New government regulations requiring solicitors to inform clients about what professional indemnity insurance they have in place have been described as ‘excessive’.

The Provision of Services Regulations 2009, introduced by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) in December, require lawyers to provide information on their services over and above the existing professional obligations set out in the solicitors’ code of conduct.

The new requirements include telling clients what professional indemnity insurance the firm has in place, and informing them of ‘non-judicial means of dispute settlement’ – namely, the roles of the Legal Complaints Service or the Office for Legal Complaints.

Steve Meredith, a private client partner in Welsh firm Gabb & Co, said the ‘excessive’ new requirements made a bad situation worse.

‘We already have to give too much information in client care letters. No client can understand or want to read 15 pages of terms and conditions, which encourages bad solicitors to hide the nasty stuff on page 13.’

He added: ‘The key issue for clients is how much it’s going to cost. The regulations should weed out the solicitors who do the job slowly and badly. The rest of us should be allowed to loosen up. The ideal length of a client letter is one page or two pages maximum.’

Guidance published by BIS said the new regulations transposed the EU services directive into UK legislation, further opening up the internal EU market to UK service providers. BIS estimates output in the UK will increase by £4bn-6bn per year in terms of employment opportunities and trade.