Ten firms out of 40 taking part in a Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) thematic review of immigration services providers have been referred to disciplinary processes after ‘significant shortcomings’ were found.
Issues uncovered included poor record-keeping, failures to keep proper training records and a reluctance to report potential misconduct at other firms—which is a regulatory requirement.
In response, the SRA has published additional guidance on supervision of staff, and will carry out a follow-up review in 12-18 months.
Paul Philip, SRA chief executive, said: ‘This is an area of work which needs providers to be up to date in what is often a challenging landscape.
‘Our recent review found lots of good practice in solicitor firms. It also showed that there are areas where some firms need to do better.’
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