The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has initiated a comprehensive survey targeting 750 randomly selected law firms to assess their first-tier complaints handling procedures.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has initiated three concurrent consultations addressing various aspects of client money management by law firms. Running from 14 November 2024 to 21 February 2025, these consultations seek stakeholder input on matters including the current model of solicitors holding client money, protective measures for client funds, and the sustainability of the compensation fund. The consultations form part of the SRA’s ongoing review of consumer protection arrangements.

Law360, London: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) tabled new proposals on 11 December 2025 to strengthen safeguards for protecting client money under the existing regulatory regime, after it shelved potentially longer-term changes to the system earlier this year.

The SRA Principles preface the SRA Handbook and set out mandatory and fundamental requirements for ethical behaviour and practice for those individuals and firms regulated by the SRA.

The SRA has produced information concerning the need for regulated firms to comply with anti-money laundering and sanctions data requirements. Information will need to be provided on work which firms carry out within scope of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, any contact or involvement they have with the sanctions regime and any persons who are designated under it, and submission of suspicious activity reports to the National Crime Agency. The SRA has also created a questionnaire to help prepare firms for reporting on these requirements.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has proposed increases to practising certificate fees and compensation fund contributions for 2026–27 as part of its draft Business Plan, following scrutiny by the SRA Board. The SRA said the proposals are intended to support investment in its people, systems and transformation programme while maintaining core regulatory activity and strengthening organisational resilience. SRA’s overall funding requirement for 2026–27 is proposed at £111.5 million, an increase of £25 million, or 29%, from 2025–26. To meet this requirement, the SRA proposes increasing the individual practising certificate fee for the SRA portion from £190 to £240, while compensation fund contributions are expected to rise to £120 for individual solicitors and £3,600 for firms holding client money. The increase in compensation fund contributions follows higher claims and intervention costs, including claims linked to the closure of PM Law Limited, which had generated applications exceeding £20 million by April 2026. The SRA stated that the combined SRA-related total for an individual solicitor’s practising certificate fee and compensation fund contribution would rise from £260 to £360, but clarified that this figure relates only to the SRA element of the annual renewal cost and excludes additional levies collected for other bodies, meaning the overall renewal fee payable will be higher.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has confirmed that its ongoing investigation into PM Law Ltd concerns suspected fraud involving the misappropriation of approximately £39.5m in client funds. The intervention covers 11 companies, 25 offices and more than 30 trading names across Yorkshire, Cumbria, Berkshire, Derbyshire and London. As of 17 April 2026, the SRA has paid £9.31 million to former clients through 92 Compensation Fund claims and distributed an additional £6.8 million from funds held by the firm at the time of the intervention. It has issued 25,000 communications to clients with live matters, handled over 17,000 enquiries and returned 9,300 live files to clients, with a further 20,000 files transferred to insurer clients. The SRA estimates total potential claims at £21.52 million and has introduced a prioritisation schedule for processing Compensation Fund applications based on the risk of harm to claimants, applying to both PM Law-related claims and applications concerning other law firms.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has conducted a thematic review on Anti Money Laundering (AML) training in the legal sector. SRA conducted this review to gain insights into how firms are adhering to the requirements of Regulation 24 of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR) and to pinpoint examples of both good and poor practices in the sector. SRA's review included data from nearly 400 onsite AML inspections conducted between April 2022 and April 2024, discussions with 65 of the largest supervised firms at a roundtable event in January 2024, and insights from a meeting with sole practitioners in April 2024. Additionally, the review involved consultations with training providers regarding the development of their training packages and conversations with other AML supervisors across the UK about training challenges.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published its 2024–25 Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Annual Report, outlining its supervisory activity and observations on compliance across the legal sector. In the foreword, Paul Phillip, Chief Executive of the SRA highlights the SRA’s increased use of data to support risk-based supervision, including a 2024 data collection exercise that enabled more targeted sanctions checks. While the SRA reports that most firms demonstrated a strong understanding of their obligations, it states that the findings point to a continued need for regulatory oversight.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published its November 2025–October 2026 business plan, setting out priorities focused on driving trust in legal services. The SRA’s key areas of work include tackling issues within the high-volume consumer claims market, protecting consumer interests through a consumer protection review and effectively using data and intelligence to identify and respond to new and emerging risks. The plan follows widespread consultation with the public and the profession to ensure priorities align with the SRA’s mission to enhance public confidence in legal services.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published its second annual assessment of continuing competence for 2024, in which the SRA outlines findings from its work to ensure that solicitors have been keeping their knowledge and skills up to date and maintaining their competence over the past 12 months.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published its anti-money laundering annual report 2025–26, highlighting improvements in law firms’ compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) requirements alongside increased supervisory activity. During the reporting period, the SRA completed 966 AML compliance assessments as part of 985 proactive supervisory engagements. The report identifies improvements in firm-wide risk assessments, client and matter risk assessments, policies, controls and procedures, sanctions controls and proliferation financing risk assessments. However, weaknesses remain in the practical application of AML controls, particularly source of funds enquiries, risk assessments and ongoing monitoring.