The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has scrapped plans to charge sole practitioners an additional practising fee of £300.

At a meeting of the SRA Board (see Gazette 18 December 2008), members indicated that a fee for sole practitioners should be less than the £180 payable by 'recognised bodies'.

The Legal Services Act requires sole practitioners to be 'recognised’ in the same way that all firms, including legal disciplinary partnerships, are to be recognised bodies.

Commenting on the hike, SRA Board member Yvonne Brown told the meeting that if 'we are going to charge Clifford Chance the same as a practice in Hackney we have to justify that', and that equal charging could not be justified. 'This fee [£300] is over and above.’

A final decision on charges will be made at a later date.