Four out of five lawyers working on civil legal aid in Glasgow will no longer take on protective order cases unless the rates of pay increase, leading to concerns for domestic abuse victims. 

A survey carried out by the Glasgow Bar Association found that 80% of the city's lawyers are willing to walk away, leading to warnings of "impending disaster".

Solicitors are typically paid around £500 per case, but with the application for the orders — often used to protect victims of domestic abuse, and stalking — being incredibly complex and lengthy, many practitioners "are considering whether they should continue doing this work on legal aid certificates".

The figures were shared with domestic abuse charities by Tracey Mulholland, president of the Glasgow Bar Association (GBA), who warned of a “significant impact on domestic abuse victim’s ability to access justice”.

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The prospect of more lawyers walking away from legal aid will alarm charities and victims' organisations who are already warning of difficulties finding representation.

The Scottish Women's Rights Centre told The Herald that their service users regularly have to contact anywhere between 30 and 50 solicitors.

While Scottish Women's Aid said it was becoming commonplace for some women to represent themselves in court. 

In a letter to the groups, Ms Mulholland said solicitors were typically paid around £500 per case.

She said:  “The time demand on practitioners currently along with the poor rates of pay for this work means many practitioners are considering whether they should continue doing this work on legal aid certificates.

“This is likely to leave victims with no protection from their abusers.”

Ms Mulholland also raised concerns over the future of legal aid in matters involving the separation of a couple’s finances. She said 90% of solicitors may stop doing financial separation cases.

She warned: “Victims will often not be able to leave abusive partners due to the financial control being exerted over them.

“These cases can often be complex and contentious. The risk of undertaking such work compared with the low rates of legal aid has led many practitioners leaving legal aid practices for better conditions and pain.

“There is an impending disaster involving people’s ability to access civil legal aid and the first people who will be affected are those poorest and most vulnerable in society," she added.

Speaking to The Herald, Ms Mulholland added: “When people talk about the access to justice being in crisis they tend to forget about civil legal aid.

“Not only does the contraction of practitioners that offer legal aid mean you have these creation of legal aid deserts where you have huge parts of the country with no legal aid lawyers.

“If you’re a woman subjected to domestic violence in these areas and you need access to a solicitor to help you with your finances, with your children, and to keep that man away from you. Where are you going – how are you getting an appointment?”

The number of solicitors registered to offer legal aid across Scotland fell by 16.2% in four years, with 556 firms registered in 2020 and falling to 466 in 2024.

Across all legal aid – civil, criminal and children’s – solicitors representing a client fell from 1,971 in 2019-20 to 1,627 in 2023-24 – down 17.5%, data from the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) showed.

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Speaking exclusively to The Herald on behalf of the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre, senior associate solicitor Lyndsey Fleming said: “We have seen a substantial rise in the number of women who are contacting our services because they cannot find a solicitor to provide legal aid.

“Our advocacy service has seen an increase in the need to support women to find legal representation, this involves phoning around solicitors and being turned away by many.

“In specific cases, like divorce, for example, it’s emerging that it’s hard to find representation because of how legal aid is structured.”

When a victim is unable to secure a solicitor under legal aid, they are required to consider privately funding their legal representation. 

Dr Marsha Scott, Chief Executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, said this was leading to a number of women being forced to take drastic measures. 

She said: "Our local Women’s Aid services have told us this has been getting worse in recent years. Survivors struggle to find legal aid support and so are left footing the bill they can seldom afford for a private solicitor or else representing themselves against an abuser and his solicitor.

"It is a system that does not prioritise the rights and safety of survivors and it has to change. We want to see bold change around access to legal services – particularly legal aid – for survivors of domestic abuse so they can access the domestic abuse competent advice and representation they need, when they need it."

Official data from SLAB showed that £52 million of the total £151 million was spent on civil legal aid.

The data from 2023-24 showed that family disputes dominated the annual expenditure on civil legal aid, with £13 million on contact cases and £4.8 million on family and matrimonial cases.

Divorce and separation cases cost £2.3 million, while £7 million was spent on residence cases.

In non-family cases, those involving adults with incapacity, cost £5.8 million while immigration and asylum cost £12 million.

The Scottish Government has said that despite "extremely challenging financial circumstances", they continue to meet all legal aid costs in full despite the cost of legal assistance increasing by 12% since the previous year, up from £135 million in 2022-23.

A spokesperson added the number of active legal aid solicitors has remained "broadly similar" in the past four years.

The Scottish Government said it recognises the legal aid system needs improvement and reform.

A spokesperson added: “We have provided annual funding of £230,000 for a number of years to the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre to support access to legal services and will continue to work with key stakeholders. The legal aid system is demand led and offers help for a wide scope of civil actions, as well as criminal defence.

“Despite extremely challenging financial circumstances, the Scottish Government continues to meet all legal aid costs in full. The cost of providing legal assistance in 2023-24 increased by 12% on the previous year to £151 million.

“An £11 million package that increased fees for legal aid lawyers was implemented in April 2023, bringing the total additional funding to legal aid providers to £31 million since April 2021, and the number of active legal aid solicitors remains broadly similar in the years 2020-21 to 2023-24.”

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A Scottish Legal Aid Board spokesman said: “The legal aid system is generally effective in delivering help to those in need: grants of full civil legal aid increased last year by 5% to 13,800, while grants of civil advice and assistance rose by 6% to 46,200.

“Despite this, our own analysis and work with organisations like Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) suggests that there may be challenges facing some of those seeking help in relation to certain types of case, in some places.

"A pilot referral service set up in conjunction with SWA helped find solicitors for 134 of the women referred to it over a 12-month period. We were unable to find solicitors for 74 women over the same period.

"These cases tended to stem from a small number of locations and most did not involve protective orders.

"Set alongside the overall numbers of people across the country successfully obtaining advice and representation for a wide range of problems, this evidence suggests a system that operates effectively for most, but could be bolstered by targeted responses to address specific problems.

“We are committed to continuing our work with the profession and advice sector to identify and better understand the scale and nature of any problems in accessing services, and to develop effective targeted response to those problems.”