Summary of public section of the SRA Board meeting

The SRA Board approved a strategy for the enhanced control of the Assigned Risks Pool, which provides indemnity insurance for solicitors' firms who have failed to obtain insurance in the market.

The enforcement strategy is designed to ensure that firms stay in the Assigned Risks Pool for as short a period as possible; that firms which pose a high risk are rectified or closed down; and that firms who fail to pay their premiums face credible deterrents, including prompt closure.

The main actions approved by the board were:

• before the end of this month, all firms in the ARP who are reaching the end of their two-year term will be contacted to ensure that there are robust plans in place for them to leave the ARP by October; either through obtaining market insurance or through orderly wind-down;
• before the end of this month, other firms in the ARP who have not paid their ARP premiums will be contacted and told that they must pay promptly. Firms who fail to do so will face regulatory sanctions, and/or will face court action, and/or will be declared ineligible for any further term in the ARP and closed down;
• in August and September, regulatory action will be pursued in relation to these matters, so that by October as many firms as possible—particularly high-risk firms and those failing to pay their premiums—will have been managed out of the ARP;
• by October, any firms whose position has not been resolved by these processes will face the immediate likelihood of intervention to close them down;
• firms newly entering the ARP in October will be treated in the same way.

To support this programme of action, the SRA will be increasing its capacity for forensic inspection by employing outsourced expertise. Additional funding for these purposes has been discussed with the Law Society.

Work on implementing this strategy will start immediately. In parallel, the SRA will hold a consultation with groups in the profession about how best to support firms in the ARP who are able and willing to try to rectify their situation.

A report on the work of the People and Culture project was given to the board. The Chair and the Chief Executive noted the importance of the project in enabling staff to deliver outcomes-focused regulation.

Six-month review

The Chief Executive's six-monthly report was delivered to the board. It noted there had been good progress made in many areas, with the key challenge being to deliver outcomes-focused regulation.

The board agreed to implement the new fee structure following the decisions made at its May and June meetings. It made the final determinations on the following topics:

• practising certificate fee determination,
• setting the fee for recognition of a sole practitioner during a practising year,
• recognised body fee determination, and
• Compensation Fund determination.

These decisions are still subject to approval by the Legal Services Board.

The board agreed to amend a footnote to the SRA's decision-making principles to read as follows, so that delegations could be made to named people in limited circumstances:

"Formal delegations of decisions from the board should be made to generic categories of staff, not to individuals or specific posts. In certain limited circumstances, where specific expertise is required, post holders may be named."

The board noted that the SRA's audit function appeared to be working well.

A contract has been placed with Logica to deliver the first phase of the IT systems for the SRA's Enabling Programme (the programme to transform the SRA's IT, business processes and people). Tendering for the next stage is underway. The board thanked Mike Jeacock and Hugh O'Brien for their hard work in this area.

The Board noted the Education and Training committee's decision that trainee minimum salary levels should remain unchanged for 2010/11 i.e. should be kept at the 2009/10 levels. The board recommended that the committee look at whether setting a minimum salary level affects the number of trainees being taken on training contracts.

The SRA's Head of Policy, Bronwen Still, is retiring shortly and the Board placed on record its appreciation for all her hard work over the years.