Barely a third of law firms have given the Solicitors Regulation Authority data on workforce diversity with just weeks until the final deadline for submission.

To date just 3,954 firms have complied with the requirement despite the SRA sending repeated reminders since the questionnaire was sent out last July.

That leaves more than 6,500 firms until the end of this month to file the required information, which includes data on sexual orientation, ethnicity, age and gender.

The data collection is an annual requirement of the Legal Services Board to promote transparency and diversity in the profession. For the first time this year the data can be shared through an online facility on the mySRA website.

Mehrunnisa Lalani, the SRA’s director of inclusion, said: ‘With just three weeks to go, we are urging firms to complete their survey as soon as possible – or face regulatory action for non-compliance.

‘We have put a lot of guidance of our website including a sample questionnaire that firms can use; a quick guide; a user guide; guidance on how to complete the questionnaire on mySRA, as well as a helpful questions and answers section. In addition there is a troubleshooting guide for any firms having IT issues.’

Once the information is collected, the SRA plans to publish a report providing information on the legal workforce in England and Wales.

Firms can download the webinar on diversity data collection.