CSR & pro bono

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a commitment by a firm to look beyond simply making money, to conduct its business responsibly and to integrate economic, social and environmental concerns into its culture and decision-making, thereby establishing better practices within the firm and leading to improvements in the wider society.

SRA requirements

There is no Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) requirement for a firm to have any form of CSR strategy or policy. However, you may find that having a clear CSR policy can help you focus your business processes to produce an overall positive impact for your clients.

Lexcel

Lexcel Practice Management Standard v 6.1, section 1.4 requires practices to have a CSR policy. It does not give any information on what this policy should contain.

Investors in People (IIP) Accreditations

The Investors in People (IIP) Accreditations are recognised frameworks designed to help commercial organisations improve their performance and realise their objectives through effective management, support and development of their organisation and their people. The Accreditations cover:

  1. investing in people

  2. investing in wellbeing, and

  3. investing in apprentices

The

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Latest Practice Management News

Right to work guidance updated on Digital Verification Service checks

The Home Office has issued an updated version of its ‘Employer’s guide to right to work checks’ document, with the changes primarily related to simplifying the information on digital checks for employers of British and Irish citizens who have a valid passport (or Irish passport card). The new version has removed various technical details which were previously intended for providers of these digital verification services, and revised the relevant terminology, so that ‘Digital Verification Service (DVS)’ now includes both the terms Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) and Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). This is stated to align the guidance with the terminology used in the UK digital identity and attributes framework and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Guidance and requirements specifically for DVS are now set out in a separate, supplementary code for digital right to work checks. The relevant guidance for employers has been revised. Although it is not currently mandatory for employers to use a DVS certified against the ‘trust framework’ and the supplementary code, this position will change ‘in the near future’, and it will become mandatory to use a DVS listed on the register of certified DVS (maintained by the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA)). In other changes, the new version reiterates that an original expired BRP is not proof of a right to work, and instead an online check must be taken. It also confirms that short-term entry clearance vignettes are being phased out, and that increasingly persons recently issued entry clearance will only have their eVisa to rely on for these purposes, so will need to create a UKVI account as soon as possible and can do this from overseas. In relation to asylum seekers with a pending claim, the guidance now states that they can also volunteer whilst their claim is considered without being granted permission to work, but they can only carry out 'paid' work if they have been granted permission to work under the Immigration Rules, Part 11, paras 360 or 360C. Previously the reference in our quotation marks to ‘paid’ work stated ‘voluntary’ work

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