Making Justice Work project being led by the Crown Office which aims to improve the efficiency of the summary criminal justice system through studying issues such as case preparation, engagement with solicitors and court programming. In 2012-13, we will work with partners to introduce access for the courts to legal aid application information to help sheriffs and judges manage court business. We will also work with partners to develop proposals to facilitate earlier negotiation of pleas where appropriate and will work with the legal profession to encourage earlier submission of legal aid applications. We will ensure that the role of legal aid in the summary justice system is fully understood in order to assist the project and also that any impacts on legal aid and access to justice are fully taken into account. Police Station Duty Scheme: We will facilitate timeous access to a solicitor for suspects in police detention through our administration of the Police Station Duty Scheme. We will keep the Carloway Review and other reforms in the criminal justice system under continuous review to enable any necessary amendments to be made to the scheme, subject to decisions made by Scottish Ministers on the recommendations. We will continue to publish relevant information about the operation of the scheme. Review of criminal law and practice: The Scottish Government will decide how it intends to take forward the outcome of Lord Carloway s Review and other reviews of the criminal justice system. We will work with justice sector partners to ensure legal aid changes are made alongside any wider justice system changes. Multi-party advice and actions: We will contribute to the work being done by the Scottish Government to develop mechanisms for funding multi-party actions within the justice system. Children s Hearings: In 2012-13 and 2013-14, we will prepare for the implementation of the Children s Hearings (Scotland) Act. This will transfer to us the responsibility for granting children s legal aid. We will ensure that arrangements are in place to enable legal aid to be made available for representation of children and relevant persons at children s hearings including a system of contributions and a registration and quality assurance scheme. During 2014-15, we will closely monitor the legal aid arrangements to ensure that they deliver value for money and enable access to justice. Page 17 of 24
How success will be measured We will contribute to the delivery of the outcomes required by the Making Justice Work Programme. We continue to provide access to legal advice to suspects in Police Stations when and where it is needed, within affordable costs. Legal aid supports the successful introduction of the changes arising from the Children s Hearings (Scotland) Act. We will reduce and minimise churn in cases due to legal aid. Page 18 of 24
Legal Aid Expenditure Forecast Analysis of trends in case volumes and expenditure gives the context for resource planning to enable us to achieve our strategic objectives. We use a model to estimate expenditure on the Legal Aid Fund which combines: a valuation of the applications already received; a valuation of the applications likely to be received in the future; based partly on assumptions from justice sector partners; estimates of income from the recovery of expenses and collection of contributions in civil cases; an estimate of PDSO, Part V and grant funding costs; and a provision for recent or known changes in the structure of legal aid or fee levels the impact on legal aid expenditure of changes in the wider justice system. In addition to assumptions regarding the elapsed time between the receipt of applications and the payment of accounts, the model relies upon assumptions about likely growth or reduction in the volumes of applications and grants and likely changes in average case costs. The following table sets out the Legal Aid Fund forecast for the period 2011-12 to 2014-15: Actual 2010/11 m Estimated out-turn 2011/12 m Forecast 2012/13 m Forecast 2013/14 m Forecast 2014/15 m Core Criminal Forecast 104.3 103.9 105.3 105.2 104.9 Package 1 Savings (6.0) (9.7) (10.0) (10.0) Package 2 Savings (0.2) (2.5) (7.7) Criminal Forecast 104.3 97.9 95.4 92.7 87.2 Core Civil Net Forecast 52.1 59.1 56.7 55.8 56.4 Package 1 Savings (5.0) (7.8) (8.4) (8.6) Package 2 Savings (1.6) (1.4) (3.8) Civil Net Forecast 52.1 54.1 47.3 46.0 44.0 Core Children's Forecast 5.0 5.2 5.2 6.2 6.2 Package 1 Savings (0.3) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) Children s Forecast 5.0 4.9 4.8 5.8 5.8 Legal Aid Fund Forecast 161.4 156.6 147.5 144.5 137.0 SG s Budget Provision 154.5 141.9 144.1 138.1 132.1 Variance between SG Provision and SLAB Forecast -6.9-14.7-3.4-6.4-4.9 Page 19 of 24
Service standards and targets Our targets enable us to measure our performance to deliver ever higher service levels for applicants and their solicitors We have performance targets for making correct decisions within set timescales. Our main roles include taking decisions on legal aid applications and assessing and paying the accounts of solicitors and counsel. Our indicators and targets provide a measure of our performance in these tasks. Our targets are agreed by Scottish Ministers annually. The key measures of our performance are our headline indicators, which combine individual timeliness and accuracy targets for each legal aid type. They are weighted equally to help achieve an appropriate balance between the measures for speed of processing and the quality of decisions. They measure the time from the date of receipt of the application or account until the date of final decision or a payment is made, excluding any periods where the application or account has been continued for further information. 2011-12 marked the beginning of the impact of financial constraints imposed as a result of cuts in UK public spending. However, our revised targets maintained accuracy at the levels previously expected and, following the demise of paper applications, a single online target for applications demonstrated a noticeable improvement between the old paper targets and the new single target. Where possible we also made the targets simpler and more consistent. It was not easy to achieve our performance targets in 2011-12; however, all application and account types met or exceeded the headline performance indicator for the year. In 2012-13 we will maintain the headline indicators used in 2011-12. These balance accuracy and timeliness and are supported by a range of individual targets. With the aim of recognising the different ways of working that the Making Justice Work Programme will introduce, we will carry out a further review of our key performance indicators in 2013-14. How we measure our service standards Service standards are based on working days this excludes weekends and the public holidays we are closed. We only count the time that the application or account is in our hands. It does not include the time that it is with the solicitor or the applicant awaiting a response to our request. We aim to assess a percentage of applications or accounts within our service standard. For example, we aim to assess 99% of summary criminal legal aid applications in 5 days. This reflects the reality that although we aim to decide all of those applications within 5 days, we may not be able to achieve this in a small number of cases. The accounts service standards measure from the day after receipt to the date the payment instruction is made to our bank. Payments made do not include the time taken by banks to process the payment through the BACS once the payment instruction is given. We are not in control of the BACS process and payment can take 2 4 days to be processed by the banks. Solicitors and advocates accounts are paid either in full or on offer. We pay on offer if there is insufficient information provided to us to justify a higher payment or where we consider that work has not been carried out with due regard to economy. Accounts paid in full or on offer have a target of 97% within 30 days. Where there are negotiations on the remaining sum following a payment on offer, our target is to pay 93% within 20 days. Page 20 of 24