Professional Rules and Regulation Committee Response to the SRA's consultation on Client Money in Legal Services - February 2026

The committee is supportive of the proposals to strengthen the accountants' reporting regime. It argues that it is eminently sensible that the SRA should receive all accountants' reports, qualified and unqualified, and have certainty that all non-exempt firms are compliant with the requirements of SRA Accounts Rule 12. It does not believe this will impose any significant additional burden on previously compliant non-exempt firms.

It is also in principle supportive of the proposal to introduce a mandatory annual declaration process but has reservations about some of the detail, and query how effective this will be in preventing non-compliance or identifying deliberate wrongdoing.