EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 S.I. 1999/491 (“the 1999 Regulations”) to provide that in certain circumstances, and subject to certain conditions, the Scottish Legal Aid Board (“the Board”) may determine that a solicitor is not to receive fixed payments for work done in connection with a grant of assistance by way of representation but instead is to receive payment based on the amount of time spent and work done in providing the assistance by way of representation.
The Regulations amend regulation 4A of the 1999 Regulations, which already makes provision for payment other than by fixed payments in respect of criminal legal aid, to extend that regulation to assistance by way of representation. Regulation 4A of the 1999 Regulations prescribes the factors to be taken into account by the Board in deciding whether to determine that a solicitor should not receive fixed payments; makes provision in relation to the form of application for a determination by the Board; requires solicitors to keep proper records of professional services and provide for a procedure for review of the Board’s decision.
These Regulations also amend regulation 4A of the 1999 Regulations to provide that, where there has been a change of solicitor, any solicitor who provided assistance by way of representation to the assisted person at any time before that change is, in certain circumstances and subject to certain conditions, to receive payment based on the amount of time spent and work done.