SRA Investigates Firms for Client-Care Failings
The Solicitors Regulation has published a thematic review identifying recurring client care-failures and introducing a mandatory compliance declaration for firms in the sector.
The SRA has released a thematic review into high-volume consumer claims work, identifying recurring issues in basic client care. The review examined 129 firms handling more than 2.4 million live claims, drawing on survey responses and visits to selected practices.
The SRA highlights repeated shortcomings in areas such as unclear cost information, thin onboarding documents and uneven file handling. These shortcomings relate directly to firms’ client care obligations, particularly the requirement to ensure that consumers are given clear and accurate information at the outset of a claim. Where firms operate at scale, failures of this kind risk being replicated across large numbers of matters rather than being isolated or infrequent incidents.
The review is published along a background of active enforcement in the consumer claims market, sitting alongside 89 ongoing investigations involving 73 firms operating in this area of practice. This reflects continuing concern about consumer risk arising from the way some businesses are structured and run.
A notable outcome of the review is the introduction of a mandatory compliance declaration for firms engaged in this type of work. Firms are required to confirm that they understand and are following the relevant regulatory requirements. The SRA has stated that where firms identify weakness through this process, they are expected to take action to address them without delay, making it clear it will take action where it sees poor practice.
This review reinforces the SRA’s focus on high-volume consumer claims work and underlines the importance of firms maintaining effective standards in this area of the market, even if claims are handles in such large numbers.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, ‘SRA acts on concerns about law firm practices on high-volume claims’ (22 August 2025) https://www.sra.org.uk/news/news/press/high-volume-claims-thematic-2025/ accessed 23 August
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, ‘High-volume consumer claims thematic review’ (22 August 2025) https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/research-publications/high-volume-consumer-claims-thematic-review/ accessed 23 August