Renewal of PCs, registration and recognition

Last updated 9 February 2012

Paper practising certificates

Your practising certificate or registration certificate will not be sent to you in the post. Instead, your certificate will be stored in mySRA as a portable document format (PDF) file, which you will be able to print.

Professional indemnity insurance

When applying to renew your firm's recognition using mySRA, you must provide complete professional indemnity insurance information. You will not be able to submit the application until you have entered all required information, including your professional indemnity insurance policy number.

Adding new joiners to your organisation's profile

To notify us of new joiners, you need to use mySRA:

• For managers, please continue to use our downloadable NM1 form. Soon you will be able to use mySRA to notify us of a new manager joining your organisation or an existing manager leaving your organisation.
• For non-partners, go to "My organisations" in mySRA and update the "Related individuals" section.

New non-managers, updated using mySRA, will automatically be included in your bulk application if your organisation has opted into bulk PC renewal.

Status and structure changes

If a solicitor has changed status to a manager (i.e. partner, member, director), you must submit a new manager notifcation in mySRA before you complete the renewal application form. You are required to notify us within seven days of making any changes to your firm's structure.

Individuals subject to regulation 3 of the Practising Regulations

Individuals subject to regulation 3 of the Practising Regulations are required under the regulations to submit their application to renew their practising certificate six weeks in advance of the normal renewal date.

With the move to online applications and processing, the time required to complete this process is significantly reduced. Therefore, we have decided to apply the applications deadlines outlined above.

Since it is the SRA that has taken the decision to move the renewal date for individuals subject to regulation 3, you will not be deemed to be in breach of the Practising Regulations.

Please note that there is no longer a separate regulation 3 application. The relevant questions are now part of the applications listed below:

• renewal of practising certificate,
• renewal of registered foreign lawyer registration,
• renewal of registered European lawyer registration.

Firm turnover details

We sent firms a letter in May, ahead of the online renewal exercise. The letter provided firms with a final opportunity to validate the turnover figure we hold. This figure is used to calculate the firm's fees for the new practising year.

Completing the firm's online application

A solicitor or registered European lawyer who is a manager or equivalent in your organisation must complete the online declaration. However, they can nominate another person (or other persons) within the firm to complete the rest of the online application on their behalf. For more information about who can complete the bulk application, see our FAQs.

Bulk PC renewal applications by "commerce and industry" firms

Using mySRA, you will submit a bulk practising certificate renewal application for a "commerce and industry" firm.

Reduced-fee categories for practising certificates

We offer a reduced fee to individuals who are taking maternity leave at the time of applying or were on maternity leave between 1 November 2010 and 31 October 2011.

Application deadline

The submission deadline for renewal applications was originally 23 December 2011. It has been extended into the new year as outlined above.

Disputed fees

If you disagree with the fee that has been calculated based on you firm's turnover, you will need to contact us to request an amendment to your firm's turnover figure. You will need to give us a reason for the change, and we will request supporting evidence. You will not be able to update you firm's turnover figure using mySRA.

Amendments to branch offices

You can make amendments to branch offices (e.g. add new offices or change details for existing offices) using mySRA: Go to the "My organisations" area of your firm's online account, and see "Office details".

Instructions and guidance for online applications

mySRA includes context-based online help and guidance for users completing applications.

Additional information you must provide

This year's renewal application includes additional questions—regarding "first tier" complaints.

Section 112(1) of the Legal Services Act requires us to ensure that those we regulate have an effective complaints-handling procedure for consumers. The Act requires us to make provision for the enforcement of those requirements.

We also need to take into account published Legal Services Board guidance that expects us to achieve the following outcomes when regulating first-tier complaints handling:

"Consumers have confidence that:

• complaint handling procedures provide effective safeguards for them; and
• complaints will be dealt with comprehensively and swiftly, with appropriate redress where necessary."

To meet these requirements, we need a clear picture of how firms are performing in relation to first-tier complaints handling. The information you provide will help us build an evidential base, which we will use to monitor and enforce compliance. To develop a complete picture about complaints handling, we will also use second-tier complaint information from the Legal Ombudsman and consumer-client research.

The information will be used in two main ways: firstly, to highlight where there may be a risk that a specific firm has inadequate or insufficient systems for dealing with complaints; secondly, to identify any wider thematic risks emerging about complaints handling in the legal services market.

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