Decision making
Introduction
Decision making is a vital function that we perform in our role as the leading regulator of legal services in England and Wales. Our powers to license and regulate firms have increased and are due to expand significantly once we become a licensing authority for alternative business structures. We have embarked upon a comprehensive transformation of the way in which we are structured and operate resulting in new roles for staff and a new approach to our work.
The move to outcomes-focused regulation requires us to think in a different and more proactive way to meet our regulatory objectives. This decision-making framework is part of ensuring you have the necessary tools.
Decision making has grown up organically in the SRA and we thought it important to build a solid underlying process to be followed for the following reasons:
- a. To ensure and emphasise that we all understand the importance of the integrity of the decision-making process;
- b. As the template for a rigorous system;
- c. To embed an understanding of the principles underlying the system (which will also assist those who wish to depart from it to explain their reasoning);
This framework brings together the component parts of our decision-making process to support support staff in their work. It is a flexible document and will be reviewed to keep it up to date and relevant.
Antony Townsend
Chief Executive of the SRA