The SRA is consulting on the arrangements and rules of an indemnity scheme that they run to provide future consumer protection for post six-year negligence.
This follows a decision by the Board in September that an SRA-run indemnity scheme offered the most cost-effective and proportionate solution to providing appropriate consumer protection for post six-year claims.
The scheme will come into effect from September 2023, replacing the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) arrangements, currently operated by the Solicitors Indemnity Fund Limited. The levels of protection provided by the scheme will be the same as those provided through the SIF.
All regulated law firms are required to have indemnity insurance which covers them for any claims made in the six years after they close. The indemnity scheme will provide protection, as the SIF does currently, for consumers who suffer financial loss due to a solicitor’s negligence, where a claim arises after this period and the closing firms had no successor practice.