The Legal Services Consumer Panel has called for a single disciplinary process covering solicitors, barristers and other regulated legal professionals. Its position paper, A Regulatory Framework for the Future, published on 16 July, argues that separate disciplinary routes produce inconsistent protection and should ultimately be replaced as part of a single-regulator model.
The paper identifies the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal as an example of the complexity within the present system. Cases are brought before the SDT predominantly by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, but the tribunal operates independently under its own procedural rules and practice directions.
Its members are appointed by the Master of the Rolls. Under a memorandum agreed in November 2025, the tribunal is funded by the Law Society through arrangements involving the Legal Services Board and SDT Administration Limited. The Consumer Panel said there is no equivalent tribunal for barristers, costs lawyers or legal executives, each of whom is subject to a different disciplinary pathway.
The regulatory context is the Legal Services Act 2007, which established the LSB as the oversight regulator while retaining eight approved regulators, including the SRA, Bar Standards Board, Council for Licensed Conveyancers and CILEx Regulation.
The Consumer Panel wants one independent regulator to assume responsibility for authorisation, supervision, enforcement, redress and compensation across legal services in England and Wales. Specialist divisions and expert panels would preserve expertise within the unified structure.
Complaints and compensation would also be consolidated. The Legal Ombudsman recorded a 13% increase in contacts during 2023/24, while 46% of the complaints it investigated disclosed unreasonable first-stage handling by legal providers.
The panel said more than 100 warning signs concerning SSB Law were miscategorised and dispersed between service and conduct channels before its collapse, which left consumers facing around £200 million in debts. Axiom Ince’s collapse left more than £60 million missing from client accounts and contributed to a 270% increase in contributions to the SRA Compensation Fund.
The proposals extend beyond discipline. The panel recommends replacing regulation based on professional titles with an activity-based system organised around risk, including AI-generated legal services and automated document platforms. It also wants a universal compensation scheme, common transparency standards and a unified intelligence function connecting complaints, conduct reports and financial monitoring.
The position paper follows the Public Bodies Review led by Richard Lloyd and published on 13 July. That review recommended that the Ministry of Justice examine the wider regulatory framework, with new arrangements in place by 2029.
Solicitors, barristers and compliance teams should monitor the Ministry of Justice and Legal Services Board response, as any transition from the existing SRA and Bar Standards Board frameworks would require firms and chambers to revise misconduct reporting, disciplinary procedures and routes to consumer redress.