The Association of Chartered Accountants (ACCA) in England and Wales is to withdraw from legal services regulation in a UK first. The legal activities that are exercised by its members will now be regulated in a new partnership by CILEx Regulation (CRL), the regulatory body for Chartered Legal Executives. Under the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA), probate was listed as a reserved legal activity, meaning that regulators who administered the right to provide probate services could be approved as legal service regulators, by the overarching regulator, the Legal Service Board.
The ACCA was approved to regulate probate in 2009, but only began actively regulating in 2018. Under the LSA, there has always been the option for any of the regulatory bodies to regulate multiple different professions, however, the transfer to regulation by CRL, which will take place over the coming months, marks the first time this will have happened in practice. This transfer will allow the 52 ACCA accredited firms to continue to practice, however, it will not affect the 300 firms regulated by the ICAEW.
The move came in the light of new governance rules that have been put in place by the LSB, as well as the fact that the ACCA was not licensed to regulate alternative business structures, and obtaining the licence would ultimately prove too costly. They, therefore, stated that “Against that backdrop and that the provision of legal services sits as an adjunct to general practice, we believe partnering with another legal services regulator provides a pragmatic and cost-effective way to support practitioners to diversify their service offerings”.
Carilyn Burman, chief executive of CILEx Regulation, said she was confident that it could offer “a number of benefits, including an opportunity for ACCA probate practitioners to join forces with other legal and non-legal professionals as ABSs, which will further encourage competition and diversity within the legal services market”.
Dr Helen Phillips, chair of the LSB, has said: “Enhancing regulatory independence has been a long-term strategic priority for the LSB and I am pleased the regulators are now able to confirm they have the appropriate separations in place between regulatory and representative functions. This is a significant achievement and means consumers can have increased certainty that decisions made by regulators are independent.”
Read more about the decision or see more about the regulatory structure in England and Wales