SRA Transparency Rules – Is your firm compliant?

The SRA Transparency Rules came into force on 6 December 2018.  Under Rule 1 of the SRA Transparency Rules, firms that practice in certain areas of law such as Conveyancing, Immigration, Probate, Motoring Offences and deal with Employment Tribunal Claims are required to publish information on their prices and the services they offer in a prominent place on their website. In addition, all firms are required to display a SRA Digital badge and publish on its website details of their complaints handling procedure, including details of how and when to complain to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA.

In November 2019, the SRA confirmed that they will be doing a 6 monthly sweep of 600 firms at a time to check whether they are complying with the Rules and would be targeting a higher proportion of firms providing immigration services.  The SRA found ‘The service area with the lowest level of full/partial compliance was immigration, with only 67% of firms complying in full/part. This means that one third of firms were not providing any of the required information. Given this is an area where many potential clients may not have English as a first language or be as familiar with the legal system as in other areas, this is particularly concerning.’

The SRA has been conducting thematic reviews in this area since 2020 and on 16 November 2023, the SRA issued their first fixed penalties of £750 to three firms for non-compliance. Breaches included:

• Failure to publish information explaining key stages and likely timescales relating to services;
• Failure to publish details on experience and qualifications of hose working on some, or all of the service areas covered by the rules; and
• Failure to include information on disbursement costs and VAT in published prices

If those firms who have ben fined continue not to comply with rules, they could potentially face a further fixed penalty of £1500.

If you require any advice and assistance to ensure that you are complying with the SRA Transparency Rules, get in touch to find out how Legal Compliance Consultants can assist.