Scottish Legal Aid Board

 

Frequently asked questions

Below are some questions and answers you may have after using our civil legal aid calculator.

 

• What are the qualifying amounts for civil legal aid?
  
  
• What you may have to pay
  
  
• Payment of contributions
  
  
• Where can I get help if If you do not qualify?
  

 

What are the qualifying amounts for civil legal aid?

To qualify for civil legal aid, you have to meet the tests for BOTH income and capital. If your disposable income is:

• more than £25,000, you are not eligible on income and do NOT qualify for civil legal aid
  
  
• £3,355 or less, you are eligible on income and will not have to pay a contribution from income

• between £3,355 and £25,000, you are eligible on income but will have to pay a contribution.

If you qualify on income, and your disposable capital is:

• £7,504 or less, you are eligible on capital and will not have to pay a contribution from your capital

• between £7,504 and £12,439, you are eligible on capital, but will have to pay a contribution – this will be equal to the difference between your capital figure and £7,504.

• more than £12,439*, you would normally be refused legal aid if we think you can afford to proceed without it. (This will depend on the type of proceedings you are involved in, and how costly these are likely to be.)

*If you are a pensioner, even if your capital is more than £12,439 you may still qualify: speak to your solicitor about this.

 

What you may have to pay

Contributions

The figures above are the most you would have to pay as ‘contributions’. Bear in mind that you may have to pay a contribution for advice and assistance and a contribution for civil legal aid.

If you apply for civil legal aid, your solicitor will estimate how much your case is likely to cost.

• If this estimate is less than the contribution we decide that you could pay, we may reduce what we ask you to pay.
  
  
• However, if the case ends up costing more than your solicitor’s estimate, you will still have to pay the full amount we calculated originally, or the sum of your solicitor’s account, whichever is less.

You may get some or all of your contribution back if the case costs less than we expect, or if we get back some of the costs from your opponent.

‘Special urgency’ contributions

Your solicitor may sometimes be able to do urgent work on your behalf in court before we decide on your legal aid application – for example, to apply to the court for an order to prevent someone assaulting you. However:

you may have to pay us a contribution for this work, even if you decide not to go ahead with the case, or your application for legal aid is unsuccessful.

We will base any contribution on how much you can afford to pay, so you must give us the information we need to work this out. If you don’t tell us this, you may have to pay the whole cost.

What else you might have to pay

If we grant civil legal aid, then at the end of the case we will pay your solicitor’s bill. However, to cover the costs of the case, we will use:

• first, any costs paid by your opponent(s)
• second, any contribution you have to pay to us
• third, if these first two are not enough, part or all of any money or property you win or manage to keep as a result of your case
• fourth, if these first three are not enough, we will pay the remainder.

This means that as well as any contributions you have to pay, if you win or keep money or property, we may take some or all of this to cover any shortfall between what we have paid out in your case and what we have received. This is sometimes called ‘clawback’. If your case relates to money or property, then you need to know more about ‘clawback’. You should read our leaflet, Civil legal aid – what you may have to pay at the end of your case if you win or keep money or property.

If you lose your case, the court may order you to pay some or all of your opponent’s costs. Legal aid does not cover your opponent's costs, and you would have to pay these yourself.

If you are worried about this, or anything else to do with your case and how legal aid would affect you, you should ask your solicitor. You can also get more information on all aspects of civil legal aid from our leaflet Civil legal aid - information for applicants, which your solicitor will give you before you apply.

Payment of contributions

If you have to pay a contribution based on income, we will normally allow you to pay in instalments. We’ll tell you how many instalments, and over how long a period. This will depend on the total amount you have to pay.

Normally, we will allow contributions of –

• up to £500 to be paid in 20 monthly instalments
• £501 - £1,000 to be paid in 30 monthly instalments
• £1,001 - £1,500 to be paid in 36 monthly instalments
• £1,501 - £2,000 to be paid in 42 monthly instalments
• over £2,000 to be paid in 48 monthly instalments.

If you think you will have difficulty paying over that period, sometimes we may allow you to pay over a longer time. You will have to show us why we should allow you to do so. Staff in our Treasury Department will be happy to discuss this with you.

If your contribution is based on your capital, we will normally ask you to pay this in one lump sum.

 

Where can I get help if If you do not qualify?
Free advice is available from various organisations such as:

• Citizens Advice Bureaux – visit their website
  
  
• Money Advice Centres – visit their website
  
  
• Shelter (which deals with housing issues) – visit their website.

They may be able to help with your case, and help you decide whether you need legal advice. Please go to their websites or look in Yellow Pages for their contact details.

You may also find that you can get help through your trade union or insurers.