Fees paid by Social Security Scotland to external legal services providers: FOI release

Information requested

Information regarding the costs of Social Security Scotland's arrangements for representation in the Upper Tribunal for Scotland by external legal services providers. I understand that this is ordinarily or always carried out by Anderson Strathern LLP.

Request for information 1:

Please provide a table of the fees paid by SSS to any external legal services provider(s) from 22 November 2018 to date, and broken down by year, quarter, or month.

Request for information 2:

Please confirm the basis on which fees are paid - for example, by hour, by flat rate on an individual case basis, or under the terms of a fixed-fee retainer agreement.

Request for information 3:

If SSS has a service-level contract with any external legal services provider(s), please provide copies of relevant contracts. I understand that commercially (or otherwise) sensitive information, apart from the relevant fees and costs, may be redacted.

Response

You asked Social Security Scotland to provide answers to the questions above. For clarity, each question has been answered directly.

Request for information 1:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. No costs were incurred for the financial years 2018/19 to 2022/23.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

I can confirm that Social Security Scotland have been represented by Anderson Strathern LLP for legal services related to Upper Tribunal cases. In a small number of cases, Anderson Strathern has instructed standing junior counsel to provide legal services in connection with Upper Tribunal cases, and has paid counsel’s fees on behalf of Social Security Scotland. These fees are included in the figures set out below.

Please find the below data relating to fees paid by Social Security Scotland broken down per financial year.

Legal Fees
Year	Provider	Upper Tribunal costs
2023/24	Anderson Strathern LLP	23,304.00
2024/25	Anderson Strathern LLP	22,095.00
	Total spend	45,399.00

Request for information 2:

Fees paid to Anderson Strathern LLP are based on hourly rates.

Request for information 3:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested. Social Security Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government. Legal advice to the Scottish Government, including its executive agencies, is provided in accordance with the principles set out at paragraphs 2.30 to 2.32 of the Scottish Ministerial Code.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

Out with FOISA, it may be helpful to know that the Scottish Government has a legal services framework agreement. The services provided by Anderson Strathern LLP to Social Security Scotland are provided in accordance with that framework, and a copy of it is publicly available at: Procurement: legal services framework 2023 to 2027 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.