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News

posted 25 Aug 2010

SRA review to weed out less qualified staff

The UK’s Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is set to roll out a skills training programme across the organisation in a drive to bring staff up to speed with the challenges posed by forthcoming changes to the regulatory regime.

The move, announced at the SRA board meeting in mid-July, will involve a review of ‘behaviour competencies’ that could lead to less qualified staff being weeded out of the organisation.

“The measure of success will be the number of staff retained with personal development plans,” said board member Graham Chisnall.

Lorraine Jones, group HRD director noted the SRA had “some difficult decisions to make”. Her department warned that it may not be possible to redeploy all staff.

The review, which will be supervised by a yet-to-be-confirmed external agency, will start with case workers before being expanded to cover the entire organisation.

The Legal Services Act will set an unprecedented range of challenges for the regulator as the new risk-based regime unfolds, which will require the introduction of new IT systems, processes and teams, as well as remodelling units and instituting a new leadership across the organisation.

The review of behaviour competencies is expected to ensure SRA staff are equipped to work with law firms under the new outcomes-focused regulation.

Solicitors have regularly raised concerns over the SRA’s abilities to regulate the profession effectively. These include allegations that the regulator has unfairly targeted black and ethnic minority-owned law firms.

Participants at the SRA’s own roadshow also expressed scepticism that it could deliver under the new outcomes-focused regulation and become more of an analytical and service-based regulator.