The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced that individual practising fee levels for 2021/22 are to fall. The proposed fees were set by the SRA Board in July and the Legal Services Board (LSB) has now approved those recommendations. The effect will be that the individual practising fee will drop by £12 on last year’s figures to £266. The SRA has stated that its funding requirement for 2021/22 will be £56.8m with the funding requirement for all of the organisations supported through the practising fee being £104.3m – a £3.1m increase over the 2020/21 figure. However, because of the the increase in the number of practising solicitors, this means that it has still been possible to reduce fees this year.Similarly, Compensation Fund contributions for the next practising year are also set to fall, from £50 last year to £40 this year and for firms holding client money from £950 to £760.
SRA Chief Executive,Paul Philip, said:
‘This has been the second year of what has been a difficult time for everyone. I am pleased to confirm a fall in both practising fees and compensation fund contributions at a time when we know that the long-term implications of the pandemic are uncertain for many businesses.’
Practising Fees and Compensation Fund contributions are collected in October as part of the annual renewals process.
The table below shows the most recent individual PC fees and compensation fund contributions for individuals and firms.
| Practising year |
Individual PC fee |
Compensation Fund, individual contribution |
Compensation Fund, firm contribution |
| 2015/16 |
£320 |
£32 |
£548 |
| 2016/17 |
£290 |
£32 |
£548 |
| 2017/18 |
£278 |
£40 |
£778 |
| 2018/19 |
£278 |
£90 |
£1,680 |
| 2019/20 |
£278 |
£60 |
£1,150 |
| 2020/21 |
£278 |
£50 |
£950 |
| 2021/22 |
£266 |
£40 |
£760 |
