Since 6 October the SRA’s approach to regulation is outcomes-focused and the new structure is organised into three functions: authorisation, supervision, and enforcement. The Practice Standards Unit no longer exists. The SRA’s supervisory approach to firms will be based on a risk assessment where firms are classified into high, medium and low impact. Firms presenting a high risk will be the subject of relationship management – over the past year we have been conducting pilots on this and you can read about this here.

Firms presenting a medium-low risk will be the subject of desk-based supervision. The aim is to concentrate our resources more effectively.

You can read about our new supervisory approach here and also how we view risk here.

Lesley Miller
External Communications Officer
Solicitors Regulation Authority
November 2011