Scotland’s justice system needs ‘sustained further investment’

FDA National Officer Allan Sampson has warned that the “increase in funding and staffing” for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) “hasn’t been enough to tackle the long-term impact of a decade of underfunding dating back to 2010”.

Speaking to Martin McLaughlin as part of The Scotsman’s ‘Justice Denied’ series of articles, Sampson said that while the additional resources that have been allocated in recent years were “much-needed”, staff in COPFS were still overstretched.

“Procurator fiscals are committed professionals who work hard every day to deliver justice for the people of Scotland, but they are working under extreme pressure,” he explained. “Our members are handling more serious and complex cases than ever before with inadequate resources. The backlog from the pandemic remains significant, and new legislative responsibilities continue to add to workloads. Without sustained further investment, we risk undermining public confidence in Scotland’s justice system and placing intolerable strain on an already overstretched workforce.”

The FDA submitted evidence to the Justice Committee on the 2025-26 budget which outlined increases in workload for members in COPFS and wellbeing issues related to this.

The evidence outlines the FDA’s position “has always been that it is not the business of a trade union to dictate the details of any government’s budget, but the resources available must match the commitment of service provision demanded of that organisation”.

As such, it follows that either “COPFS requires to be adequately resourced” or political decisions must be taken “to review the priorities and outcomes required from the Service”.