Legal Services Board draft business plan 2025/26 consultation – Law Society response

Regulatory oversight

We're pleased the LSB acknowledges the calls to focus on its core statutory functions under the Legal Services Act 2007. This includes only taking on additional workstreams based on:

• evidence of regulatory need, or
• specific gaps in responding to consumer needs

Addressing the core issues with regulatory performance and compliance as a central part of the business plan is a step in the right direction.

Strengthening regulatory oversight by monitoring regulators’ performance and greater accountability to the LSB where concerns are identified will directly benefit consumers as the legal market continues to change, to avoid repeats of collapses and consumer harm such as with Axiom Ince and the SSB Group.

The LSB should also reflect on its own role in these matters, as an organisation that is supposed to oversee the processes and operations of the frontline regulators.

The LSB should also focus on addressing performance issues of the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) and increase monitoring and evaluation of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC), to make sure:

• they are fair and transparent
• both consumers of legal services and the profession have confidence in the redress mechanism

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are pleased to see a continuation of work on equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and several policy areas, which also align with our strategic priorities and the regulatory objectives.

We're keen to continue to work together with the LSB in these areas, providing insight through our members’ views and experiences and research programme.

We encourage the LSB to make sure our efforts are appropriately coordinated.

Proposed budget

We have some queries about the proposed budget.

The lack of evidence supporting the high increase in budget is of concern.

The proposed budget represents an increased burden on stakeholders’ budgets

It must be considered in the context of the continuing cost-of-living crisis and financial burdens faced by many sections of the profession, including:

• additional levies on our members arising from the collapse of Axiom Ince
• challenges facing criminal and civil legal aid practitioners operating with unsustainable Legal Aid Agency fee rates

This has the potential to have a negative impact on consumer choice, as many firms would have no option but to pass the additional costs onto clients by charging more for services.