# Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Act 2026, Section 58: Children’s legal aid

Extent: S
Status: prospective

(1) The Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 is amended as follows.
(2) In section 28B (children’s legal aid), in subsection (3), after paragraph (d) insert—
“(da) proceedings before a children’s hearing or a pre-hearing panel if—
(i) the statement of grounds specifies as a ground that the child to whom the proceedings relate has committed an offence, and
(ii) the offence in question is such that, were the child prosecuted in respect of it, it would be or would most likely be prosecuted under solemn procedure,”.
(3) In section 28C (circumstances where children’s legal aid automatically available)—
(a) in subsection (1), after paragraph (d) insert—
“(da) a children’s hearing is arranged in relation to a child and—
(i) the statement of grounds specifies as a ground that the child has committed an offence, and
(ii) the offence in question is such that, were the child prosecuted in respect of it, it would be or would most likely be prosecuted under solemn procedure,”,
(b) in subsection (2), in paragraph (b) for “or (d)” substitute “, (d) or (da)”.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2026/16/section/58 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/children-care-care-experience-and-services-planning-scotland-act-2026/section-58
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.