Lord chancellor and justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has insisted that the Solicitors Regulation Authority take accountability for its regulatory failures over Axiom Ince and ensure such a debacle never recurs. Backing formal action against the regulator, the lord chancellor spelt out the ‘severity of the situation’ in a February letter published today alongside the Legal Services Board’s announcement.
‘The Axiom Ince collapse has had a significant impact on affected consumers and negatively affected the trust in the solicitor profession, bringing lawyers’ professional ethics into the spotlight,’ she told LSB chief executive Craig Westwood. ‘This collapse has attracted a lot of interest from the sector and from parliamentarians, and my department has received an increased volume of ministerial correspondence raising profound concerns about this matter over the past year.’
Read more
She added: ‘Having considered the main findings outlined in the independent report of the SRA’s handling of Axiom Ince, I note the significant regulatory failings incurred by the SRA. Such acts or omissions will have undoubtedly undermined the public’s confidence and trust in both the legal sector and the regulation of legal services. It is important for the SRA to take accountability for the failings in regulatory oversight identified and take appropriate steps to avoid a similar case in the future.’
Mahmood went to call for 'specific and deliverable changes' to bolster consumer confidence, urging the LSB to tighten up what were then draft directions because they were ‘too broad in scope’. But she also called on the LSB and SRA to ‘keep in mind the balance between ensuring appropriate consumer protection while not placing unnecessary regulatory burden on individuals or firms regulated by the SRA. This is to avoid negative impacts of growth on consumers’ access to justice’.
That message also appears to align with chancellor Rachel Reeves’ stated aim of slashing regulatory barriers that serve as a drag on economic growth.
