The government will be put under political pressure to clarify what would happen if a bank’s collapse wiped out client money held in law firms’ accounts, the Gazette has learned.

Jonathan Djanogly, the Conservative shadow Solicitor General, told the Gazette he would press the Treasury for answers after receiving an unsatisfactory response to three questions on the matter.

Djanogly, who is also a partner at City firm SJ Berwin, had asked what provisions were already in place to guarantee client funds; whether the £50,000 guarantee cap applied to clients with funds in law firms’ client accounts; and whether individuals could claim two sums of £50,000 if both their law firm’s client account and their personal account were held in the same collapsed bank.

The Treasury did not answer each question specifically, but pointed to client account rules in the Financial Services Authority handbook and guidance on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) website.

Djanogly said: ‘I do not think [the] reply even starts to address the questions I posed. Accordingly I am intending to ask a further series of questions on this.’

Under the terms of the FSCS, only small companies and private individuals would receive the maximum £50,000 compensation. The FSCS said that, as long as the solicitor had informed their bank that they were depositing money from multiple clients into a single account, each client would benefit from the maximum protection.

Mark Stobbs, director of legal policy at the Law Society, said that unless a solicitor had been negligent in their choice of bank, they could not be held liable for losses suffered by the client.