New SRA Consultation

New SRA Consultation

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is consulting on the implementation of the next stage of policy changes to ensure clients are protected financially.
The changes were announced as part of the April 2011 Policy Statement http://www.sra.org.uk/financial-protection-policy-statement
The main changes include:
the closing of the Assigned-Risks Pool (ARP) as a provider of policies of qualifying insurance from 30 September 2013 (with the exception of the continued provision of run-off cover incepted before that date)
a requirement, from October 2012, that all policies of qualifying insurance make provision for extension by 90 days at the end of the insurance period if the insured firm has not taken out a new policy of qualifying insurance
changes to Authorisation Rules to control the work that may be undertaken by firms during that 90-day period, and to remove authorisation at the end of the 90-day period should no new policy of qualifying insurance be obtained
provisions for the funding of the ARP in 2012/13 to be provided by both the regulated community and the qualifying insurers
provisions to move responsibility for making payments in respect of uninsured firms from the ARP to the Compensation Fund in 2012/13
Richard Collins, Director of Standards at the SRA, said: "These proposals implement the next phase of the policy decisions announced by the SRA in April this year. As a public interest regulator, our objective is to  ensure a comprehensive set of arrangements to ensure that clients are protected through compulsory PII and the compensation fund
"The changes proposed for implementation in October 2012 are particularly designed to ensure that the open-market system of PII is sustainable and competitive for the foreseeable future."
Details of the consultation exercise  appear on the SRA’s website at http://www.sra.org.uk/sra/consultations/financial-protection-review.page
The consultation will run for 12 weeks and closes on Tuesday 17 January 2012.

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