The Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 (“the principal regulations”) to provide that–

(a) for the purposes of the fixed payments specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the principal regulations, proceedings under sections 27(1)(a) and 28 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 are to be regarded as part of the same matter as the summary proceedings in respect of which criminal legal aid was originally granted (regulation 3(a));

(b) where the Scottish Legal Aid Board grants an application for a change of solicitor, the solicitors who act on behalf of an assisted person will each be paid an equal share of the core payment payable under paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the principal regulations. In respect of the remaining paragraphs in Part 1 of Schedule 1, payment will be made to the solicitor who carries out the work (regulation 3(b));

(c) advising and taking instructions on the prospects of an appeal are included within the core payment in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the principal regulations (regulation 4 and the Schedule);

(d) there shall be fixed payments of £150 in the district court and £250 in the sheriff court for all work done up to and including the first 30 minutes of a trial or proof in mitigation where the assisted person is the subject of a complaint under section 27(1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (regulation 4 and the Schedule); and

(e) there shall be a fixed payment of £50 in respect of each appearance at a hearing on behalf of an assisted person in a sheriff court which has been designated as a domestic abuse court by the sheriff principal (regulation 4 and the Schedule).