UN’s help sought in forcing Scottish government to act on legal aid

The Human Rights Consortium Scotland will address the United Nations Human Rights Committee this week to highlight the challenges faced by people seeking remedies for human rights violations in Scotland.

Of particular concern is the state of the legal aid system in Scotland, which is crumbling and in dire need of reform. A 2022 report from the Law Society of Scotland found:

• Out of the 139 most deprived communities in Scotland, 122 have no civil legal aid firms.
• These communities share only 29 civil legal aid firms among them.
• Nearly 90,000 people across these communities are left without local access to civil legal aid.
• Legal aid fees agreed in 1999 have increased by only 10 per cent, while inflation has surged by 55 per cent.
• The number of lawyers willing to take legal aid cases has significantly reduced, and there are particular shortages in specialised areas such as immigration, environmental, and human rights law.

Despite multiple reviews and consultations by the Scottish government and promises of legal aid reform, there has been no consultation on a draft bill, and no commitment to a much-needed reform timeline.

The Human Rights Consortium Scotland poses two questions to the UN to ask of the Scottish government:

• Will the government significantly improve access to justice in their upcoming human rights law reform, and will they provide regular progress reports?
• Will the government prioritise the reform of legal aid, with a consultation published on necessary legislative changes in 2024?

The upcoming Scottish Human Rights Bill should encompass measures to significantly improve access to justice. This includes the right to effective remedy, empowering the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the Children’s Commissioner to take litigation in their own name and establishing robust non-court routes to remedy.