Scottish Legal Aid Board computer spending questioned.
Running costs at the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) have jumped two-thirds in a decade despite a substantial drop in its caseload. The Scottish Legal Aid Board confirmed that its administration budget increased by 65% over the past 10 years to nearly £13m this year, while the number of grants it issued fell some 34,000 in the same period. The board, however, defended extra spending on staff and computer systems as giving the taxpayer better value for money on the aid it provides for hundreds of thousands of legal and civil cases.
But speaking at an Edinburgh conference sonsored by the Faculty of Advocates, Mike Dailly of the Goven Law Centre told his audience of senior lawyers and industry experts that the board was diverting public money into bureaucracy, while access to civil justice becomes a privilege only of the very poor, entitled to legal aid, and the very rich, who can afford their own lawyers.
The Herald quoted Dailly as saying "Access seems to have regressed while bureaucracy has widened. Legal aid expenditure is officially demand-led and uncapped. Yet it might be thought what has happened is more public money has been diverted into bureaucracy and devices which have squeezed demand and restricted take-up."
He added: "Legal aid bureaucracy has grown exponentially over the last few years. Often a client does not have the information now required by the board and solicitors will have to write to local authorities, previous employers, and so on. The time and effort now required to obtain legal aid has become a major task in its own right."
Dailly's Govan Law Centre is one of several community-based legal practices designed, like the board, to help ensure fair access to justice for all. Many clients are poor. But even those on benefits can struggle to get legal aid. The board is currently responsible for around £160m of grants a year, although it is able to claim some of that back when clients it funds win their cases. Its official net spending on grants was £150m in 2006-2007, up from £136m in 1996-1997. Dailly, however, does not believe that this rise warrants increased spending on administration.
Solicitors, he said, are voting with their feet. "The board confirms that in 2006 there were 736 firms registered for civil legal aid work, while in 2007 that number fell by 8% to 678." Forms for legal aid, he said, were long and off-putting, some stretching to 40 pages in length.
A SLAB spokesman said much of the new spending on administration was designed to cut bureaucracy. Some of the budget went on new computers that are helping solicitors make online applications for grants.
"We have also invested in staff who are involved in quality insurance and checking for fraud. Our staff uncovered one fraud worth £1.7m," he said. Higher administration costs, the board argues, have helped save money on grants. It expects to see reduction in costs over the next few years and the administration budget will be stable for the next three years.
Source: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news
Web: http://www.slab.org.uk