Thank you for taking the time to participate in our practising certificate (PC) fee consultation. Below is an introduction to the consultation, providing context to the survey. The survey questions start on the next page and will take no more than 10 minutes to complete. All responses to the survey will be anonymous. If you complete the survey, you will be entered into a draw with a chance to win one of five £100 Amazon gift vouchers.
Introduction
As a member of the Law Society, you are part of a community of over 200,000 solicitors. As your professional body, we have been proud to represent the interests of solicitors for almost 200 years.
Collectively the legal profession contributes £60bn to the UK economy and facilitates trillions of pounds of transactions globally, upholding the rule of law and delivering justice.
Our job is to champion, protect and support your interests and those of the generations of solicitors who come after you, as well as promoting access to justice and defending the rule of law both domestically and internationally.
The PC fee you pay to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) each year as an individual, or that your firm pays on your behalf, are the main source of income for the Law Society. The income from these fees determines what we can achieve for you, the profession, and wider society.
We are now in the second year of our Corporate Strategy (November 2022 to October 2025), which set out four objectives for 2022/25: - promote the value of the profession and provide a compelling member offer
- protect the justice system and make sure it applies to everyone equally
- maximise our potential by growing our commercial reach, by being efficient and sustainable
- be an employer of choice for people who want to make a difference.
The PC fee is:
- approved by the Legal Services Board (LSB), the oversight regulator for legal services
- collected by the SRA
- paid for either by individual solicitors or by firms on behalf of their solicitors.
The PC fee funds are used to fund the following:
- the SRA
- the Law Society
- Levies paid to fund the activities of the Legal Ombudsman (LeO)
- LSB
- Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT)
- Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS).
This consultation only relates to the 27% of funds received by the Law Society from the PC fee. More information on the PC fee can be found here.
Keeping to our commitment: Increasing the Law Society’s proportion of the PC fee by 5% (which equates to c.£4.20) in 2024/25 to continue to better support the profession.
In 2022, we asked you to rate on a scale of 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree), to what extent you supported our intention to increase the PC fee over a 3-year period. A clear majority of respondents, 58%, agreed with our proposal to increase the PC fee by the following amounts, with only 15% disagreeing (see chart 1 below). - 2022/23 15% (equating to an additional c. £11 on an individual PC fee)
- 2023/24 7% (equating to an additional c.£6 on an individual PC fee)
- 2024/25 5% (equating to an additional c.£4.20 on an individual PC fee).
In this survey, we are seeking to understand your priorities for 2024/25 and our next corporate strategy for 2025/28. In addition to gaining your views on a proposed 5% increase (equating to an additional c.£4.20 on an individual PC fee).
Chart 1 – Responses to our proposal to increase the PC fee in subsequent years of 2022/23 and 2023/24
The main reasons you gave for supporting the increases in 2022/23 and 2023/24 were: - So the Law Society could further support its members and the profession
- The rationale and evidence presented for the increases were clear and justified
- The Law Society should receive a higher proportion of the PC fee
- The Law Society was presenting data and insight to a much higher quality than before, and this needed to be supported
- The Law Society needed to be more ambitious, and the new corporate strategy demonstrated this and should be funded accordingly.
Delivering more of what you told us is important to you.
The results from our consultation last year (spring 2023) showed that our members’ priorities appear to focus on the availability and accessibility of resources and frontline member services. Members also want the Law Society to do more to promote and champion the profession to the public and to Government.
We launched our new three-year Corporate Strategy in November 2022, and we have been making good progress in delivering against the activities outlined in our Business Plan for this year (2023/24). Every year we listen to your feedback, and it informs the subsequent years’ plan.
As you can see from our business plan, we have listened and want to do all that you asked us to do. But we will not be able to do all this to the standard we believe is acceptable if we do not allow our income base to keep pace with rising costs such as inflation and energy prices.
Our Council, which is elected by members, and Board have urged us to be ambitious in our plans to maximise the value we give to our members. As your professional body, we want to know from you what you want us to prioritise in 2024/25 and beyond, as we craft our strategy for 2025/28.
Please help us by sharing your thoughts and expertise for the next 10 minutes, and encourage others to do so, too. All responses will be anonymous.
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