SSBA to protest against Scottish government’s mishandling of legal aid

The occasion will mark a year since the Edinburgh and Glasgow Bar Associations took joint action and will coincide with a boycott of the holiday court this year by faculties across Scotland.

In a statement, the SSBA said: “For criminal legal aid practitioners, summary cases are the core of our workload. The fixed fee for that work was fixed in 1999. No consideration has been given to inflation to the extent that the fee is now significantly less in real terms than it was over twenty years ago. The criminal defence bar is unable to compete with the salaries offered by other public bodies. This has been exacerbated by the increase in pay for Procurator Fiscal Deputes and the current recruitment drive by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. We continue to see younger members leave criminal defence work in significant numbers. This is an inevitable consequence of funding one part of the Justice system whilst neglecting another.”

It added: “We invite you to join us at the Scottish Parliament at noon on the 6th December 2021.”