How we can advise and support you
As a regulator our objectives include providing information, advice and support to help you comply with the standards we set. In some cases, this can include actively supporting you.
Help and advice
Our Professional Ethics helpline for solicitors is a dedicated service aimed at helping those we regulate with enquiries about compliance with our rules.
The Professional Ethics helpline for solicitors, staffed by advisers, is open 09.00–17.00. All advisers are trained to provide up-to-date guidance about our rules and regulations; the majority are solicitors with a number of years' experience in practice. Advisers also deal with written enquiries and applications for authorisations under the Solicitors' Accounts Rules 1998, in relation to client balances. You may choose to write to our Professional Ethics team for advice.
You can search, browse or print the Solicitors' Code of Conduct, and other rules and regulations.
Our Practice Standards Unit delivers talks to groups or firms. Talks cover
- common problem areas and how to resolve them,
- anti-money laundering,
- referral arrangements,
- requirements for regulated activities.
Our talks are accredited with two hours of CPD points. If you are interested in arranging a talk, please contact us.
Support
In some cases, we may decide your firm would benefit from receiving more-direct information, advice and support to help with compliance. Our Practice Standards Unit does this by arranging to visit your firm. The reasons for us deciding to support firms vary. However, they may include circumstances in which
- insufficient costs information is given to clients,
- not enough information is givien to clients about delays,
- there is poor communication or use of language that confuses clients,
- there is poor complaints handling,
- there is a failure to inform clients about supervision arrangements,
- there is non-compliance with Financial Services Rules for those who handle financial, investment and insurance matters.
In most cases, we will inform you of the reason for our visit. We recognise that giving you the reason for our visit helps you to respond constructively and assists with any difficulties you may experience. We understand that visiting your practice can cause disruption; we aim to reduce this as much as we can.
Although we may outline the reasons for our visit, these do not limit or constrain the purpose of our visit. By giving reasons, we aim to maximise transparency.
Benefits of our visits
Our role is to protect the public by assisting you to improve standards and service. Our visits are an opportunity for us to ensure constructive engagement with you.
When we work with you, it is a chance for you to review and improve your working practices. We may also be able to assist you in specific areas where you may be finding it difficult to implement in-house systems to achieve compliance. Some areas of compliance can be difficult to get right, and we try to work with you to assist as much as we can. Key areas of non-compliance are found in compliance with rule 2 (client relations) and rule 9 (referrals of business).
Feedback suggests that firms find our support a positive experience. Analysis also shows that those firms we work with generate less complaints than those we have not visited.
| Date |
Complaints rise/reduction in PSU-visited firms |
Complaints rise/reduction in non-visited firms |
All complaints rise/reduction in firms |
| May 08 |
85% |
107% |
105% |
| Jun 08 |
84% |
107% |
105% |
| Jul 08 |
84% |
106% |
104% |
| Aug 08 |
85% |
108% |
106% |
| Sep 08 |
80% |
104% |
103% |
| Oct 08 |
80% |
104% |
103% |
| Nov 08 |
80% |
104% |
103% |
| Dec 08 |
80% |
104% |
103% |
| Jan 09 |
78% |
100% |
98% |
| Feb 09 |
78% |
100% |
98% |
| Mar 09 |
77% |
102% |
101% |
| Apr 09 |
81% |
106% |
104% |
| May 09 |
80% |
107% |
105% |
The above table demonstrates that firms receiving a visit by us generate between 15 per cent and 23 per cent less complaints than prior to a visit. The extent to which firms have improved compared to those firms not visited is shown. The month of analysis represents those visits undertaken in the previous 18 months. Each point on the graph represents a comparison of complaints received in the six months prior to visits compared to complaints received in an equivalent six month period afterwards. It can be seen those firms not visited generate between zero per cent and seven per cent more complaints in the same period.
The following are examples of the feedback we have received:
I found the process of preparing for your visit very useful and the way in which the two of you dealt with me was encouraging and welcome"
I appreciate your courtesy and helpfulness...which I found of great benefit to me, both in conduct of my files and in the proper management of my firm's affairs.";
I and my partners and staff are thankful to you for the courteous and unobtrusive way in which the monitoring visit was executed and for you assistance and comments which have been most useful."
I really do appreciate all the time you have put in to help us not only comply with the Solicitors Code of Conduct 2007 but to help us keep our standards high and our practice commensurate with those standards."
We have welcomed the opportunity to have had a review by the SRA because it has given us both confidence in the things we do seem to be doing right and the guidance to improve our practice standards going forward."
What happens when we visit you?
We write to you confirming the date our adviser intends to visit you. We also send you a list of documents and information we need from you, including other information to help and assist you before the visit.
Prior to the visit, we will telephone you to give an overview of our approach. At that time, we can discuss practicalities of the visit.
On average, our visit will last for two days, although it can be longer. On the first day, we usually meet your client care partner, your senior partner, or your manager or director. We will establish information about your processes, procedures and practice in general. After working through documents requested prior to our visit, we may request more documents as needed. A cross section of files will be sampled, and we meet relevant staff as necessary, such as accounts personnel and practice managers.
Towards the end of our visit, a de-briefing with appropriate staff takes place: We will talk through our findings and discuss any issues arising from our visit. If there are areas of work you need to start work on straight away, we will identify these. Information is also provided about follow-up work and monitoring.
Post-visit work
After our visit, we will prepare and send you comprehensive feedback in the form of a report setting out any further advice and guidance. The report will identify any breaches found, and provide you with detail of any work you need to do to implement change. We provide you with timescales to help you with implementation. We give you an opportunity to respond to our report, usually within 21 days. We will also try to identify if there are any others areas we can assist you with at this time. We may also seek advice from other colleagues across the SRA to assist you.
We may continue to monitor your firm for a while, and we will contact you occasionally. The adviser who has worked with you will act as a point of contact for you. In some cases, a further follow-up visit may be required, usually within 12 months.
Sometimes, we may refer our report to other departments for further investigative or corrective action. If we do this, in most cases we will let you know that a referral has been made and the reasons for it.