Scottish Legal Aid Board
ABOUT SLAB
The Scottish Legal Aid Board is responsible for managing legal aid in Scotland. Legal aid allows people who would otherwise not be able to afford it, to get help for their legal problems.
Our work is overseen by Board Members, who are appointed by Scottish Ministers. The number of Members can vary from 11 to 15. To give a balanced range of knowledge and experience, they include people with backgrounds in business, the advice sector and the wider community as well as solicitors and advocates and a person with knowledge of court procedure and practice.
Ministers in the Scottish Government decide legal aid policy, set the rules for legal aid and decide the fees to be paid to the legal profession. The Scottish Parliament makes and changes legislation – including the tests for granting legal assistance.
These tests are then applied to every single case. In advice and assistance and some special urgency cases, solicitors apply the tests. For civil and criminal legal aid we apply the tests, except in some criminal and children’s cases, where, until the provisions of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act are implemented, the courts decide.
The budget for legal aid is different from many other public services: it is not a set amount. The Scottish Government gives SLAB the necessary funds to meet the cost of cases. This means we never have to refuse someone legal aid simply because there is no money left to pay for their case.#
WORKING AT SLAB
As an organisation, we employ people from all walks of life, people with all sorts of skills, strengths and talents.
Should you come to work with us, you’ll discover that no matter what your job or level of responsibilities, you are treated as an individual, with fairness, dignity and respect.
Legal aid is changing and developing, therefore our work environment is a dynamic one. It’s challenging because we play a key role in the justice system, supporting the courts and access to justice.
We’re always striving to improve the service we offer. As a result, we have high expectations of our staff. We seek high calibre people and in return, we set out to provide good training and development, working conditions and rewards. We aim to be an ’employer of choice’.
Go to our recruitment portal to see our current vacancies.
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
We offer a competitive and comprehensive rewards and benefits package, including:
- Competitive salaries that take account of the labour market and specific skills, experience and abilities relating to the role
- An annual salary review with salary progression linked to performance through our appraisal and interim review system (subject to prevailing public sector pay policy in place at the time)
- 37 hour working week for full-time staff
- The flexibility of working hours
- 25 days annual paid leave upon starting and 9 public holidays
- Contributory defined benefit pension scheme (6% of basic salary)
- Sick pay benefit scheme if you are off work due to illness
- Interest-free annual travel ticket loan
- Salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme.
We expect each individual employee to make a significant contribution to our organisation. In return, we work hard at being a good employer.