Clients in probate matters were paid £7.8million from the Compensation Fund last year - the most ever paid out over a single area of law, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed. 

The largest payment made in 2021/22 was £680,000 in a probate matter where a firm had taken client money, the SRA said in its client protection corporate report.  

Executors for the estate made the claim on the fund and the SRA later intervened into the firm.

The previous record amount paid out of the fund in a single area was £5.6m also in probate in 2020/21, the highest amount since £5.3m was paid out, again in probate, in 2017/18.

In five out of the eight years on record, probate was the number one reason why money was paid out, SRA figures show.

The SRA paid £15.2m overall in 2021/22 at an average of £24,000 per successful claim, down from a record amount of £26.9m paid in 2020/21, at an average of £38,500 per claim.

In 2020/21, the compensation fund received a large volume of applications following a particularly large intervention into the Kingly Solicitors group. This single intervention accounted for more than £10m worth of payments, which is why the total amount of payments made peaks in 2020/21, the SRA explains.

The 2021/22 figures are more in keeping with the average for the years between 2014/15 and 2019/20 (£13.2m per year).

Law firms and solicitors pay into the compensation fund through an annual contribution. For 2022, the SRA was able to reduce the contribution from £40 to £30 for individual solicitor contributions and from £760 to £690 for firm contributions.

Contributions had peaked in 2018/19 when they rose to £90 per individual and £1,680 per firm, up from £40 per individual and £778 per firm in 2017/18.

 

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