2023-24 Regulatory Decisions Report

9. This year has shown an improvement in performance in terms of productivity, timeliness and responsiveness. In quarter 4, the Contact and Assessment Team cleared nearly 500 reports and 1,770 over the year, which is an increase of 12% on 2022/23. In the same quarter, the Investigations and Enforcement Team concluded 64% of investigations within the 25-week target – the best performance in 4 years; and the Supervision Team exceeded all its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) over the quarter. The Authorisations Team’s performance peaked in quarter 2 with 240 applications assessed during that quarter and ended the reporting period on an upward trend into quarter 1 of 2024/25. The data show productivity, timeliness and responsiveness all moving upwards.

10. This shows that, following several initiatives including the ‘Accelerated Investigations’ process (as detailed in last year’s report) and the introduction of a Transferring Qualified Lawyer Taskforce (see paragraph 22 for details) the trajectory of travel is upwards. This is encouraging, particularly in the context that the year has been characterised by both higher volumes and by some particularly complex issues arising in our operational work. We have achieved this by delivering operational efficiencies, continuing to clear backlogs, reducing caseloads in most teams, and addressing identified staffing gaps within our operational model.

11. The ‘Accelerated Investigations’ plan commenced in August 2022 and concluded in September 2023, thus spanning two reporting years, with the aims of: clearing the backlog of cases awaiting acceptance for investigation; increasing the rate at which investigations were concluded and reducing the age profile of the live caseload. We did this by outsourcing parts of the investigation process, substantially increasing the frequency of Independent Decision-making Panel meetings, and recruiting temporary staff.

12. The plan achieved its aims. The backlog in cases awaiting acceptance for investigation was cleared by the end of 2022. There was a significant increase in the number of investigation cases concluded in the period. At the start of the plan there were 160 live investigations and by the end of the plan the workload had reduced to 90 despite 111 new investigations commencing during the period. In total 188 investigations were concluded in the period. In terms of the age profile of the investigation caseload, 33 cases were over 250 days old before the plan commenced and when it concluded this had reduced to 11.

13. As we highlighted in last year’s report, we formally instructed Fieldfisher LLP in June 2023 to carry out an independent end-to-end review of our enforcement processes. The review concluded at the end of 2023/24, and the final report was presented to the Board on 11 April 2024 and published on 12 April 2024. Over the course of the coming year 2024/25, we will be implementing the accepted recommendations for changes to the enforcement system and at an appropriate time carrying out a public consultation on any necessary changes to the Enforcement Regulations in Part 5 of the Handbook.

Authorisations Team

• 25% increase in the number of applications received[1] (over 40% being applications submitted by Transferring Qualified Lawyers)
• 747 applications for authorisation decided, down 14% on 2022/23
• 3,608 general enquiries received by telephone and 13,871 by email
• 18 more BSB authorised entities bringing the total to 147
• 614 barristers began their pupillage during the reporting period compared to 535 in 2022/23, 539 in 2021/22 and 416 in 2020/21.

Contact and Assessment Team

• 2,701 reports, general enquiries, and other cases received by CAT compared to 2,824 in 2022/23
• 1,724 of these were reports, down from 1,731 in 2022/23, and 78 (down from 180) were other cases
• 1,770 reports in total were dealt with, a 12% increase on 2022/23
• Cases closed which related to conduct in non-professional life rose from 215 to 240
• Reports received involving social media fell from 115 (involving 53 barristers) to 88 (involving 35 barristers)
• Cases relating to conduct at work that was not related to the provision of legal services rose from 193 to 285

Investigations and Enforcement Team

• Cases referred for investigation fell from 122 to 108, a decrease of 11%
• 81 referrals were accepted for investigation, this was down from 141 in 2022/23
• 95 investigations were decided (closed or referred to disciplinary action) compared to 180 such cases in 2022/23
• 33 out of 39 cases heard at Tribunal were found proved, each case may result in more than one sanction
  • 10 led to disbarments
  • 9 to suspensions
  • 12 to fines and
  • 9 to reprimands

Supervision Team

• 94 reports were referred to Supervision from CAT compared to 79 the previous year, an increase of 19%
• A further 69 cases were received directly by Supervision compared to 35 in 2022/23
• 29 Thematic Review cases were opened in 2023/24 compared to 31 in 2022/23

Independent Reviewer – Quality Assurance

• In the reporting period, 32 decisions were reviewed by the Independent Reviewer following a request by one of the parties.
• In one of these cases, the Independent Reviewer made a recommendation for reconsideration of the decision reached.

Performance against KPI/service standards

15. The Authorisations Team is responsible for:

• authorising providers of vocational Bar training and work-based learning/pupillage as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs)
• authorising entities (authorised and licensed bodies) to provide legal services
• assessing applications from individuals for exemptions and waivers from requirements of Bar Training or individual rules of the BSB Handbook
• managing the administration of the pupillage registration and completion processes, which includes the issue of provisional practising certificates (PPCs) and letters confirming full qualification (ie eligibility to apply for a full practising certificate as a barrister).

16. The Authorisations Team additionally deals with a significant number of telephone and email enquiries with identifiable seasonal peaks relating to particular application types or processes.

Authorisation casework

17. During the reporting period, the Authorisations Team processed a total of 747 applications, with 63.3% determined within 12 weeks. This is a decrease in both the number of application decisions and performance against the 12-week KPI compared with the previous reporting period. There were small improvements in the KPIs for application decisions within six and eight weeks.

18. There has been a 25% increase in the number of applications received, compared to the previous reporting period. Capacity has been impacted by an increase in the proportion of applications from Transferring Qualified Lawyer applicants (TQLs), combined with resourcing issues. The proportion of complex applications has also risen. These are applications which would typically have been expected to take 12 weeks to process once deemed ‘complete’ (ie with all necessary documents and payment of the relevant fee).

19. The team is working hard to increase its productivity into the next reporting period and to prioritise cases where there is a specific need (ie where the outcome is required to facilitate an upcoming court appearance, for entry to a course of study, or to meet the conditions of an offer of pupillage, tenancy, or employment).

Workload/productivity

Transferring Qualified Lawyers (TQLs) 

20. Applications for admission to the Bar from the various categories of TQLs continue to be the most common applications for waivers and exemptions received by the team, making up 44% of applications received during the reporting period (this is an increase of 5 percentage points on the previous reporting period). In total, the team received 586 applications from TQL applicants during the reporting period, more than three times as many as the next most common application type.

 21. TQL applications accounted for more than a quarter of all application decisions taken by the team during the reporting period. At the end of 2023/24, TQL applications made up 62% of the live workload, an increase from the beginning of the reporting period. Demand for access to the online portal to submit an application continues to be very high and does not seem to be subject to seasonal peaks. Applicants are also more likely to challenge conditions imposed in their application decisions which results in a high level of related correspondence (by email and telephone).

22.  TQL application numbers have only been high since January 2023, when they rose to around 40-50 per month. These are complex in nature and time-intensive to assess.  We have not been able to process them as quickly as we would like, which has resulted in a backlog. This is not where we want to be and we acknowledge the impact the delay is having on applicants. We have had a “TQL Task Force” in place since January 2024, which is focusing on processing priority cases (ie transferring qualified solicitors with higher rights of audience and those with offers of tenancy or pupillage). We are urgently looking at further measures to tackle the rest of the backlog. 

Authorisation of Bar training providers (Vocational AETOs)

23. We did not receive any applications from prospective Bar training providers in the reporting period. The team continues to process material change requests from existing providers. We are continuing to work closely with them to ensure that students can complete their Bar Courses.

24. The team also works closely with the BSB’s Supervision Team to identify issues arising from the authorisation processes and ongoing course delivery that may require additional monitoring.

Authorisation of pupillage providers (work-based learning AETOs)

25. The team has continued to manage the transition of Pupillage Training Organisations (PTOs) to authorised status under our new regime. The deadline for completion of the transition was further extended to the end of quarter 1 of 2024/25 to allow all submitted applications to be processed. The team continues to withdraw applications which have not been progressed by applicants more than three months after creation, which has reduced overall numbers.

26. The team has granted AETO status to 272 pupillage providers and approximately 40 others are in various stages of processing (eg initial assessment, awaiting outstanding information, pending a decision, etc).

27. The majority of new provider and transitional applications continue to be submitted by barristers’ chambers. There has been some interest from solicitors’ firms, local authorities, and BSB entities to deliver work-based learning in the future.

Entities

28. At the end of this reporting period, there were 147 BSB authorised entities (including 14 Alternative Business Structures, which include lay ownership or management). The chambers model of governance for self-employed barristers remains the leading approach and there is limited demand for more varied forms of structure. Eighteen new entities were authorised in 2023/24, a rise of over a quarter on the previous reporting period.

29. There was an improvement in performance against the six- and nine-month service standards for these applications, and we expect that trend to continue in the next reporting period. We will be transitioning from an externally contracted portal system to MyBar for the hosting and submission of entity applications during the next reporting year and expect that this will lead to greater efficiencies in the assessment process and management of entity-related data.

Pupillage registration and completion

30. The pupillage registration and completion processes generate significant administrative burdens for the team in the Spring and Autumn periods (quarter 1 and quarter 3) due to the manual processing of the relevant forms. The team registered 611 pupillages during the reporting period, an increase of 14% on the previous year; however, 42% of these were registered in quarter 3 alone. There is a similar, though smaller, peak in the Spring when provisional practising certificates are issued. The team issued 286 of these certificates in quarter 1 of the reporting period (56% of the annual total of 511).

General Enquiries

31. The team responded to 13,871 email enquiries during the reporting period which was a 13% decrease on the previous year’s total. The number of telephone calls answered increased by more than a third compared to last year to 3,608. Quarter 4 of 2023/24 also saw the number of telephone calls answered by the team exceed 1,000 for the first time.

32. Telephone enquiries commonly relate to the status of an application submitted to the team, but also to the pupillage registration and completion processes and more generally to the work of the team. The team introduced a second telephone extension in quarter 3 of 2023/24 in order to separately handle and monitor calls relating to TQL applications which were previously dominating the main team extension number.

Types of applications received by the BSB

33. The most common application types, amounting to 72% of the total applications received were:

• Admission to the Bar as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer (“TQL”) (586)
• Certificate of Academic Standing (153)
• Pupillage reduction (94)
• Authorisation to conduct litigation (66)
• Reactivation of Stale Qualifications (63)

34. There has been no change in the most common types of applications, although applications for authorisation to conduct litigation have now overtaken those for the reactivation of stale qualifications. For each of these five application types, the number of applications received was higher than in the previous reporting period.

35. Overall, there was a 25% increase in the number of applications received compared to last year. The proportion of applications rated as ‘High Complexity’ in terms of their assessment rose by 5 percentage points to 54% of the total, in line with an equivalent increase in the number of applications from prospective TQLs.

36. There has been an increase in the number of applications withdrawn by the team. This is typically due to a failure to respond to requests for outstanding information or documents after a set deadline, a failure to submit an online application form more than three months after its creation, or to a notification from the applicant that the application is no longer required.

Performance against KPI/service standards

General Enquiries

37. In 2023/24, CAT exceeded its 80% target for providing a response to online queries (95.8%) and for referring online general enquires to other BSB teams within 3 working days (86.1%). This was the best annual performance for these KPIs since records began in CAT.

Initial Assessment

38. CAT assessed 1770 reports in 2023/24 which is the second highest year for reports assessed since reporting started in CAT in 2019/20. CAT assessed 61.1% of reports within the service standard. Although this fell short of the service standard of completing 80% of these assessments within 40 days of receipt, it was an increase from 2022/23 where 58.1% of reports were assessed within the service standard.

39. As highlighted by the Enforcement Review, CAT was understaffed throughout quarters 2 and 3 of 2023/24 which created a growing backlog of reports waiting to be assessed. An injection of temporary resource into the team and additional permanent senior staff were recruited for quarter 4 of the year and as a result, CAT was able to increase the number of reports assessed to 491. Quarter 4 produced the highest number of assessments per quarter for the year.

Quality

40. A total of 160 assessments were reviewed by the Independent Reviewer throughout 2023/24, either on an ad-hoc basis or as a result of the quarterly audit. A very high proportion of the decisions (98.2%) reviewed by the Independent Reviewers as part of the quarterly audit were considered to be “appropriately made”. 100% of decisions referred for independent review were upheld or partially upheld, which exceeded the KPI target of 95%.

Workload/productivity

41. The Fieldfisher Report of the Enforcement Review highlighted that there was a shortfall of resource in CAT which was having a detrimental effect on staff in the team and on the capabilities of the team to be able to progress assessments in a timely way. As outlined above, extra resource (both temporary short term and permanent staff) was recruited into the team in response to this report at the beginning of quarter 4. This resulted in the pool of open reports pending assessment reducing by approx. 20% during this quarter. CAT is keeping its permanent resourcing under review.

Types of concerns and conduct reported to the BSB

42. Family law continues to be the area of law that constitutes the highest number of reports to the BSB – 152 reports assessed in 2023/24 related to family law proceedings compared to 109 reports in 2022/23.

43. Assessments relating to criminal law matters produced second highest number of reports. In 2023/24 111 reports criminal law reports were assessed compared with 106 reports in 2022/23.

44. The highest number of reports assessed were around “conduct whilst acting in proceedings/potential proceedings”. This accounts for a quarter of all reports assessed in CAT. This should also be considered alongside the figures reflecting a higher number of all reports assessed came from a Litigant in Person (15.4% of reports in 2023/24, up from 11.7% in 2022/23).

45. A continuing trend is around reports received relating to “non-professional life”. A substantial number of the 240 reports assessed (13% of all reports) related to one distinct social media theme and accounted for 4% of all reports received.

Performance against KPI/service standards

46. The Investigations and Enforcement Team (I&E) is responsible for investigating reports of breaches of the BSB Handbook referred by CAT and, where appropriate, taking enforcement action which can include disciplinary action for professional misconduct.

47. The KPIs applicable to I&E cover only investigations work and not disciplinary action but service standards apply to the latter. Performance against the relevant KPIs is shown in Table 3 below.

Acceptance of cases for Investigation

48. Having addressed in 2022/23 the backlog of cases awaiting acceptance for investigation, this KPI continued to be met throughout 2023/24. The overall performance across the four quarters was 91.3% of cases accepted for investigation within two weeks of referral against the target of 80%. Further, the average time it took to accept, or refer back, cases reduced significantly from 53 days in 2022/23 to nine days.

Conclusion of investigation – KPI performance

49. Performance in relation to concluding investigations following acceptance was less positive. The year end outturn was just under half (46.8%) the investigations closed in the year were concluded within the 125-day target. This was only a slight improvement on 2022/23 when 42.9% of cases were concluded within the target. However, it was encouraging that performance in the last quarter of the year improved substantially: 63.6% of investigations closed in that quarter were closed within the target 125 days.

50. As was expected, with the Accelerated Investigations plan improving throughput and reducing the number of cases in the system, the total number of investigations concluded was less this year. This meant that 94 investigations were concluded as opposed to 177 in 2022/23.

51. Whilst the KPI was not met, the overall age profile of cases decreased, showing that the enforcement process is speeding up and cases are generally being progressed more quickly. The median number of working days for the investigation stage to conclude has dropped from 171 to 129.5 and the median time from referral to I&E by CAT until a decision at the end of an investigation has also decreased substantially from 238 working days to 145.5.

52. In addition to this, “aged” cases (defined as those which have been at the investigation stage for over 250 days) has decreased for the second year running. At the beginning of 2022/23, before the Accelerated Investigations plan, this number stood at 23 (17% of the overall caseload). It went up to 33 by August 2022 but by the end of 23/24 the number stood at 9 cases (11%) and 3 of those are related to the same barrister. It is also notable that only one of these 9 cases was an aged case at the end of 22/23, indicating that older cases are being closed and not the same cases year on year.

Workload/productivity/outcomes

53. The total caseload within the team reduced slightly over the year, from 162 live cases at the start of the year to 146 at the end. This mainly reflects the reduction in cases referred from CAT which went down from 122 to 108.

54. The overall complexion for the enforcement caseload has changed since the Accelerated Investigations plan with disciplinary cases making up a greater proportion of the workload and fewer cases in the system that are suitable for staff decisions.

55. The overall number of cases at the investigation stage has dropped, and, by proportion, there has been an increase in cases at disciplinary stage. At the end of the year, there were 52 live disciplinary cases out of an overall total of 146 cases (36%). During the year 39 tribunal cases were concluded as compared to 25 in 2022/23. This increase in tribunal work is an effect of the increased number of investigations concluded under the Accelerated Investigations plan, leading to more referrals to disciplinary action which are now moving through the system.

56. One other notable change in outcomes has been a decrease in the number of investigations disposed of by way of administrative sanction. This is a tool to mark breaches of the Handbook that do not amount to professional misconduct requiring disciplinary action. Last year, 127 investigations were concluded without referral to disciplinary action and 57 of these were dealt with by imposing an administrative sanction, this year it was 14 out of 54. This is a drop from 45% to 26%. One of the main factors in this reduction has been the change in approach to addressing first time practising certificate breaches, which are now dealt with earlier in the enforcement process, within CAT. In the past such cases would likely attract an administrative sanction in the form of a warning. The number of cases relating to these breaches which resulted in an administrative sanction dropped from 17 last year to 2 this year. This change in approach also contributed to the substantial drop in decisions taken by staff which went down from 100 to 27, with 36 more staff decisions relating to practising certificate cases being taken last year than this year. In 2022/23 these decisions were a mixture of administrative sanctions, withdrawals and dismissals.

Quality of decision making

57. We monitor the quality of decision-making at the investigations and disciplinary stages via the quality indicators set out in Table 3. The results indicate that quality of decision making continues to remain high and although two of our indicators were not met this was solely due to a decision in only one case.

58. There were no successful appeals to the High Court against Disciplinary Tribunal findings that were due to procedural or other error by the BSB. However, out of the four requests for review of post-investigation decisions that were received during the year, the Independent Reviewer recommended a decision be reconsidered in one case. In that case, an Independent Decision-Making Panel (IDP) had imposed an administrative sanction. The Independent Reviewer recommended that the decision be reconsidered on the basis the barrister had not been able to comment on all the relevant documents. A fresh IDP accepted the recommendation and went on to dismiss the allegations. Finally, there was only one appeal against the imposition of an administrative sanction out 14 cases in which such sanctions were imposed. The original decision to impose an administrative fine was taken by an IDP. The appeal was allowed by a three person BTAS panel. The panel were of the view that the allegations could not be proved without the benefit of live evidence and cross-examination.

Types of concerns and conduct subject to enforcement action

59. The types of conduct referred for investigation continues to be varied and it is difficult to discern any specific trends. Dishonesty and undermining trust and confidence in the profession, were the most common potential breaches subject to investigation, featuring in nearly 45% of the new investigations opened. What is of note is that only a few new investigations this year related to misleading the court or others (8) as compared to 2022/23 when 25 cases included such allegations.

60. In relation to proved findings of professional misconduct at Disciplinary Tribunals, out of the 30 barristers subject to such findings, 20 of them were subject to charges related to either dishonesty and/or acting without integrity. Overall, 67% of proved tribunal cases arose from such charges. This is reflected in the tribunal sanctions imposed during the year with 10 barristers being disbarred and 9 subject to suspensions.

61. Our Supervision Strategy and Framework sets out our approach to supervising barristers, chambers, BSB entities and Authorised Education and Training Organisations. The focus of Supervision is to seek assurance that risks identified at both an individual and sector level are being controlled in a proportionate manner so that those risks do not materialise (or if they do, they can be mitigated effectively). The team takes both a reactive and proactive approach: reactive in terms of the unsolicited information we receive from a range of sources about practice at the Bar, and proactive, to gather evidence to support our risk-based approach and to ensure that we are targeting our resources where they are most needed.

Performance

62. The Supervision Team has three KPIs, which ensure that:

• cases are allocated promptly to an officer following referral from the Contact and Assessment Team (within 3 working days);
• cases are assessed for the most appropriate regulatory response (within 20 working days); and
• letters with remedial actions are issued promptly following a Supervision visit (within 5 working days).

63. The Supervision Team met all of its KPIs.

Concerns reported to the BSB

64. There was a 31% increase in the number of cases referred to Supervision from the Contact and Assessment Team or opened directly by Supervision. This year’s total (192) was closer to the number for 2021/22 (209). This followed a dip in the number of cases in 2022/23, when the cyber-attack resulted in fewer cases being referred to Supervision by the Contact and Assessment Team.

65. There was also an increase in the proportion of cases which came directly to Supervision compared with 2022/23 (42.3% vs 30.7%).

66. The number of cases closed by Supervision after taking regulatory action increased by 72% in 2023/24. This shows the impact of the work on the Regulatory Returns coming to an end, which freed up staff capacity to focus on other types of cases.

Themes

67. Reports covered a wide range of themes typically referred to Supervision, including:

• adequacy of complaints handling;
• compliance with the price, service and redress transparency rules;
• data breaches and cyber-attacks;
• bullying, harassment and discrimination; and
• barrister competence.

68. The outcomes from this will feed into the work that the BSB is doing to promote good practice in chambers, following our recent consultation; our work in the area of bullying and harassment (see below); and the development of our rules and guidance on complaints handling in response to the Legal Service Board’s recent publication of revised requirements and guidance.

Vocational Bar training

69. We opened 13 cases concerning vocational Bar training, in relation to four Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs). Some of these concerned issues that were reported by students, some arose from the work of our External Examiners, who monitor the standard of assessments set and marked by the AETOs, and others were reported by the AETOs themselves in relation to issues that they had identified.

70. Our main focus in Supervision this year was working with the University of Hertfordshire following the BSB’s decision in August 2023 to vary the authorisation to deliver vocational Bar training, resulting in suspension of course delivery.

71. We have worked with the University to ensure the necessary improvements are being implemented and we recognise the considerable work put in by the University to ensure that appropriate standards are met. The University has been authorised to recommence course delivery from September 2024 and we will continue to closely monitor course delivery to ensure that the University is complying with the mandatory requirements in the Authorisation Framework and that students are properly supported.

Pupillage

72. We received 21 reports about pupillage compared to 18 in 2022/23. A common theme continues to be the need to make appropriate reasonable adjustments where necessary to provide the right support for pupils to enable them to successfully qualify as barristers. We have picked up on this theme at pupil supervisor training events, through discussion of common scenarios and sharing of good practice.

73. In addition, the following were areas of particular focus in relation to pupillage this year:

• Pupil supervisor refresher training

We received nine referrals from the Authorisations team, who had identified pupillages being registered with pupil supervisors who had not completed mandatory refresher training when due. As set out in Part 4B of the Bar Qualification Manual, refresher training for pupil supervisors is mandatory every five years, or after three years if the individual has not been a pupil supervisor during that time. We would encourage all AETOs to put processes in place to ensure that their pupil supervisors receive timely refresher training that meets the outcomes specified in the Bar Qualification Manual.

• Professional Ethics assessment in pupillage

There is now a BSB centrally-set and marked open-book exam during pupillage. The exam must be passed in order to get a full Practising Certificate, ie by the end of pupillage. There are three sittings each year and there have been eight sittings so far. Across all sittings, there is a first sit passing rate of 85.6% and a passing rate of 86.4% for all candidates across all sittings.

Candidates who have failed the exam receive feedback on each of the questions which were scored ‘Poor’ or ‘Unacceptable’. Candidates who have failed the exam three times are also provided with more holistic feedback covering all three attempts they have made at the exam and, in eight cases, the Supervision team also followed up with relevant chambers to see if there were any particular problems connected to their pupillage experience. Generally, pupils have told us either that they did not prepare, or were out of practice with timed exam technique. We do not prescribe any programme of prior study by way of preparation for the exam but pupils and pupil supervisors can download a syllabus from our website and there is a mock exam for candidates to use. In addition, there are external sources of help referenced on our website to help pupils prepare for this assessment, as well as a detailed report of each exam by the Exam Board Chair. We would encourage all pupils and pupil supervisors to access these resources.

Home Office reports on abuse of the immigration system

74. In 2023/24, 23 referrals were made to the Supervision team relating to reports from the Home Office about the conduct of barristers appearing in the immigration tribunals. This reflected increased focus in 2023 by the previous government on the small minority of lawyers who they alleged are helping migrants exploit the immigration system.

75. Although Supervision did follow up some concerns with the respective chambers or barristers, most of the Home Office reports contained very limited information and lacked evidence of misconduct, which meant that most reports could not be actioned. However, this was a transitionary period at the Home Office, which was in the process of establishing a new “Professional Enabler” team, to enable more effective referrals to be made to regulators when there is evidence-based suspicion of abuse of the immigration tribunals.

76. Together with staff from the Contact and Assessment Team, and the Investigations and Enforcement Team, the Supervision Team met with this new Home Office team, so that they could share information about the types of issues that give rise to concerns. In turn, we explained how our respective teams work, and the type of information and evidence that the BSB requires to proceed with any supervisory or enforcement action.

77. In particular, we have taken disciplinary action where barristers fail to adequately supervise unregulated immigration advisors in line with our rules and supporting guidance. This guidance was published because we consider this to be an area of particular risk to standards.

78. The Supervision team also joined a forum led by the Ministry of Justice, together with other legal and immigration regulators, which was established to improve intelligence sharing. In April 2024, the BSB signed a Data Sharing Agreement with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner in support of this and we have taken joint action where appropriate.

Death of barristers with an active practice

79. This year three self-employed barristers with practising certificates passed away. When this happens, barristers’ chambers are able to administer the consequences where there are live cases and/or paper or electronic records to be securely handled. For barristers who work as sole practitioners, there are sometimes no contingency arrangements in place, and this leads to family members or friends contacting us for assistance.

80. In two of the three cases reported to us this year, whilst the barrister had a practising certificate, there were no live cases in progress. There were, however, a number of case files that had to be secured – returned to the instructing solicitor or public access client where we could locate them, or destroyed with their permission. Locating the instructing party can be complicated, and therefore time-consuming, for a number of reasons, for example:

• Public access immigration clients may no longer be in the country.
• Solicitors’ firms may have closed down.

81. In another case, the barrister was receiving public access instructions from an intermediary platform. In this instance, the intermediary co-operated well with us, and assisted with reallocating live cases. However, as such intermediaries are not regulated by the BSB, we are reliant on their goodwill to co-operate with us.

82. All sole practitioners, or self-employed barristers who have a public access practice outside of their chambers, should ensure the following:

• Filing systems should be maintained up to date, with papers clearly organised by instruction and client.
• Original documents should be clearly marked as such, and administered in line with the public access guidance, which strongly discourages barristers to store original documents.

VAT

83. We have received a number of reports recently where barristers have used incorrect VAT numbers on their invoices, or have charged VAT for their services when they fell under the income threshold for doing so. We would encourage all chambers to check that their barristers’ VAT details are correct when making billing arrangements.

Other reports relating to our Supervision activity

84. We are responsible for the supervision of relevant persons under the Money Laundering Regulations. The Regulations require us to publish a separate annual report on our supervisory activity, which can be found on our website. The 2023/24 report is due to be published in the autumn.

85. We also publish an annual report on Bar training which can be found on our website. The 2023/24 report is due to be published later in the year.

Bullying & harassment

86. There has been a fall in the number of cases received relating to sexual harassment/misconduct (16 down to 7 cases). Most of these cases relate to bullying and/or harassment within the profession and do not relate to members of the public. Towards the end of the year we commenced an Outreach Programme with the profession in line with the recommendations in our report Addressing Bullying and Harassment at the Bar. The Programme, which consists of face-to-face presentations and Q&As, is intended to provide information to the profession about how we handle reports particularly of harassment, including sexual harassment, with a view to encouraging such reporting. We intend by the end of 24/25 to have held events in all six Circuits. The first event was held in March in London for the South Eastern circuit and was very well attended. A second, equally well attended, session was held in Brimingham in June. We very much hope that following these events, reports will increase.

87. We are monitoring implementation of the other recommendations in the report in order to evaluate outcomes and success.

Use of social media

88. Although the number of reports relating to barristers’ use of social media fell in 2023/24, we have seen an increase in the proportion of those reports which relate to controversial social and political issues. Considerations of freedom of expression and barristers’ private lives have meant that the majority have not been progressed to investigation. In September 2023 we issued new social media guidance along with guidance on Conduct in Non-Professional Life. Both documents have been well received and provide greater clarity on when the BSB will have a regulatory interest in such conduct, and when we will consider taking regulatory action.

Increase in TQL applications

89. The number of applications received for admission to the Bar as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer (TQL) has remained very high during this reporting period, and this trend appears to be continuing into the next reporting period. On average, more than 50 new TQL applications were submitted each month during the reporting period; however, a small proportion of these were withdrawn subsequently due generally to a lack of response to information or fees requests or to applicant error (eg submitting duplicate application forms on the online portal).

90. Around a fifth of applications received during this reporting period were from solicitors qualified in England and Wales seeking to cross-qualify. The biggest regional grouping of applications continues to be those received from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Collectively, this grouping amounted to more than half of all TQL applications submitted during this reporting period. It remains unclear why application numbers have continued at such a high level, or why applications from that particular region outpace all others (eg Europe, North America, etc). We are undertaking some research to better understand this.

91. At the beginning of quarter 4, we established a dedicated taskforce to focus solely on these applications. The impact of this dedicated resource should be seen during the next reporting period.

IDB reviews of Inns Conduct Committee decisions

92. There has been a significant increase in the number of review applications received in respect of decisions taken by the Inns’ Conduct Committee (“ICC”). These decisions relate to the misconduct of student members of the Inns of Court and applications for admission to an Inn where there are concerns that the applicant may not be a fit and proper person to become a practising barrister.

93. Requests for review of ICC decisions are generally more complex and time consuming for the IDB than reviews of Executive decisions taken by the Authorisations team, which commonly relate to applications for admission to the Bar as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer and for reductions in pupillage. The ICC review requests received during this reporting period were mainly in respect of findings of academic misconduct, criminal offences or other relevant orders, and the use of social media.

94. Further training on ICC review requests was provided to IDB members during quarter 3 of 2023/24 and we will continue to review the available guidance for IDB panels in respect of these types of cases and the application of the ICC Rules and related Fit and Proper Person guidance.

95. Due to the increase in TQL applications outlined at paragraphs 20-22, and the fact that there had been no increase in fees since 2015, in April 2024 we implemented an inflationary increase to our application fees. We are presently considering whether we will look to implement a full cost recovery model once we implement the efficiency savings we have identified in processes.

96. As outlined in the Executive Summary, we have moved into the implementation phase of the new KPIs and balanced scorecard. In September 2024, the Board will consider the first performance report (covering quarter one) assessing operational decision-making using the new measures. The KPIs are underpinned by a suite of service standards and performance monitoring measures which we hope will enable us to analyse our operational casework statistical data proactively rather than reactively.

97. We have also commenced work on implementing the recommendations of the Enforcement Review carried out by Fieldfisher LLP which we published on 12 April 2024. The Review covered all the BSB’s systems, processes and policies and made wide ranging recommendations for improving our enforcement system.

98. Fieldfisher found that “the enforcement procedure adopted by the BSB is in line with similar models used in professional regulation elsewhere” and that “fundamentally the approach was appropriate” but the report also made a wide range of recommendations for improvement over eight different areas. Those recommendations include:

• creating a new executive role to oversee continuous improvement of the enforcement process;
• improving our approach to knowledge management;
• better communication with consumers to ensure that the public understands what the BSB can help with and what we cannot;
• the re-engineering of some processes and of the Case Management System which supports our people in delivering those processes;
• a number of further changes intended to bring about improvements in the performance and effectiveness of both the BSB and the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service (BTAS) which provides disciplinary tribunals.

99. The report also recommends that sections of the BSB Handbook should be adapted, and that the language used should be simplified. The recommendations were welcomed by the Board and are now being taken forward by the Executive. Full implementation of the recommendations will take several years although many recommendations will be implemented much sooner and some are already complete. The implementation programme forms part of a wider BSB Reform Programme and will feed into our new five-year Strategy which we will be developing in 2024/25.