LSB: Set to move out of this central London office
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has trimmed its proposed budget increase for 2025-26 but it is still to rise by 11% – adding £3.05 onto every regulated lawyer’s practising fees.
The oversight regulator anticipates much more demand for legal advice in the next year, which accounts for nearly half of the rise.
The LSB last year published its business plan and budget for 2025/26, following a consultation that had proposed a budget up £757,000 to just over £6m, or a further £3.84 onto practising fees; the LSB currently receives around £25 per regulated person.
However, several of the 12 responses received strongly opposed what was a 14% increase and as a result the LSB has reduced the proposed increase by £155,000, taking the budget to just shy of £5.9m. This is recovered from the practising fees of all regulated lawyers.
The largest chunk of the increase is for a larger budget for external legal support, which the LSB said it may need in part for potential proceedings arising from CILEX’s desire to change regulator from CILEx Regulation Ltd (CRL) to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the legality of which CRL contests.
The two other factors cited were the current independent review of the SRA’s regulatory actions in the collapse of the SSB Group and support on possible enforcement action arising from the Axiom Ince report into the SRA’s actions.
The LSB said the Council for Licensed Conveyancers had called on it to introduce a ‘polluter pays’ model in relation to the legal costs arising from regulatory action against the SRA.
While the LSB has not ruled such a move out for the future, it said this would require “careful consideration to balance the benefits and resource costs. Solicitors are the largest cohort of legal professionals, and the costs for our work on the SRA are already largely paid for by solicitors”.
The extra money will also go towards two extra members of staff – taking the LSB’s complement to 44 full-time equivalents – and an office move with its central London lease coming to an end.
“As part of securing a new lease, we expect to meet the requirements of government to move out of central London and onto existing government estate,” the plan noted.
The business plan laid out the LSB’s five priority policy projects for the next year: strengthening ethical standards, dismantling barriers “to create a profession that truly reflects the society it serves”, addressing unmet legal needs, establishing clear principles for transparent, proportionate and consistent processes to discipline lawyers, and responding to emerging risks to consumer protection while enabling technological innovation “to thrive for the benefit of consumers”.
Catherine Brown, interim chair of the LSB, said: “This plan will help us to target those areas where we can make the greatest difference for consumers. This is essential for maintaining public trust and confidence in legal services, which underpin the sector’s significant contribution to the UK economy…
“As we approach the midway point of the ten-year Reshaping Legal Services strategy, it is also fitting that we use this opportunity make sure that regulation is maintaining standards, promoting confidence and facilitating economic growth.”
The cost of practising looks likely to go up for all this year, with the Legal Ombudsman – whose costs are also recovered from regulated lawyers – set to increase its budget by £2m or 11.4%.
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