Policy Insights: Access to Justice and the need for Civil Legal Aid Reform in Scotland
Published: 17 February 2026
Commentary
University of Glasgow experts share insights into how legal aid should be reformed to strengthen access to justice in Scotland. The legal aid sector in Scotland is at a pivotal moment – provider capacity is rapidly shrinking as burnout and unsustainable fees bite, and people are finding it increasingly challenging to access legal advice to enforce their rights. Putting the legal aid sector on a sustainable footing will be urgent work for the incoming government.
Legal aid promotes access to justice for all, not just those who can afford it. It is a foundational tenet for realising the Vision for Justice in Scotland and a human-rights based approach more broadly. Without a well-functioning legal aid system, people are forced to represent themselves – risking unbalancing the equality of arms, or more likely, do not pursue a remedy, risking a rights violation going unaddressed. Beyond being vital for a healthy democracy where the rule of law is upheld, ‘legal aid can also be smart economics’. The value of state funded legal advice and representation is well evidenced, with studies suggesting a return of £9 for every £1 spent on providing legal aid, or a £9,000 saving per case receiving free specialist legal advice.
Scotland is rightly proud of having legal aid that is available for a wide range of legal problems, including to prevent people from becoming homeless and to help women fleeing domestic violence. The majority of legal aid work is carried out by individual solicitors whose firms are registered to provide legal aid through a model referred to a judicare. This is where a solicitor will apply for legal aid on behalf of their client and be responsible for submitting an account for payment at the conclusion of each individual legal aid case. Despite an uncapped budget to spend on judicare, however, there is a widening gap between this shared understanding of the importance of legal aid and the reality of trying to find a legal aid lawyer in Scotland. Survivors of domestic abuse, for example, are having to call 30 to 60 solicitors before they can find one with capacity to take their case. This briefing examines this misalignment between the vision for justice and people’s ability to access legal advice and representation in practice. It makes recommendations for the incoming government about how a shared vision for an accessible and sustainable legal aid system can be realised.
This has been cross posted and the full blog can be found on the Centre for Public Policy website.
First published: 17 February 2026