The Legal Services Board (LSB) has published its business plan for 2023/24 to drive forward its ambition to deliver a legal services market that better meets society’s needs.
Publication follows a consultation exercise earlier this year which saw the sector have its say through a virtual event and written submissions. The Business Plan supports the LSB’s overarching strategy, which is focused on the regulatory objectives it has a statutory duty to promote. Taking inflation into account, we are reducing our budget by 1% while continuing to deliver in full on our plans.
We will work collaboratively through the year to explore how regulation can best support issues such as improving access to justice and upholding the fundamental principle of the rule of law and standards of professional ethics in the legal services sector.
In 2023/24, we will press on with existing priorities, including:
- implementing our revised regulatory performance framework and new policy statements on consumer empowerment and ongoing competence, and
- continuing to advance our equality, diversity and inclusion work, including by identifying how regulation can help address counter-inclusive practices.
Further, over the course of the year, we will review regulators’ arrangements for ensuring that disciplinary and enforcement processes are fair and consistent. And we are developing a toolkit for regulators on developing arrangements for financial protections to support consumers and legal professionals as the PII market hardens.
New workstreams for 2023/24 include:
Access to Justice: We will consider the role of regulation in improving access to the publicly-funded justice system and scope future work in this area.
Market analysis: Through increased horizon scanning, we will develop a better understanding of the risks and issues facing the sector and how they may impact on delivery of the strategy.
Consumer vulnerability: Building on our consumer research published in 2022, we will develop our understanding of best practice across the sector and agree principles on how to support consumers in vulnerable circumstances.
Dr Helen Phillips steps down as Chair of the LSB on 31 March 2023. Alan Kershaw has been announced as the new Chair, effective from 1 April 2023. Dr Helen Phillips said:
‘This is the LSB’s third business plan since we published the Reshaping Legal Services strategy and my last as Chair. I am proud of our progress so far in delivering fairer outcomes, stronger confidence and better services for consumers, but there is more that regulation can do to make sure people who need legal services can get the help and advice they need.
‘We were grateful for the contributions made by stakeholders across England and Wales and the strong spirit of collaboration that was clear from responses to our consultation. By working together, we will ensure that the profession is more diverse and reflects those it serves, that high standards of professional ethics inspire public trust and confidence and that technology and innovation are harnessed to better meet the needs of all consumers, the profession and society.’
Alan Kershaw said:
‘I look forward to working with stakeholders across the sector to ensure legal services are as good as they can be and that people can access legal services at the critical times when they need them. This plan recognises the range of challenges and opportunities facing the sector and sets out our ambition to play our part in addressing those. It was developed following a public consultation, and we have sought to give priority to where the LSB and regulation can have the greatest impact.’
Notes to editor
- The LSB Board agreed the LSB’s business plan for 2023/24 on 21 March 2023 following a public consultation from 5 December 2022 to 3 February 2023.
- The consultation response document is available on the LSB’s website.
- The responses to the consultation are available on the LSB’s website.
- The ‘Reshaping Legal Services’ strategy was published on 29 March 2021. This sets out a ten-year strategic direction (2021-31), inviting regulation to work collaboratively with the wider sector to make progress against a range of challenges. The strategy also identified priority areas of focus for the next three years (2021-24) and how the LSB will contribute to these priorities.