More than 7,000 law firms will have received £20 million from the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) surplus by the end of the month - but 1,000 more have not even responded to communications from the fund on how to claim their money, it emerged last week.

SIF chairman Paul Marsh told the Law Society Council that, in total, 9,446 firms are due a £25 million refund of their premiums from the 2001/02 indemnity year.


By the end of May, the SIF will have paid out to 7,049 firms, and the balance is made up of the 1,083 that have not responded and a further 1,314 practices that have in some way ceased since paying the premiums - such as a sole practitioner's death or a partnership splitting up.


This group is made up of 847 sole practitioners and 467 partnerships, and the SIF's task, Mr Marsh said, is to 'ensure the money goes to the right people'.


He told the Gazette that once the bulk of the payments has been made, the fund will begin making even more strenuous efforts to contact those that have not yet responded.


A further £25 million, representing the 2002/03 premiums, will be paid out next year. Similar amounts from the surplus are also being used to meet a demand from the trustees of the Law Society pension fund.


The premiums were paid as the fourth and fifth years of the planned seven-year collection of the £454 million SIF shortfall, which was identified in 1997. However, the shortfall turned out to be smaller than anticipated.