Progressing accelerated written pleas of guilty during lockdown

Our co-convener of the Legal Aid Committee, Ian Moir, writes about his work to progress written pleas of guilty during the current Covid-19 lockdown

It became clear as we  headed into lockdown, with the COVID-19 pandemic meaning that the courts would not be operating as normal for a long time, I approached SLAB and the Scottish Government to see how best for us to make changes to allow summary business to be dealt with. This focused on making - changes to the rules around ABWOR.

I am pleased to say that they moved quickly to allow written pleas to trigger ABWOR payments. For the avoidance of doubt, the Board will pay a full ABWOR fee for a written plea if the case would have triggered ABWOR previously for an actual appearance in court. There is also no need for a case to be CWP’d before payment for ABWOR kicks in.

COPFS and SCTS undertook the necessary work to agree a written plea protocol and the new protocol is available  on the SCTS website

How does it work?

Solicitors should contact clients in summary cases which may be capable of resolution. If they wish their case resolved, you then contact the relevant Procurator Fiscal office - it should be with the office which raised the complaint, even if they operate in a non-hub court area. Complete Appendix 2 of the protocol  and, with your covering letter on headed notepaper, send it to the Crown who will complete the rest of the paperwork and send it to the Clerk who assigns a date. The Crown will then send a s137 application, certified copy complaint and your information to the clerk.

Where there is an amended plea or an agreed narrative, the Crown will provide a redacted summary of evidence and certified copy complaint.

In a complicated case, you can send your own narrative as agreed with the Crown. You should give full information about any mitigation and the accused’s personal circumstances so the court can deal with the case, remotely without either your or your client's attendance.

You must provide your contact details, including a mobile number, in case any issues arise so that you can be contacted to discuss issues directly when the Sheriff/JP is dealing with the case.

In road traffic cases where disqualification (either discretionary or mandatory) is a possibility, your client must be advised by you not to drive until the case has been dealt with that day. Afterwards, you will need to communicate the result of the case from court to your client.

You will be asked to provide a mobile number for the accused. This is in the event that reports are called for, as it will allow the Social Work department to contact the client to arrange an appointment.

My experience

I dealt with my first cases in Glasgow on Tuesday 19 May and I am pleased to report that the system worked well.  

This process can be used for any summary case regardless of whether it has previously been adjourned administratively or not. I would encourage you all to use this system as widely as possible to minimise the backlog of summary cases and to keep business flowing through the courts in a safe manner.