If you have been arrested or asked to attend a police station in England or Wales, the Duty Solicitor Scheme gives you free legal advice from a qualified solicitor, around the clock, no matter what you are suspected of and no matter what you earn. You ask the custody sergeant for the duty solicitor, the request is routed through the Defence Solicitor Call Centre, and a solicitor on the local rota takes it from there. You pay nothing. The whole point of the scheme is that nobody should have to face a police interview without professional advice first.
Who Qualifies for Free Advice
Anyone held at a police station has an unconditional right to consult a solicitor privately at any time under section 58 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.1Legislation.gov.uk. Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 – Section 58 Citizenship, income, and the type of offence make no difference. Nobody checks your finances at the custody desk.
The scheme also covers people who go to the police station voluntarily. If officers have invited you in “for a chat” without arresting you, PACE Code C requires them to explain your right to free legal advice before the interview starts and to hold off on questioning until you have had it, if that is what you want.2GOV.UK. PACE Code C 2023 (Accessible) Not being under arrest does not mean the protections drop away.
How to Ask for the Duty Solicitor
When the custody sergeant runs through your rights on arrival, you have three routes to legal advice: ask for the duty solicitor, ask the police to contact a named solicitor of your own, or ask them to contact the Defence Solicitor Call Centre so it can arrange something.3GOV.UK. Being Arrested: Your Rights – Legal Advice at the Police Station The duty solicitor is the default, and the request is logged in your custody record along with the time.
The Defence Solicitor Call Centre is the central hub that handles all police station legal aid requests across England and Wales. It checks the local rota, identifies the solicitor on duty, and passes on the details of your detention. The solicitor will often ring you at the station first to give initial advice, then travel in for the interview. For less serious matters, the whole thing may be handled by phone.
Two practical points worth knowing. First, if you say no to a solicitor at first and change your mind later, you can ask at any point during your detention and the police must act on it. Every request and refusal is recorded. Second, the police should not interview you until you have had the chance to speak with the solicitor.2GOV.UK. PACE Code C 2023 (Accessible)
Duty Solicitor or Your Own Solicitor
Both are free at the police station stage. Legal aid pays for either, so if you have a solicitor you already trust, or a family member wants to instruct a specific firm on your behalf, you can name them and the police will make the call. If you have no one in mind, the duty solicitor on the rota comes to you.
One thing to be aware of: the person who turns up may not be a solicitor in the strict sense. Firms often send an accredited or probationary police station representative, who must have passed the Police Station Representative Accreditation Scheme before providing legally aided advice at a custody suite.4Solicitors Regulation Authority. Police Station Representative Accreditation Scheme They are trained and regulated to do the job. If you are not happy with the representative sent, you can ask for the duty solicitor instead.
What the Solicitor Actually Does
The job runs through the whole of your time in custody, not just the interview room.
It starts with a private consultation, usually in a separate room. Everything you say is covered by legal professional privilege, which means the police and the prosecution cannot get at it. The solicitor asks what happened, what you know about the allegations, and how you have been treated. They will also look at the custody record to check that your detention is lawful and that you have been given proper rest, food, and any medical attention you need.
Before the interview, the solicitor speaks with the investigating officers in a process known as disclosure. The police outline the evidence they hold and the grounds for the arrest. They are not obliged to reveal everything at this stage, and reading what they have chosen to hold back is part of the skill. From that, the solicitor works out how strong the case is and starts thinking about strategy.
Then comes the advice on the interview itself. Broadly, your options are to answer questions, give a “no comment” interview, or read out a prepared statement and decline further questions. The solicitor drafts any prepared statement, sits with you during the recorded interview, and can intervene if the questioning becomes oppressive, if officers misstate the evidence, or if the interview strays into improper territory. Their presence tends to keep the interview cleaner from the start, because officers know a challenge is coming if they overstep.
Why the Interview Decision Is So Important
You still have the right to remain silent, but since 1994 that right comes with a real cost. Under section 34 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, if you fail to mention a fact in your police interview and then rely on that fact in your defence at trial, the court or jury can draw an “adverse inference” from your earlier silence.5Legislation.gov.uk. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 – Section 34 In plain terms, the jury can treat your silence as a sign your later defence has been made up.
This is where a solicitor’s judgement earns its keep. Someone who has seen the disclosure can weigh whether the evidence is strong enough that saying nothing will hurt you, or whether answering questions would give the police more than they already have. A prepared statement can sometimes do both jobs at once: it puts your account on the record, which protects you from adverse inferences on the facts it covers, without exposing you to hours of follow-up questioning. Getting that balance right is not something to attempt on your own.
The clock adds pressure to all of this. The default limit for detention without charge is 24 hours, extendable by a superintendent and then by a magistrates’ court up to a maximum of 96 hours. The police want to interview quickly. Having a solicitor on the way means the timing works around proper advice rather than around the interview room.
When Access Can Be Delayed
The right is not absolute in every case. For indictable offences, an officer of superintendent rank or above can authorise a delay of up to 36 hours before you are allowed to consult a solicitor.1Legislation.gov.uk. Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 – Section 58 The officer must have reasonable grounds to believe that letting you contact a solicitor would lead to one of the following:
- evidence being interfered with or destroyed, or physical harm to another person
- other suspects who have not yet been arrested being tipped off
- the recovery of stolen property or the proceeds of crime being hindered
If a delay is authorised, you must be told the reason and it must be recorded in your custody record. As soon as the grounds for the delay fall away, you have to be given access straight away. The power is used rarely, mostly in serious organised crime and terrorism cases. For an ordinary arrest, you will be offered a solicitor without any delay.
Extra Safeguards for Under-18s and Vulnerable Adults
If the person in custody is under 18 or is a vulnerable adult, the police must arrange for an “appropriate adult” as well as a solicitor. A juvenile cannot be interviewed about their suspected involvement in an offence without an appropriate adult present, unless a superintendent decides that a delay would risk serious harm or loss of evidence.2GOV.UK. PACE Code C 2023 (Accessible) The appropriate adult is usually a parent, guardian, social worker, or another responsible adult.
Their role is to advise the young or vulnerable person, help with communication, and make sure the interview is conducted fairly. This is a separate safeguard from the solicitor, not a substitute for one. A juvenile should have both.
What Happens Once You Leave the Police Station
The Duty Solicitor Scheme covers you at the custody suite. When you are released, whether on bail, under investigation, or with no further action, the automatic free coverage stops. The duty solicitor is not appointed to run your ongoing case, prepare a trial defence, or handle correspondence with the prosecution. Their job is the immediate intervention at the point your rights are most exposed.
If you are charged and the case moves to court, a different set of legal aid rules takes over. Funding then depends on passing a means test based on your income and assets and a merits test looking at whether it is in the interests of justice to fund your defence.6GOV.UK. Criminal Legal Aid: Means Testing A court duty solicitor may cover your first hearing, but only that hearing. For a contested trial, you either qualify for legal aid or pay privately. That gap between the universal police station scheme and the means-tested court system catches a lot of people out, so it is worth thinking about representation as soon as you are released.