Satisfaction not guaranteed in civil courts.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS) compiles a periodic Customer User Report to gather data and comment on its facilities and services.

The 2026 Report is the most systematic so far, compiled through face to face interviewing with a sample of legal professionals, court staff, and ‘customers’ by the social and market research agency, Progressive Partnership.

Looking through the Shared Parenting Scotland lens, the standout insight is the  significant lower levels of satisfaction reported among “civil litigant, witness or supporter in civil case”.

Overall they report 73% “satisfied  or very satisfied” (compared to 94% for “advocate, solicitor advocate or solicitor”). Fifteen percent were “dissatisfied or very dissatisfied”. [Table 33]

It probably surprises no-one that a system designed around lawyers leads to greater satisfaction among lawyers.

Table 30 shows 97% of lawyers found the courts and staff to be polite in their interactions but only 88% for civil litigant, witness or supporter in civil case. There were similar numbers for “helpfulness of staff” [Table 27]

Only 69% of civil litigants, witnesses or supporters in civil cases agreed that the service met their expectations [Table 24] but 18% did not. That is a serious matter.

Finally, Table 18 records responses to, “I was able to access the court services I required. Only 84% agreed and 12% strongly disagreed.

Overall the report reveals that satisfaction in the civil courts is notably lower than for the criminal courts.

Shared Parenting Chief Executive, Kevin Kane, says, “This is important intelligence for the SCTS that overall satisfaction within civil proceedings is significantly lower than reported experience in the criminal courts. We have been drawing attention to the Scottish Government for some time that party litigants in the family courts don’t feel there’s a level playing field compared to those who can find a solicitor.  I will be writing to SCTS urging them to interrogate the data in more detail to identify specific areas in which civil litigants feel let down. We will also offer to help them engage with our client base to facilitate urgent action to address the problems their report reveals.”