LSB publishes response to immigration advice and services consultation

31 July 2012

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has today published its response to its consultation about the regulation of immigration advice and services. The response document calls for those regulators under the Legal Services Act 2007 that regulate immigration advice and services (the qualifying regulators) to take action to ensure that the following outcomes are achieved for consumers:

• • the immigration advice and services that consumers receive is provided by practitioners who are technically competent and provide good quality advice and client care
  • consumer detriment is minimised by quick and effective intervention against those advisers who do not meet minimum standards.

Qualifying regulators need to identify what needs to be done to ensure satisfactory quality across the board by all who provide immigration advice and services, combined with effective mechanisms for identifying and stopping advisers who provide unsatisfactory levels of quality. They must take immediate action to mitigate the risks to consumers in the provision of immigration advice and services and we will monitor their progress towards achieving the outcomes set out above over the next 12 months. Failure to take action may lead to formal enforcement action by the LSB.