FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, 7 July 2016
LSB PUBLISHES ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2015/16
Making an impact for consumers of legal services
The Legal Services Board (LSB) – the independent body overseeing the regulation of legal services in England and Wales – has published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year 2015/16. The document was laid before Parliament today, 7 July 2016.
The report covers the 2015/16 year, the first year of the LSB's 2015-18 strategic plan. It demonstrates the on-going effectiveness of the LSB in carrying out its statutory functions on time and to budget and describes the work that the LSB has achieved over the past year. Three areas, in particular, are highlighted:
- increasing collaboration and cooperation between the legal regulators
- ongoing development of a strong evidence base for the legal services sector through research and analysis, and
- continuing improvements in the regulation of legal services and addressing unmet legal need.
Justice Minister, Lord Faulks said:
"The Legal Services Board plays an important role in improving standards across the legal profession. The range and quality of legal services offered continues to improve.
We are committed to cutting unnecessary regulation and I welcome the work the LSB has done throughout the year in responding to the Government's drive to find more opportunities for deregulation.
I look forward to working with the Legal Services Board over the next year."
Legal Services Board's Chairman Sir Michael Pitt said:
"The Legal Services Board continues to contribute to the long term development and health of the legal services sector.
Throughout the past year the LSB has worked closely and collaboratively with all of the legal services regulators. This has been, and will continue to be, a positive development and good for the sector as a whole.
One of our key functions is to establish an evidence base for the market for legal services so the decisions we make drive improvements, be they reduced costs, less regulation, greater transparency or driving up standards.
This is important because a market that looks at itself, innovates and is open to change is a market that is attractive to investors, potential new entrants, and encourages existing businesses to differentiate and to compete. All of these things in turn ensure consumers' needs for legal services are met effectively and efficiently."
ENDS
For further information, please contact the LSB's Communications Manager, Vincent McGovern (020 7271 0068).
Notes for editors:
- The Annual Report can be found here.
- The LSB was set up on 1 January 2009. It took on its full powers on 1 January 2010 and each year since then we have consistently reduced our running costs. In 2015/16 our costs were almost 30% lower than our first full year (2009/10).
- The LSB is a small organisation. As of 31 March 2016 the LSB had 24 full time employees and 7 part time employees. 61% of the staff complement were women.
- The LSB operates at nil cost to the public purse and its expenditure in 2015/16 was £3.59m against a budget of £4.3m resulting in an under spend of £0.71m. 100% of this under spend will be used to reduce the levy for the approved regulators for the coming year.
The total amount levied per person authorised to undertake reserved legal activates for the 2015/16 period is £21.55. This is down from £34.38 in 2010/11.
- The Legal Services Act 2007 (the Act) created the LSB as a new regulator with responsibility for overseeing the regulation of legal services in England and Wales. The new regulatory regime became active on 1 January 2010.
- The LSB oversees nine approved regulators, which in turn regulate individual legal practitioners. The approved regulators, designated under Part 1 of Schedule 4 of the 2007 Act, are the Law Society, the General Council of the Bar, the Master of the Faculties, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, the Association of Costs Lawyers and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
In addition, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants are listed as approved regulators in relation only to reserved probate activities.
- As at 1 April 2016, the legal profession in England and Wales comprised 145,059 solicitors, 15,288 barristers, 6,848 chartered legal executives and 5,697 other individuals operating in other areas of the legal profession such as conveyancing. The UK legal sector is valued at £32 billion per annum (2015) which is up 23% in cash terms since 2012. For more information see here.