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Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986

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Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 25 November 2024. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Help about Changes to Legislation

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Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. Changes and effects are recorded by our editorial team in lists which can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area. Where those effects have yet to be applied to the text of the legislation by the editorial team they are also listed alongside the affected provisions when you open the content using the Table of Contents below.

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Changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Act associated Parts and Chapters:

Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Act (including any effects on those provisions):

  • s. 4(2)(aba) (abb) inserted by 2007 asp 5 s. 75(2)
  • s. 4(2)(aba) word substituted by S.S.I. 2011/235 art. 5(2)(a) (This amendment comes into force immediately after the commencement of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 5), s. 75, see art. 2(2). That provision is still prospective.)
  • s. 4(2)(abb) word substituted by S.S.I. 2011/235 art. 5(2)(b) (This amendment comes into force immediately after the commencement of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 5), s. 75, see art. 2(2). That provision is still prospective.)
  • s. 4(2)(ba) inserted by 2007 asp 5 s. 70(1)
  • s. 4(3)(ca) (cb) inserted by 2007 asp 5 s. 75(3)
  • s. 9A 9B inserted by 2013 asp 3 s. 18(2)
  • s. 10(1A) (1B) inserted by 2007 asp 5 s. 69(3)
  • s. 12C and cross-heading inserted by 2007 asp 5 s. 70(2)
  • s. 17(2C)-(2I) inserted by 2007 asp 5 s. 75(4)
  • s. 17(2DA)(2DB) s. 17(2C)(2D) renumbered as s. 17(2DA)(2DB) by S.S.I. 2011/235 art. 5(3) (This amendment comes into force immediately after the commencement of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 5), s. 75, see art. 2(2). That provision is still prospective.)
  • s. 25AA(5)-(9) inserted by 2013 asp 3 s. 21
  • s. 25AC 25AD inserted by 2013 asp 3 s. 20

  1. Introductory Text

  2. Part I Scottish Legal Aid Board

    1. The Board

      1. 1. The Scottish Legal Aid Board.

      2. 2. Powers of the Board.

      3. 3. Duties of the Board.

    2. The Fund

      1. 4. Scottish Legal Aid Fund.

      2. 4A.Power of Board to make grants for certain purposes

      3. 5. Accounts and audit.

  3. Part II Advice and Assistance

    1. 6. Definitions.

    2. 7. Application of Part II.

    3. 8. Availability of advice & assistance.

    4. 8A.Criminal advice and assistance: automatic availability in certain circumstances

    5. 9. Regulations may apply Part II to representation.

    6. 10. Financial limit.

    7. 11. Clients' contributions: general

    8. 11A.Clients' contributions: specified criminal assistance by way of representation

    9. 12. Payment of fees or outlays otherwise than through clients’ contributions.

    10. Register of advice organisations

      1. 12A.Register of advice organisations

      2. 12B.Advice and assistance

  4. Part III Civil Legal Aid

    1. 13. Meaning of “civil legal aid”.

    2. 14. Availability of civil legal aid.

    3. 15. Financial conditions.

    4. Expenses

      1. 16. Expenses in favour of certain assisted persons.

      2. 17. Contributions, and payments out of property recovered.

      3. 18. Expenses of unassisted party.

      4. 19. Expenses out of the Fund.

      5. 20. Provisions supplementary to sections 18 and 19.

  5. Part IV Criminal Legal Aid

    1. 21. Scope and nature of criminal legal aid.

    2. 22. Automatic availability of criminal legal aid.

    3. 23. Power of the court to grant legal aid.

    4. 23A.Legal aid in solemn proceedings

    5. 24. Legal aid in summary proceedings.

    6. 25. Legal aid in appeals.

    7. 25AA. Legal aid in respect of appeals under section 303A of the 1995 Act.

    8. 25AB.Legal aid in references, appeals or applications for special leave to appeal to the Supreme Court

  6. Part IVA Criminal Legal Assistance

    1. Registration

      1. 25A. Criminal Legal Assistance Register.

    2. Code of practice

      1. 25B. Code of practice in relation to criminal legal assistance.

      2. 25C. Supervision of registered solicitors and firms.

    3. Removal of name from Register

      1. 25D. Removal of name from Register following failure to comply with code.

      2. 25E. Further provision as to removal of name from Register.

      3. 25F. Publication of Register.

  7. Part V Employment of Solicitors by the Board

    1. 26. Employment to which Part V applies.

    2. 27. Arrangements for employment to which Part V applies.

    3. 28. General provisions relating to employment to which Part V applies.

    4. 28A. Power of Board to employ solicitors to provide criminal assistance.

  8. Part 5A Children's legal aid

    1. 28B.Children's legal aid

    2. 28C.Circumstances where children's legal aid automatically available

    3. 28D.Availability of children's legal aid: child

    4. 28E.Availability of children's legal aid: relevant person

    5. 28F.Availability of children's legal aid: appeals relating to deemed relevant person

    6. 28G.Conditions

    7. 28H.Board to establish review procedures

    8. 28J.Board's power to require compliance with conditions

    9. 28K.Contributions to the Fund

    10. 28L.Power of Scottish Ministers to extend or restrict types of proceedings before children's hearings in which children's legal aid to be available

    11. 28LA.Power of Scottish Ministers to provide for children's legal aid to be available to other persons in relation to court proceedings

    12. 28LB.Power of Scottish Ministers to provide for children's legal aid to be available in relation to proceedings under the Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019

  9. Part 5B Children's legal assistance

    1. 28M.Register of solicitors and firms eligible to provide children's legal assistance

    2. 28N.Code of practice

    3. 28P.Duty to comply with code of practice

    4. 28Q.Non-compliance with code of practice

    5. 28R.Further provision as to removal of name from register

    6. 28S.Publication of register etc.

  10. Part VI Miscellaneous

    1. Proceedings in relation to children

      1. 29. Legal aid in respect of certain proceedings relating to children.

    2. Contempt of court

      1. 30. Legal aid in contempt proceedings.

    3. Solicitors and counsel

      1. 31. Solicitors and counsel.

      2. 32. Restriction on payment and employment of solicitor or counsel.

      3. 33. Fees and outlays of solicitors and counsel.

      4. 33ZA.Regulations about contributions for criminal legal assistance

    4. Interim payments to solicitors and counsel

      1. 33ZB.Claim for interim payment

      2. 33ZC.Recovery where interim payment excessive

    5. Contracts for the provision of criminal legal assistance

      1. 33A.Contracts for the provision of criminal legal assistance.

    6. Contracts for the provision of children's legal assistance

      1. 33B.Contracts for the provision of children's legal assistance

    7. Information

      1. 34. Confidentiality of information.

      2. 35. False information etc.

      3. 35A. Power of Board to require information.

      4. 35AA.Information about legal services

    8. Power of entry

      1. 35B. Power of Board to enter premises and investigate.

    9. Suspension of payments to solicitor

      1. 35C. Suspension of payments to solicitor.

    10. Regulations and rules of court

      1. 36. Regulations.

      2. 37. Parliamentary procedure.

      3. 38. Rules of court.

    11. Rights of indemnity

      1. 39. Adaptation of rights to indemnity.

    12. General

      1. 40. Finance.

      2. 41. Interpretation.

      3. 41A. Regulations in relation to criminal legal assistance.

      4. 42. Disposable income and capital.

      5. 43. Act not to affect certain taxations etc.

      6. 43A. Applications of Act to services provided under Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990.

      7. 44. Crown application.

      8. 45. Amendments, transitional provisions, savings and repeals.

      9. 46. Short title, commencement and extent.

  11. SCHEDULES

    1. SCHEDULE 1

      The Scottish Legal Aid Board

      1. Incorporation and Status

        1. 1.The Board shall be a body corporate with a common...

        2. 2.(1) The Board is not an emanation of the Crown...

      2. Tenure of Members

        1. 3.Subject to paragraphs 4 and 5 below any member of...

        2. 4.(1) The chairman or a member may resign office by...

        3. 5.The Secretary of State may terminate the appointment of a...

      3. Remuneration of members

        1. 6.(1) The Board may— (a) pay to its members such...

      4. Staff

        1. 7.(1) The Board shall, after consultation with, and subject to...

        2. 8.(1) Subject to paragraph 9 below, the Board may appoint,...

        3. 9.(1) The Board shall, not later than such date as...

        4. 10.(1) Where a person becomes an employee of the Board...

        5. 11.(1) Any dispute as to whether an offer under sub-paragraph...

      5. Proceedings

        1. 12.(1) Subject to anything in regulations made by the Secretary...

      6. Allowances

        1. 13.The Board may pay to each of its members and...

      7. Instruments

        1. 14.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

      8. Board not dominus litis

        1. 15.Nothing done by the Board for the purpose of securing...

    2. SCHEDULE 1A

      Further provision in relation to the Register of Advice organisations

      1. Register of advice organisations

        1. 1.(1) An organisation which satisfies the Board that it complies...

      2. Applications

        1. 2.(1) An application for entry on the register of advice...

      3. Further provision on applications

        1. 3.(1) In determining any application for entry on the register...

      4. Adviser code

        1. 4.(1) The Board shall prepare a code of practice (an...

      5. Monitoring

        1. 5.The Board is to monitor— (a) the provision of advice...

      6. Removal of name from the register of advice organisations

        1. 6.(1) Where it appears to the Board (whether or not...

      7. Appeals

        1. 7.(1) A decision by the Board to refuse an application...

    3. SCHEDULE 2

      1. Part I Courts in which Civil Legal Aid is Available

        1. 1.Civil legal aid shall be available in relation to civil...

        2. 2.For the purposes of section 13 of this Act, proceedings...

        3. 2A.Proceedings before the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland

        4. 3.Proceedings for judicial review before the Upper Tribunal

      2. Part II Excepted Proceedings

        1. 1.Subject to section 14(1C) and paragraph 2 below, civil legal...

        2. 2.The making of a counterclaim for defamation or verbal injury...

        3. 3.Civil legal aid shall not be available in relation to...

        4. 3A.Civil legal aid shall not be available in relation to...

        5. 3B.In paragraph 3A— (a) “ actions for personal injury ”...

        6. 4.Subject to paragraph 5 below, civil legal aid shall not...

        7. 5.Nothing in paragraph 4 above shall preclude any third party...

    4. SCHEDULE 3

      Minor and Consequential Amendments

      1. The Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972 (c.18)

        1. 1.(1) In section 31(1) of the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement)...

        2. 2.(1) Section 43A of that Act shall be amended as...

      2. The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 (c.24)

        1. 3.In Part III of Schedule 1 to the House of...

      3. The Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975 (c.25)

        1. 4.In Part III of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland...

      4. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (c.65)

        1. 5.In section 75(4) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 for...

      5. The Race Relations Act 1976 (c.74)

        1. 6.In section 66(6) of the Race Relations Act 1976 for...

      6. The Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 (c.46)

        1. 7.In section 35(4) of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 for...

        2. 8.(1) Section 51 of that Act shall be amended as...

      7. The Tenants’ Rights, Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980 (c.52)

        1. 9.In section 9B(4) of the Tenants’ Rights, Etc. (Scotland) Act...

    5. SCHEDULE 4

      Transitional Provisions and Savings

      1. The Legal Aid (Scotland) fund

        1. 1.(1) On the appointed day the Legal Aid (Scotland) Fund...

      2. Rights, obligations and property

        1. 2.Subject to paragraph 1 above, on the appointed day all...

      3. Legal aid and advice and assistance

        1. 3.(1) Nothing in this Act shall affect any legal aid...

        2. 4.(1) Any application for legal aid duly made under the...

      4. Pensions

        1. 5.Any arrangements made by the Law Society under section 12...

      5. General

        1. 6.(1) In this Schedule “the appointed day” means the day...

    6. Schedule 5

      Repeals

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