JUSTICE Secretary Kenny MacAskill has confirmed he will not back down on forcing lawyers to collect payments from clients under his controversial Legal Aid reforms.
The overhaul has prompted lawyers to vote in favour of strike action, with courts due to be brought to a standstill in the run-up to Christmas.
Those who have more than £68 a week disposable income will have to pay a contribution towards their Legal Aid bill under the plans, with lawyers responsible for collecting the money.
A meeting between Mr MacAskill and Austin Lafferty, president of the Law Society of Scotland, was held in a bid to ease the tension between the profession and Holyrood.
In a letter following the meeting, Mr MacAskill said he was not prepared to shift his position. He said it was "not unreasonable" to expect solicitors to collect the fees, which is the case with private clients, adding it would not be cost effective for the Scottish Legal Aid Board to do the job given the high proportion of small contributions likely for summary cases.
Mr MacAskill said he was willing to increase the financial threshold for payment –which would reduce the amount to be collected by law firms – but that the concession would be paid for by savings to other areas of the legal aid fund.
Mr Lafferty described Mr MacAskill's proposals as "robbing Peter to pay Paul". He added: "He is prepared to tinker around the edges but he has made it clear that he is not changing his decision to have lawyers collect the contributions."
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