The Solicitors Regulation Authority held a meeting this week to consider whether or not to reduce assigned risks pool (ARP) insurance premiums after a record number of firms were forced to join the pool.

As the Gazette went to press, 256 law firms were in the ARP, the mutual insurer of last resort for firms unable to buy professional indemnity insurance (PII) from commercial insurers. That figure is lower than the 500 that many industry insiders had feared (see [2009] Gazette, 1 October, 1), although the SRA said that the number is ‘fluctuating every day’ and does not include firms that have failed to buy conventional PII but have still not applied to enter the ARP.

The SRA’s financial protection committee held a meeting to examine ARP premiums, which normally cost up to 27.5% of a firm’s turnover, on Tuesday. Its decisions must be ratified by the SRA board.

In a letter sent at the end of September, the Law Society asked the SRA to review ARP premiums in anticipation of a swollen pool. Chancery Lane said on Friday that it had gained support from insurance brokers to help firms in the ARP find cover with commercial insurers.

An SRA spokesman said that the matter is ‘immensely complicated’ because of the ‘huge sums of money involved.’

Chancery Lane, meanwhile, issues a detailed response to member concerns about PII in this week’s Gazette.