No referral ban

A complete bar on referral payments, under which solicitors can pay people who introduce them to clients, is unfeasible, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has decided. The regulator has ruled out a ban even though its 12-month monitoring and enforcement programme revealed widespread infringements of the rules. The SRA will instead introduce new measures to improve compliance. SRA chairman Peter Williamson says: “We need a regime that is clear and easy to enforce but with tough penalties for those who break the rules.” Options include an annual reporting requirement by solicitors and model agreements.