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The overall cost of practising as a solicitor will fall by £84 this year, despite the practising certificate for 2004/05 increasing by 5% from £790 to £830.
The saving follows a fall in the full contribution to the compensation fund - by 15% from £824 to £700.
The £40 increase to the practising certificate fee - approved at last week's Law Society Council meeting - will be used to cover the part-year costs of the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner as well as increased contributions to the Law Society pension fund.
The Society's finance and resources board has also increased - from £13,500 to £20,000 - the low-income threshold that qualifies solicitors for a reduced practising certificate fee. Solicitors earning less than that amount will pay £415.
Geoffrey Sandercock, the Society's treasurer and chairman of the finance and resources board, told council members that some 2,000 solicitors are expected to claim a reduced fee as a result of the new threshold, which was reviewed in 2001.
'This will help people on low salaries, such as those returning to the profession after a career break such as maternity leave,' he said.
Following calls from council members, Mr Sandercock agreed that the finance and resources board would consider whether to introduce a greater number of bands before the full fee becomes payable, and also whether to increase the threshold further still for 2005/06.
The cut in the compensation fund contribution stems in part from there being no individually huge defaults in 2003, with only one intervention into a practice last year leading to payments of more than £1 million.
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