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We have published our draft Business Plan and funding requirements for 2026/27, setting out our proposed programme of changes to improve how we regulate solicitors and law firms, with a sharper focus on protecting the public from the biggest risks.

The plan follows a period of listening and engagement led by Chief Executive, Sarah Rapson, who started in November 2025. It is intended to act as a bridge between the SRA's current approach and our next Corporate Strategy for 2027–2030.

Sarah Rapson, Chief Executive of the SRA, said: 'Put simply, we need to change how we work. We can't meet today's demands and achieve what is needed by doing more of the same.

'That means making bold and sometimes difficult choices to protect the public. This includes investing now to fix the SRA's foundations, strengthen its core operations, and build new capabilities for the future. To do that, we need the right people, systems and tools in place.'

At the centre of the draft plan is a shift towards focusing regulatory effort where the risks to the public are greatest. This includes doing more to spot issues earlier, working more closely with firms where that helps prevent harm, and being clearer about where the SRA will focus its time and resources.

For 2026/27, we have set out three areas of focus:

1. Establishing operational excellence to improve core functions to enable a high standard of regulatory activity.
2. Developing the ability to proactively identify and address risk by acting earlier and using intelligence-led approaches to prevent harm.
3. Focusing on the biggest issues by prioritising activity where the risks to consumers and confidence in legal services are greatest.

As part of this, we have already begun work to review how we decide which reports should move into formal investigation and is piloting a new supervisory approach. The draft plan also sets out a new approach to targeting investigative resources more tightly, so that we can prioritise the cases where regulatory action is most needed and use different tools where that is more appropriate.

Alongside this, the plan includes investment to strengthen day‑to‑day delivery and improve how we use technology and data to support quicker, more consistent decisions.

Funding requirement and practising fees

To support the work set out in the draft Business Plan, we are proposing an overall funding requirement increase of £25m, or 29%, to £111.5m for 2026/27.

This would see the SRA component of the individual practising certificate (PC) fee increase from £190 to £240. Firm fees, which are calculated based on an individual business' turnover, would also rise.

The overall fees individuals and firms pay each year include not just the SRA element, but also contributions to organisations including the Law Society, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and Legal Ombudsman.

SRA Compensation Fund

When they renew each year, regulated firms and individuals are also required to make annual contributions to the SRA Compensation Fund, which exists to provide key safeguards to the public by ensuring they are protected when using a regulated law firm.

The proposals note that recent months have seen significant pressure on the compensation fund with claims totalling more than £20m to-date resulting from the closure of PM Law Group, a steep rise in the number of wider interventions over the past six months and rising associated costs.

As a result, proposed compensation fund contributions for 2026/27 are:

• £120 for an individual solicitor
• £3,600 for an SRA-regulated firm

This is up from £70 (individual) and £1,950 (firm) in 2025/26.

Consultation and engagement

Consultation on our proposed Business Plan, funding requirement and compensation fund contributions is now open, and will run until Monday 22 June at midday.

During the consultation period, we will hold engagement events to seek feedback from the public, the profession and wider stakeholders.