Reporting requirements under SRA Standards and Regulations explained
Key reporting requirements have been introduced by the new SRA Standards and Regulations (STaRs). This requires solicitors to:
- co-operate with regulators and ombudsmen
- respond to the SRA when asked
- notify the SRA, (as laid down in section 7 of the SRA Code for Solicitors, and section 3 of the SRA Codes for Firms (section 3 also covers non-solicitors))
- justify decisions and actions in order to demonstrate compliance (obligations set out under the SRA’s regulatory arrangements under section 7 of the SRA Code for Solicitors; and under section 3 of the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms).
In addition to the above requirements, firms must have effective governance structures, arrangements, systems and controls in place; these include systems that monitor areas such as:
- Complaints
- Negligence claims
- Risks to the firm
- Money laundering reports
- Undertakings
- File audits
- Bribery
- Competency and training.
It will be vital for firms to be able to evidence what they have done and why they have done it.
Reporting serious issues
One of the other key areas that firms and individuals will need to grapple with will be around reporting serious issues to the SRA. Not only will firms have reporting obligations but so will individuals, including individuals reporting direct to the SRA if they reasonably believe their compliance officers won’t when a report has been made to them.
A robust breach and incident reporting framework, that is understood by all staff, will ensure you can manage breaches effectively, give all staff confidence in the breach reporting framework and ensure reports are being made to the regulator when needed.
The Access Group can help you with this. Our Risk and Compliance system will make it easy for individuals to report on breaches, and help firms spot trends without the need for manual reporting, all whilst providing a complete audit trail of actions and events to evidence compliance with the regulations.
Contact us for more details.
