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The proposal to scrutinise the legal services regulators as part of the major access to justice inquiry is very welcome.
The columns of the Law Society Gazette have regularly contained indications of no confidence in the SRA by both consumers and professional solicitors. I have reported the data from Trust Pilot where a survey on 12.07.2018 showed that nearly four hundred consumers had recorded their dissatisfaction with the SRA. Trust Pilot indicated that only 1% of consumers were satisfied with the SRA. The Chief Executive Paul Philip has made no attempt to answer his consumers.
The proposed inquiry is likely to take many months.
It is urgent therefore that Ministry of Justice should be ask to carry out an full inquiry into the LSB report of May 2025 where the serious weakness of the SRA were exposed.
It is clear that the sanctions imposed by the Legal Service Board on the SRA only address its failure to monitor Axiom Ince effectively. They do no address the fundamental weaknesses of the SRA which were exposed in the LSB report
1. The SRA's failure to uphold the rule of law
2. It failure to promote and protect the interests of consumers.
The LSB report of May 2025 highlighted the failure of the SRA to meet any of the regulatory requirements of the Legal Services Act 2007.
The evidence shows that the SRA has failed to carry out its legal resposnibilities for over ten years and should be replaced