SRA makes 36,000 apologies for massive fees blunder

More than 36,000 solicitors were overcharged by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) on their contributions to the compensation fund, it was revealed today (7 June).

The SRA has apologised to the solicitors for an “administrative error”, which some lawyers charged £500 rather than £400 for their contributions and others were charged £250 rather than £200.

Antony Townsend, the Authority’s chief executive, said it apologises “unreservedly for the mistake” and is acting “as quickly as possible to rectify the situation in a way which is fair to solicitors and keeps costs down”.

Townsend explained that the overcharge has been reported to the Law Society’s audit committee, which will be supervising a review to see why the mistake occurred and why it was not identified sooner.

“We’re working closely with the representative Law Society to achieve these objectives,” said Townsend. “We will put measures in place to minimise any risk of recurrence.”