Key points: 

• CAS believes that Scotland needs urgent and cohesive Access to Justice reforms to ensure that the right to equality before the law, to a fair hearing, and to an accessible, affordable, timely and effective remedy are a reality for everyone in Scotland.
• We are supportive of group proceedings as they can provide important mechanisms for strengthening accountability and improving access to justice where a significant power imbalance exists between pursuers/rights-holders and defenders/duty-bearers.
• Allowing multiple claimants with identical, similar or connected claims to bring their actions together against the same defender and for a representative party to take their cases forward can lessen the risk for and strain on affected individuals and enable access to justice for many who would otherwise be denied it.
• CAS therefore believes group procedure (both opt-in and opt-out), especially where they enable strategic litigation in the public interest and collective actions for the wider benefit of rightsholders and consumers, can help address systemic issues and mitigate an underlying power imbalance, strengthen the rule of law, and improve people’s justice journeys.
• However, a properly functioning legal aid system which supports group procedure in the public interest is vital here. CAS continues to argue for urgent reforms of the Scottish legal aid system to improve access to justice for rights-holders, including those pursuing collective actions