Law Society plans £11 rise in PC fee after years of cuts

By Gazette newsdesk >>

(8 April 2022)

The Law Society is proposing a rise in what it takes from the annual practising certificate fee after several years of cuts and freezes. Opening its annual consultation on the PC fee today, Chancery Lane plans an £11 rise for individual solicitors.

A Society spokesperson said: ‘For some years now the Society has gone to considerable lengths to reduce or freeze what it takes from the practising certificate fee. This had been about supporting our membership during the pandemic. Now, like all other businesses we are faced with inflationary costs unparalleled in recent memory and so for the first time in nearly seven years we are going to have to increase what we ask of our membership – that will be £11 more for an individual solicitor paying their annual fee’.

In 2015/16 the PC fee was £320, falling to £290 and then £278 for four years until the current £266. Had the fee been raised in line with inflation from 2015, Chancery Lane pointed out, the PC fee would now be £371.

The spokesperson added: ‘We are doing this as part of a new ambitious three-year strategy which we hope will give members more of what they have told us to deliver both on championing the profession and helping them navigate the future so they have a clear picture of what’s coming down the track.

‘The final amount of next year’s PCF will be unclear until the SRA reveals its plans. However, we wanted to give solicitors as much notice as possible and we are seeking their views.’

(Courtesy: The Law Society Gazette)