Access to legal aid and advice services in Scotland | Scottish Parliament

Access to legal aid and advice services in Scotland

Author: Dr Mustapha Douch

PDF Published: Thursday 02 Jul 2026 (SB 26-38)

The graph shows a decline in the proportion of respondents reporting at least one civil justice problem between 2012 and 2022

Image: Figure 1: time trend of reports of at least one civil justice problem

The Sankey diagram shows that a majority of respondents did not seek advice and that, even among those who did seek advice, many problems remain unresolved.

Image: Figure 2: Sankey diagram showing flow of responses and outcomes to civil justice problems

Bar chart showing the most common issues for those who did not seek advice were social security benefits and neighbour problems.

Image: Figure 3: Most important problem for those who did not access help (Left: advice services, right: solicitor)

Bar chart showing that the most common issues for those who did seek advice included personal injury, unfair treatment by police and immigration issues, as well as neighbour issues.

Image: Figure 4: Most important problem for those who did access help (Left: advice services , right: solicitor)

This graph shows that people in SIMD quintiles 2, 3 and 5 are more likely to report experience of civil justice problems than quititle 1. People in quintile 4 are less likely to report problems.

Image: Figure 5: Likelihood of experiencing any civil justice problem by area deprivation, compared with the most deprived quintile

Infographic showing a higher prevalence of most types of civil justice problems in the lowest SIMD quintile. Problems with faulty goods and services, divorce or separation and medical negligence are examples of problems which were more prevalent in higher SIMD quintiles.

Image: Figure 6: Distribution of types of civil justice problems across SIMD quintiles

The infographic shows that views that resolving a civil justice problem was not worth the hassle or that nothing could be done are common across all SIMD quintiles. That resolution was too expensive was a view which was most prevalent in quintile 3; with being uncertain of rights a prevalent view in quintile 5.

Image: Figure 7: Reasons for giving up on solving a civil justice problem across SIMD quintiles

Infographic showing the factors making up the Civil Legal Support Index. These are indicators of social need, indicators of access barriers and availability of legal aid and advice services.

Image: Figure 14: Access to Civil Legal Support Index pillars

Map of Scotland showing areas which appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid use on average.

Image: Figure 19: Overall mismatch across Scotland (average 2017-2024)

Map of Scotland showing areas which appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid use in 2024.

Image: Figure 20: Overall mismatch across Scotland 2024

Datazone level map of Edinburgh showing areas which appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid use on average.

Image: Figure 21: Edinburgh overall mismatch (average 2017-2024)

Datazone level map of Edinburgh showing areas which areas appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid use in 2024.

Image: Figure 22: Edinburgh overall mismatch in 2024

Datazone level map of Glasgow showing areas which areas appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid use on average.

Image: Figure 23: Glasgow overall mismatch (average 2017-2024)

Datazone level map of Glasgow showing areas which areas appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid use in 2024.

Image: Figure 24: Glasgow overall mismatch 2024

Datazone level map of Dundee showing areas which areas appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid on average.

Image: Figure 25: Dundee overall mismatch (average 2017-2024)

Datazone level map of Dundee showing areas which areas appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid use in 2024.

Image: Figure 26: Dundee overall mismatch 2024

Datazone level map of Aberdeen showing areas which areas appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid use on average.

Image: Figure 27: Aberdeen overall mismatch (average 2017-2024)

Datazone level map of Aberdeen showing areas which areas appear to be under- and over-served in terms of Civil Legal Aid use in 2024.

Image: Figure 28: Aberdeen overall mismatch 2024

The bar chart shows lower advice agency use for younger and older people, with highest use by those aged 45 to 54. Solicitor use follows a similar pattern, with a peak in use for 35 to 44 year-olds and a spike for those aged 16 to 19.

Image: Figure 8: Advice agency and solicitor use by age

Infographic showing a broadly similar prevalence of difference types of civil justice problem by country of birth. Problems with neighbours feature prominently across all respondents. Discrimination is more prevalent among people born outside the UK.

Image: Figure 9: Distribution of types of civil justice problem by respondent's country of birth

The infographic shows that problems with neighbours are common across all religious groups. Discrimination is more common for people who belong to a religion other than Christianity.

Image: Figure 10: Distribution of types of civil justice problems by respondent's religion

The infographic shows that problems with neighbours were slightly more prevalent in urban than rural areas, while problems with goods and services were slightly more prevalent in rural than urban areas.

Image: Figure 11: Distribution of types of civil justice problems by rurality

The bar charts show a minor difference in use of advice services between urban and rural areas and a slightly bigger difference (with more use by those in rural areas) for solicitors.

Image: Figure 12: Use of advice agencies and solicitors by rurality

The main factors which determined whether a person with a civil justice issue chose to seek advice from an advice agency or a solicitor included the nature of the problem, self-esteem and trust in justice institutions.

Image: Figure 13: Factors influencing use of advice agencies or solicitors

This graph highlights that family cases are most sensitive to increases in distance from providers, with adults with incapacity cases next. "Other" cases are less sensitive to distance, but still show a negative impact.

Image: Figure 15: Sensitivity of Civil Legal Aid use to distance, by case type

This graph shows that family law cases are the most sensitive to increases in capacity, with adults with incapacity and "other" cases being less sensitive. All show a positive impact.

Image: Figure 16: Sensitivity of Civil Legal Aid use to supply, by case type

This line graph highlights that expected use of Civil Legal Aid services decreases most as distance increases for adults with incapacity and family law cases. The impact is less noticeable for "other" cases.

Image: Figure 17: Predicted Civil Legal Aid use by distance and case type

This line graph shows that expected use increases for all categories of Civil Legal Aid case as the number of suppliers increase. The effect is more marked for family law and adults with incapacity cases.

Image: Figure 18: Predicted Civil Legal Aid use by capacity and case type

Last Updated: 2/7 11:28am

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