According to legislation.gov.uk, Scottish Ministers made SSI 2026/267, the Criminal Legal Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026, on 22 September 2026 and laid it before the Scottish Parliament on 24 September 2026. The instrument amends three existing sets of regulations under the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986. Most provisions come into force on 19 November 2026, while regulations 4 and 5 start on 14 December 2026. Kirsten Oswald signed the instrument on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. (legislation.gov.uk)
The clearest financial change is a 13% increase to fees and outlays for work under the National Security Act 2023 within Parts 7 and 8 of schedule 3 to the Advice and Assistance (Scotland) Regulations 1996. The legislation raises, for example, one representation fee from £62.59 to £70.73, another from £93.87 to £106.08, and the Part 8 standard rate from £143.93 to £162.65, with corresponding increases at higher-rate levels and for related hearing work. (legislation.gov.uk)
Those increases are backdated. Regulation 2 applies the revised fees to grants of assistance by way of representation made on or after 1 September 2026 and to fees for work done or outlays incurred on or after that same date. Where work spans more than one day, the regulations treat it as having been done on the day the work ends, a drafting point that will matter when firms assess whether a claim qualifies for the uplift. (legislation.gov.uk)
Regulation 4 deals with fixed payments in summary criminal proceedings under the 1999 Regulations. It inserts a rule that if work has been carried out under more than one of paragraphs 1(a), 1(b) and 3 of Part 2 of schedule 3, only the highest of those fees is payable. The explanatory note on legislation.gov.uk presents this as part of a broader set of amendments to the fixed-payment scheme, alongside minor and technical changes. (legislation.gov.uk)
The same regulation also rewrites how payment is divided when more than one solicitor has acted for the assisted person. Under the new text, certain schedule 3 base payments are to be split equally between solicitors acting in the proceedings, while payments linked to specified items of work remain payable to the solicitor who actually carried out that work. A new paragraph 7B further provides that paragraph 1A does not apply to payments made under paragraphs 7AA or 7AB. (legislation.gov.uk)
Regulation 5 then amends the Criminal Legal Assistance (Fees and Information etc.) (Scotland) Regulations 2008 by adding an express provision to the single-payment rules for summary criminal cases. The inserted text covers criminal legal aid provided by more than one solicitor under regulation 4(7AA) or 4(7AB) of the 1999 Regulations. In practical terms, the drafting is there to ensure the payment system can recognise case transfers or shared work and still pay each solicitor where the amended rules allow it. (legislation.gov.uk)
Taken together, SSI 2026/267 is best read as an implementation instrument rather than a fresh policy settlement. The November provisions bring National Security Act fee lines into line with the wider fee increase that took effect on 1 September 2026, while the December provisions are timed to align with earlier criminal legal aid and assistance by way of representation amendments made in 2026. For legal aid providers, the immediate administrative effect will be to review claims covering work from 1 September 2026 and to check how fees should be apportioned where a summary case has passed between solicitors. (legislation.gov.uk)