‘The fee increase will apply retrospectively from 1 September 2026.’ That line, tucked into the Scottish Government’s explanatory note on legislation.gov.uk, is the first thing many defence solicitors will pick out from the new Criminal Legal Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026. Made on 22 September 2026 and laid before the Scottish Parliament on 24 September 2026, the instrument does two things. It raises a set of legal aid fees linked to National Security Act 2023 work, and it rewrites some of the payment rules for summary criminal cases where more than one solicitor has been involved.

On the fee side, ministers are increasing the rates in Parts 7 and 8 of schedule 3 to the Advice and Assistance (Scotland) Regulations 1996 by 13%. The explanatory note says that is to bring these payments into line with the wider fee increase already introduced elsewhere in the Scottish legal aid system from 1 September 2026. Some of the figures are modest in cash terms but clear in direction. Fees of £62.59 rise to £70.73 in parts of the representation scheme, £93.87 rises to £106.08, and one higher advice and assistance rate moves from £332.89 to £376.17. Standard and higher rates across the schedule are both affected.

The dates matter as much as the headline numbers. Although most of the Regulations do not come into force until 19 November 2026, the uplift in regulation 3 is backdated. It applies to grants of representation made on or after 1 September 2026, and to work done or outlays incurred on or after that same date. For solicitors, that makes this more than a future adjustment. Firms handling this specialist work will be checking matters opened since 1 September 2026 to see what can now be claimed at the higher rate, and whether any accounts still to be submitted should be recalculated.

The second half of the instrument will be read just as closely. From 14 December 2026, amendments to the Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 say that where fees are payable for more than one of the specified pieces of work in Part 2 of schedule 3, only ‘the highest fee payable’ is to be paid. That may sound like dry drafting, but it has a practical effect on billing. Where overlapping work has been done in summary proceedings, firms will not be able to stack every relevant fixed fee if the same run of work falls across more than one category.

Ministers are also changing how payment works when one solicitor starts a legally aided criminal case and another later takes it on. The revised wording in the 1999 Regulations sets out more clearly which sums are split equally between solicitors acting for the assisted person, and which sums go to the solicitor who actually carried out the work. A linked amendment to the 2008 fee rules is there to make sure each solicitor can still be paid where different types of criminal legal assistance were provided under regulations 4(7AA) or 4(7AB). Put simply, the system is trying to be clearer about who gets what when a case changes hands.

For Scotland’s smaller criminal defence practices, this is not just housekeeping. Payment rules shape cash flow, staffing and the willingness of firms to keep taking publicly funded work, especially in busy sheriff court business where margins can be tight and handovers between solicitors do happen. For defendants, the point is more basic still. If legal aid work is underpaid or too fiddly to recover, access to justice tends to suffer first in local courts, not in policy seminars. A fee uplift in specialist work will be welcomed, but firms will also weigh that against fresh limits on what can be claimed in summary cases.

This is why a technical Scottish Statutory Instrument matters beyond the legal profession. Outside the London policy bubble, these are the rule changes that land in defence offices, police station rotas and sheriff court corridors across Scotland. The practical timetable is now set. Most of the Regulations start on 19 November 2026. The fixed-payment and multi-solicitor changes follow on 14 December 2026. Between now and then, solicitors will be working through the detail, and defendants will hope the new rules make representation steadier rather than harder to secure.