The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has proposed a £50 increase in individual practising fees, taking the annual fee to £240. Compensation fund contributions are expected to be set at £120 for an individual solicitor and £3,600 for an SRA-regulated firm.
Individual combined fees, which cover the practising certificate fee and compensation fund contribution, would rise from £260 to £360. Individuals contribute 40% of the SRA’s funding requirement, with the remaining 60% received from SRA-regulated firms and calculated according to turnover.
In total, the rise in funding represents an increase of £25 million (29%) from 2025/26.
The figures were revealed in the SRA’s open consultation on its draft business plan and funding requirement for 2026/27.The increase is necessary to meet the regulator’s funding requirement of £111.5 million for the financial year, which it says reflects “a deliberate decision to invest now as part of a reset to put the organisation on the right footing for the future”.
The business plan outlines how the SRA plans to respond to enforcement action by the Legal Services Board (LSB) over its perceived failures on Axiom Ince, SSB Group and PM Law. The regulator has been summoned to an in-person meeting before the end of May, in which the LSB will seek assurances steps have been taken to ensure the SRA has the necessary expertise and oversight approach to deliver the urgent reform needed.
Last month, CEO Sarah Rapson acknowledged the regulator needs to “regain the trust of solicitors, law firms and the wider public” and said she was under “no illusion about the scale of the change needed at the SRA”.
In a foreword to the consultation, Rapson said the SRA’s approach, capabilities and resources have not kept pace with the market as it has evolved, and the volume of misconduct reports received by the SRA continues to grow.
The “ambitious and wide-ranging” work will require “bold and sometimes difficult choices” to modernise the SRA, Rapson said, which requires it to “have the right funding in place to bring the organisation back to a stronger financial footing” and provide “the flexibility needed to invest in the people, systems and tools to deliver regulation that is timely, proportionate and effective”.
The consultation identifies three priorities: strengthening the core of operations, including investing in technology and reserves, improving senior expertise and adding capacity, capability and skills in key areas; developing the ability to proactively identify and address risk and moving away from a reactive, enforcement-led model; and focusing on “the biggest issues”, which include protecting consumers involved with high volume consumer claims, safeguarding client money, a focus on professional ethics and enhancing the Solicitors Qualifying Exam.
“We are confident a modern, trusted, effective SRA will better protect consumers, support confidence in the profession and play its part in supporting a world-leading legal services sector that is vital to the UK’s future,” Rapson said.
The proposed increase has been described as “deeply concerning” by Law Society of England and Wales president Mark Evans.
He added: “We support the principle of the compensation fund which is a vital protection for consumers and clients. Several failures, including most recently PM Law, have placed considerable strain on the resources of the compensation fund and we recognise the need to rebuild the fund’s reserves.
“The new CEO of the SRA, Sarah Rapson, has inherited a problematic legacy and we welcome her openness and commitment to address those problems. We do not doubt that this will require money and resource.
“But we cannot forget that it is the hard-working front line of the profession that bears the cost of fixing an organisation, which had lost focus on its core role as demonstrated by its failures over the Axiom Ince and SSB collapses.
“Therefore, any increase in costs to the profession and certainly any increase approaching anything like the scale now being proposed must come with a credible and transparent plan from the SRA to deliver measurable and long-lasting improvements. Engagement with the profession is essential to reassure our members that the regulator is taking steps to actively avoid a repeat of past failings.”
