I see from your story ‘Compensation fund levy set to treble?’ that the SRA is trying to justify a large increase on the basis that, if the Law Society had accepted their advice last year, the rise would have been less this year (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 1).

When the 2008/09 compensation fund contribution was set by council, the decision was based on the lower of two recommendations from the SRA (£150 rather than £300) to maintain the level of reserve that the SRA recommends. Council’s decision was proved right because the extra money the SRA was seeking was not needed. The picture for 2009/10 may be different because of the difficult economic circumstances and so the contribution might be higher. This approach, reacting to the realities of the market, might mean that the contribution goes up and down from year to year, but in this case the profession will have had the benefit of the £150 in their pockets for a year, and it is surely better there than in an SRA account.

Desmond Hudson, Chief executive, the Law Society