April 2nd, 2015  

Version 13 of the SRA’s Handbook became effective yesterday. Main changes were:

1. A new outcome which requires firms to assess and purchase an appropriate level of professional indemnity insurance and changes to the Minimum Terms and Conditions of cover;

2. Changes setting out the eligibility criteria for individuals able to apply for a grant out of the SRA’s Compensation Fund; Removal of transitional provisions relating to sole practitioners, ahead of changes to be made in November 2015 no longer requiring an annual endorsement;

3. New rules for entities owned or managed by Registered European Lawyers (RELs). These changes are reflected in the Accounts Rules in Part 7 Practice from an office outside of England and Wales and from an office within England and Wales of an Exempt European Practice (specifically Rules 47 and 48);

4. Changes have been made to the SRA Training Regulations 2011 Part 3 – CPD Regulations to enable solicitors to adopt our new approach to continuing competence from the 1 April 2015 and to repeal these regulations from 1 November 2016. A new toolkit has been developed to support these changes http://www.sra.org.uk/toolkit/;

5. Changes have been made to the SRA Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme Regulations 2011 and SRA Training Regulations 2014 – Qualification and Provider Regulations to recognise Welsh language skills as an alternative to English to meet the relevant outcomes in order to qualify as a solicitor.

The SRA’s handbook can be found on their website at http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/welcome.page.