SCOTTISH defence lawyers are set to boycott domestic abuse cases in a major escalation of their long-running dispute with the Scottish Government over “derisory” legal aid fees.
From May 3, members of the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA) will no longer accept new instructions in summary cases where a contravention of section one of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 is alleged.
That’s the new offence which tackles coercive control, covering abusive behaviour towards a partner or ex-partner.
In a statement, the association said: “Offences under s.1 of the Act are inherently complex and involve significantly more work than most summary cases. For example, the same fee is payable for a summary case alleging a single punch on a specific date and time as is payable for an allegation under s.1 of the Act which must relate to behaviour over a period of time (which could be years) and which refers to multiple incidents.
“The fees payable for legal aid work are derisory. As a profession, we cannot undertake complex cases for a fixed fee rate which was set decades ago and was never intended to include such complex and lengthy cases.”
The SSBA said ministers were ignoring the profession’s warning over the low fees.
“They have ignored us when we say that this has a negative impact on the diversity of the profession.
“They have ignored us when we tell them that we cannot have fair access to justice when newly qualified prosecutors routinely earn upwards of £15,000 per year more than defence solicitors at the same stage.
“They ignore us when we tell them that the profession is in crisis. The action we are taking is a consequence of the Scottish government’s failure to adequately address these problems.”
The profession says legal aid fees haven’t changed in about 20 years, they’re looking for an increase of 50 per cent. The government say that is simply too much.
However, Community safety minister, Ash Regan, told the BBC that ministers were committed to reforming legal aid.
"I think you could always look back and say things should have been done differently," she said. "What I would say is that since I've been in post, I've given consistent fee rate rises. I have listened to what the profession has said.
"This is a serious escalation. There are real victims that are going to be impacted by this. So I want to send out that message that the government is willing to carry on talking to see if we can find a resolution to this."
The chief executive of Scottish Women's Aid expressed warned that the action could lead to delays to section one, which could be "very dangerous."
"The commercial model is not fit for purpose," said Marsha Scott. "Witness attrition is going through the roof. Women are walking away from cases. They will be walking away from calling the police unless they are absolutely desperate."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here