CAB reports city is 'legal aid desert'

New research has revealed a “chronic” shortage in access to legal aid across Stirling - with the city being labelled a “legal aid desert”.

- STUART MCFARLANE

The report has been carried out by the team at Stirling Citizens Advice Bureau and highlights that local legal aid provision in some areas of law - including benefits, discrimination, housing, mental health and education - is described as “highly inefficient”.

The research also finds there is currently no Civil Legal Aid Office (CLAO) covering Stirling or the wider Forth Valley region.

In the work from the organisation's social policy team, it also reports there are only 17 Law Society of Scotland (LSS) registered solicitors in Stirlingshire, of which only eight are registered with the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) to provide legal aid work for civil cases.