While solicitors told us their colleagues were leaving the profession in large numbers, the data allowed us to assess the scale of the problem.
We have compiled and analysed data from across the legal aid sector, predominantly using data from the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) and the Law Society of Scotland.
READ MORE: Beyond Breaking Point: Scotland’s Legal Aid Crisis – all articles here
Our interactive data will take you through the changing numbers in civil, criminal and children’s legal aid, the finances behind this and the age and gender disparities that have emerged over the last few years.
And as we look at what has been described as “legal aid deserts” – where some rural areas in Scotland do not have a registered solicitor – you can check how many solicitors are registered for court and police duty in your region.
Funding
The Scottish Government provides an uncapped budget for legal aid, with funding administered by the Scottish Legal Aid Board.
Technically, when the requirement for legal aid is met, an application cannot be refused which means the funding levels fluctuate each year.
The cost of legal aid has steadily been increasing. This year up to March 31, £151 million was spent across civil, criminal and children’s legal aid.
This is up 12% from the £135 million spent in 2022-23 and up 27.8% from the £188.2 million in 2021-22.
There is a greater understanding of the cost increases when the figure is split between civil, criminal and children’s legal aid.
Criminal legal aid costs had risen to £85 million in 2023-24, up from £72.8 million in the previous year and from £62.5 million in 2021-22.
The Scottish Legal Aid Board points these increases to a 30% increase in solemn expenditure – cases heard by a judge and jury. This increased from £34 million in 2022-23 to £44 million in the latest financial year.
In the last two years, assault, sexual offences and offensive behaviour cases have accounted for the most criminal legal aid expenditure.
However, in all three categories there has been an increase in both years.
In 2022-23, assault expenditure was £17.3 million, rising to £21 million in 2023-24, an increase of 21.4%. Sexual offences spending increased from £11.6 million to £15 million in the same timeframe – up 29.3%.
For offensive behaviour, the increase was 14.3%, from £10.5 million to £12 million in 2023-24.
The increase in legal aid costs was also because of an upsurge in cases being finished, and therefore paid to solicitors.Â
Civil legal aid cost the Scottish Government £52 million in 2023-24, up from £47.5 million, a 9% increase, from the previous year, and up from £42.2 million in 2021-22.
These costs covered contact, family and divorce cases as well as immigration and asylum assistance.
Immigration and contact cases accounted for the most civil legal aid funding, £12 million and £13 million respectively. Housing disputes cost £7 million.
When this year’s data is compared with 2022-23, spending has increased in every category.
Contact spending increased by a million, up from £12 million in 2022-23.
Immigration and asylum spending increased by £1.5 million, or 14.3%, up from £10.5 million.
A key concern of the profession has been the declining numbers of solicitors who are taking on legal aid cases.
Our investigation looks into why these issues are happening. But here the data answers the key questions: are the numbers dwindling? And what does the future of the profession look like based on age and gender?
Clearly, looking at the data, there is a trend across civil, criminal and children’s legal aid of fewer lawyers registering to take on legal aid cases.
In 2020, 1,023 solicitors were registered for criminal legal aid cases, falling to 939 in 2024. This decline hasn’t been drastic. There was just one solicitor less in 2021. But by 2022 this figure had increased to 41 and 18 left in 2023 and 24 in 2024.
A better indication of the solicitor supply in criminal legal aid can be seen when looking at the number of lawyers who have carried out this type of work in the last 12 months.
 In 2020, 380 firms carried out criminal legal aid, falling each year to 344 in 2024. The number of practitioners in 2020 was 813, increasing to 827 in 2021, before dropping to 791 the following year and to 790 in 2024.
Children’s legal aid went from 820 solicitors registered in 2020 to 621 in 2024, a drop of almost a fifth. (24.3%).
Data for civil legal aid is recorded by SLAB as ‘firms’ instead of individual solicitors.
A steady decline in registered firms can also be seen across civil legal aid.
In 2020, there were 556 firms registered, falling 16.2% to 466 in 2024. In 2021, there were 561 firms registered, compared to 555 in 2022 and 531 in 2023.
Cases take longer to complete
Fewer cases are now being completed in 2023-24 than they were in 2019-20.
A total of 166,212Â cases across criminal, civil and children’s legal aid were completed in 2019-20, dropping to 129,608 in 2023-24.
But the Scottish Legal Aid Board said it is a fairer representation of the statistics to look at the number of new cases being granted. Why is this?
Fewer new cases are being granted to solicitors in 2023-24 than they were in 2019-20, falling to 165,955 to 192,264.
With cases now taking longer to complete, SLAB told The Herald this was why the figures showed fewer cases being considered completed. These case delays are the result of a number of factors, including court delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Typically, solicitors are only paid on the completion of a case however changes have been introduced to allow solicitors to claim interim fees.
The number of these interim claims has significantly increased, with SLAB stating that these trends mean fewer final accounts are being finalised as a proportion of all accounts paid.
Instead, the breakdown of new cases granted is an indication of the “profession’s ability to respond to current demands”, a spokesman for SLAB said.
Age and gender
Our main story on legal aid access leads on concerns for the future. It is estimated that a third of practitioners could retire in the next 10 years.
The Law Society of Scotland said they surveyed 911 solicitors currently registered for legal aid. This number was 1,084 in 2020, and further shows a declining trend in solicitor numbers.
But of these, 216 are aged between 56 and 65 while another 101 are older.
Through our research of access to justice, the term “legal aid deserts” has emerged frequently.
Our assessment of how legal aid varies across the country painted a stark picture: some regions have very little access.
Court duty plans operates on a rota of solicitors who are able to attend courts to represent clients charged with a criminal offence.
A total of 493 private solicitors withdrew from legal aid court duty across the country between 2021 and 2023.
In the same time frame, 304 solicitors withdrew from police duty plans – where they are able to represent those arrested and interviewed under caution.
However, there were 395 private solicitors on police duty plans as of March, and 530 on court plans.
On court duty, Kirkwall in Orkney, and Lochmaddy, on North Uist, now have no private firms or solicitors registered for legal aid.
And while Orkney has a Public Defence Solicitors’ Office (PDSO) duty plan in place, Lochmaddy does not. A PDSO is publicly funded and can support people who cannot afford legal assistance but it can also cause delays in the system.
On police duty plans, the data shows there are none registered in Aberdeen, Banff, Falkirk, Jedburgh, Kirkwall, Livingston, Lochmaddy and Selkirk. PDSO’s were available in all of these areas, as of March 2024.
For completeness however, it is important to note the numbers of private solicitors applying for court and police duty plans.
In 2023, the latest data available, 201 solicitors applied to the court scheme – but many rural areas including Fort William, Elgin, Kirkwall, Lerwick and Lochmaddy, had none.
There were 83 police duty applications.
Police duty plan applications in 2023 only occurred in Airdrie, Dumbarton, Dundee, Edinburgh, Elgin, Forfar, Fort William, Glasgow, Inverness, Kilmarnock, Kirkcaldy, Paisley, Peterhead, Stornoway and Tain.
