‘Relief’ as SIF replacement revealed

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will run indemnity arrangements from September 2023, maintaining cover to the same level as SIF for post six-year run-off claims.

The SIF was scheduled for closure in 2021—a move which would have left retired solicitors or solicitors who had closed down their firm vulnerable to potentially ruinous claims where negligence was alleged to have happened in a historic matter.

Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘This is likely to be a relief to the many members, and former members, who have been worried that the closure of SIF would mean the ending of post six-year run-off cover (PSYROC) as a regulatory arrangement, when for most there was little prospect of finding alternative comparable protection on the open market.

‘However, following lobbying from the Law Society and other stakeholders, the SRA sought an extension to the fund, so that it would have time to seek views on how to sustainably maintain essential consumer protections and develop a new policy for the future’.

Boyce said the decision meant ‘consumers will continue to enjoy long-term protections when they employ a solicitor for legal advice’.

The SRA will launch a public consultation before the end of this month on the arrangements and rules for the SRA-run indemnity scheme. Boyce said the Law Society would work constructively with the SRA to make sure the scheme was affordable in the long term, provided good value for money and protected clients and solicitors alike to the same extent as under SIF.

Anna Bradley, chair of the SRA board, said: ‘We have been looking at how best to maintain consumer protection for negligence claims brought more than six years after a firm has closed in a cost-effective and proportionate way and have decided that an SRA-run indemnity scheme is the right way forward.

‘This approach will provide that important protection for those who need it, while giving us clear oversight of how the indemnity operates, enabling us to run the scheme efficiently and realise potential cost savings’.