ACSeS responds to the consultation on solicitors’ Practising Certificate fees

1. Members of the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors (ACSeS) have long argued strongly against the unfairness of the current system of practising certificate fees for council solicitors. This is because it is solicitors in private practice who attract most regulatory intervention and who should therefore bear most of its cost.
2. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has now acknowledged this. In a consultation paper issued on 7 December 2009 SRA has proposed changing the current system because:
   ‘The way in which the cost of regulation is currently allocated among the profession through the practising certificate fee leads to anomalies and unfairness in the context of modern legal practice’.
3. In particular (and in line with the views of ACSeS) SRA points out that:
   ‘The present system is grossly unfair for solicitors employed in local government or commerce and industry, who are charged the same practising certificate fee as solicitors in private practice, despite the fact that most of the SRA effort relates to private practice.’
4. In responding to the December consultation paper, ACSeS points out that for far too long local government has had an exceptionally poor deal on the cost of Practising Certificates. The Association is opposed to solicitors in local government who do not hold client monies having to contribute to the Compensation Fund set up to compensate clients for solicitor default.
5. Dr. Mirza Ahmad, President of ACSeS said that:
   ‘Taking a conservative average of £10,000 paid by each local authority per annum over the last decade, it is estimated that about £50 Million of public funds were paid into the legal profession by local authorities, with little or no value (or return) for Local Government. In the case of the larger authorities, such as Birmingham City Council, their share, alone, would amount to over £1 Million during the last decade.
   This is a disproportionate level of public subsidy into the legal profession and the regulatory body.
   Such amounts can not be justified in the public interest and such position is not sustainable in the current economic climate facing public sector employers. ‘
6. Dr Ahmad points out that ACSeS is therefore recommending that ‘. . .the current grossly unfair system for solicitors employed in local government be replaced, at once, with a far fairer and proportionate charging system which treats solicitors employed in Local Government equally with those employed in the Government Legal Service’. 

Notes for Editors

1. Every practising solicitor must have a practising certificate issued annually by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority.  The fees for these pay for professional regulation of solicitors and the operation of the Law Society.
2. ACSeS represents Chief and Senior Legal Officers of all English and Welsh local authorities and is the professional association for managers of corporate governance (legal, administrative, democratic, scrutiny and standards functions) and statutory monitoring officers and their deputies in local authorities in England and Wales.
3. The Association plays a leading role in developing governance arrangements in local government and works closely with other associations, Government Departments and agencies.
4. The Association also  provides a network for its members to enable discussion, consultation, training and development on legal and governance matters.
5. As Corporate Director of Governance (and Monitoring Officer) of Birmingham City Council – which is the largest local authority in UK – Dr Mirza Ahmad leads a multi-professional department, consisting of over 800 staff, excelling in Legal, Democratic, Regulatory, Registrars, Elections, Data Protection and Information Management Services. 
6. The SRA’s Consultation Paper can be viewed at http://www.sra.org.uk/sra/consultations/.

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