Contributions from solicitors to the practising certificate fee are expected to increase by 10% next year, raising an extra £10.4m in total, it has been confirmed.

According to published Solicitors Regulation Authority board papers, the Law Society and SRA have jointly applied to collect £114.7m from the profession in 2022/23, up from £104.3m in the current year.  

Individual contributions from around 165,000 solicitors, which make up 40% of the total, will rise from £41.7m to £45.9m, while firms will pay £68.8m – up from £62.6m. The increase in the overall requirement means that the individual practising certificate fee will increase in 2022/23, from £266 to £286, the first time the fee has increased since 2013.

In its initial projections, the SRA accounted for around 53% of the fee contributions, while 29% was due to fund the Law Society and the remainder covered the costs of the Legal Ombudsman, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision.

All the fee levels are subject to approval by the LSB, the oversight regulator.

The SRA board agreed the SRA funding requirement for 2022/23 at its meeting on 28 June and this was included in the overall Law Society group funding requirement. The Law Society Council considered this on 5 July and approved an overall requirement of £113.5m. There followed a small increase following the latest estimate of the Legal Ombudsman levy for 2022/23.

There is no change to the compensation fund contributions already announced: these remain at £30 for individuals and £690 for firms holding client money.

A Law Society spokesperson said today: 'The SRA and the Law Society make a joint submission to the LSB for the coming year’s PCF. Figures in the SRA Board paper incorporate the Law Society’s proposed increase of £10 for an individual PCF.

'After our biggest member consultation ever, 67% of the profession supported the Law Society’s proposal to increase our share of the practising fee in 2022-23. We are delighted by this endorsement and have taken on board all the feedback. This is reflected in our new three-year corporate strategy which launches in November 2022. This strategy outlines how we will deliver even better value to our members in the coming years.'

 

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