I would like to begin by wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

I won’t conceal from you that this has been a difficult start to the year for the Bar Standards Board. We have been subject to a good deal of criticism. The new Chair of the Bar, Nick Vineall KC, has rightly drawn attention to the importance of accelerating our investigations. We agree – though it must not be at the expense of the quality of our decisions – and  I return to this below. The Legal Services Board has made more wide-ranging criticisms. The BSB Board will be responding to the LSB later this month. I shall not anticipate that response except to reiterate the clear determination of the BSB Board and Senior Management Team that the BSB should be an effective, proactive and risk-based regulator in the public interest. You will find elsewhere in this blog some good examples of our proactivity and engagement on a number of fronts.

The BSB has recently been focusing on improving our performance and I am happy to report that, with regard to enforcement, we have already seen an improvement in the number of cases being processed through our system, with 61 investigations closed in the third quarter of 2022-23 against 31 cases in the second quarter. This improvement is encouraging and is testament to the hard work being done by BSB people to ensure we meet our targets and increase our productivity. We will continue to work hard to improve our performance in 2023.

The two new barrister Board members appointed last month, Jeffrey Chapman KC and Simon Lewis, have now taken up their appointments, as of 1 January. I look forward to working with them both, as well as continuing to work with current barrister Board member Irena Sabic KC who has been reappointed for another four years. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Irena on her appointment last month as King's Counsel.

I would like to draw your attention to the 2023 Authorisation to Practise (AtP) period, during which practising barristers are required confirm their correct practising details and renew their practising certificates. You can find full details on how to do so below.

Finally, another important development to be aware of relates to the new prohibitions, introduced on 16 December 2022 by the Government, on providing trust services to or for the benefit of persons connected with Russia and designated persons. We have explained the new prohibitions below and further details can also be found in The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 17) Regulations 2022 (Regulation 18C) and in OFSI’s Russia guidance.

Kathryn Stone OBE

Chair

The 2023 Authorisation to Practise (AtP) period is approaching. During AtP, if you are a practising barrister, you will be required to confirm that your practising details are correct. Do please log into MyBar now to check that your practising details are correct and update them if needed. This will help to ensure that  you are able to complete the AtP process without undue delay once the process goes live. Additionally, should you have any issue logging into MyBar, such as needing to reset your password, this can be accomplished before  the renewal period begins. 

We will provide more information about AtP closer to the time when the process is due to open, including details about the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF) rate bands for 2023-24. The Barrister Records team will be in contact with you directly when AtP opens.

In December, we announced the appointment of Jeffrey Chapman KC and Simon Lewis as new barrister Board members. They both took up their appointments on 1 January 2023. Current barrister Board member Irena Sabic has also been reappointed for another four years.

Jeffrey Chapman KC was called to the Bar in 1989 and was appointed King's Counsel in 2010. Jeffrey specialises in civil fraud, commercial dispute resolution and banking and has appeared in courts ranging from the Supreme Court to the Old Bailey via the Commercial Court, as well as in international arbitrations around the world. He was appointed to the Bar Standards Board Complaints Committee between 2007-2012 and was the Barrister Vice-Chair of the Professional Conduct Committee of the BSB between 2015-2019.

Simon Lewis was called to the Bar in 2012. He has particular expertise in employment and equality law. He is an independent member of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Council, a trustee and board member of the ASDA Foundation, and the senior independent director of Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust. He sits as a part-time judge and has various independent regulatory roles in healthcare, sport, finance and business. He is a member of Exchange Chambers.

Irena Sabic was called to the Bar in October 2002. She is a member of Garden Court Chambers and an established public law practitioner with a particular expertise in immigration and asylum, community care, housing and planning law. In recent years Irena has focussed on the representation of vulnerable children and adults subject to immigration control. Irena is regularly invited to deliver lectures and seminars to solicitors, public bodies and NGOs. She is a Trustee and Board member of Trauma Treatment International.

On 16 December 2022, the Government introduced new prohibitions on providing trust services to or for the benefit of persons connected with Russia and designated persons.

In particular, a UK person anywhere, or person within the UK, must not provide trust services:

• to or for the benefit of a person connected with Russia unless pursuant to an ongoing arrangement pursuant to which that person provided those services to or for the benefit of the person connected with Russia immediately prior to 16 December 2022;
• to or for the benefit of a person designated for the purposes of regulation 18C (trust services).

The provision of trust services means:

• creating a trust or similar arrangement;
• providing a registered office, business address, correspondence address, or administrative address for a trust or similar arrangement;
• operating or managing a trust or similar arrangement; or
• acting or arranging for another person to act as a trustee of a trust of similar arrangement.

Further details can be found in The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 17) Regulations 2022 (Regulation 18C) and in OFSI’s Russia guidance

In September we announced that the rate for the minimum pupillage award, which now applies  from 1 January 2023, is  £20,703 for 12-month pupillages in London and £18,884 per annum for pupillages outside London.

The award is set having regard to the Living Wage Foundation’s hourly rate recommendation.

The annual increase in the pupillage award applies from January each year, regardless of when pupils started pupillage. Monthly payments to pupils must be adjusted accordingly.

More information about pupillage funding can be found in Part 4E of the Bar Qualification Manual.

For Pupillage Providers

We are continuing to process applications for currently authorised Pupillage Training Organisations (PTOs) seeking authorisation as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs).

All pupillage providers who have not yet submitted an application for AETO status but do have current pupillages registered with us have now had their PTO status extended to 31 August 2023 or the end date(s) of their current pupillage(s), whichever is the later date.

PTO status has been terminated for all pupillage providers who have not yet submitted an application for AETO status and do not have current pupillages registered with us. Any pupillage provider in this position will not be permitted to take on new pupils until they have been granted AETO status.

Once you have submitted an application you can continue to advertise for new pupils while your application is being processed, so long as it is clear the pupillage is offered subject to your successful authorisation as an AETO.

If you are unsure whether you remain authorised as a PTO or have now been granted AETO status, please contact us as soon as possible via email to [email protected].

If you have any other enquiries relating to AETOs or need support with the transitional process, please contact the Acting Authorisations Manager, Sophie Maddison ([email protected]) as she will be happy to assist. Sam Jensen has now transferred to another team within the Bar Standards Board and will no longer be engaged in this area of work.

If you have never delivered pupillage training before but would like to apply for the first time to become an AETO, you may do so at any time and will not be subject to the December deadline.

In the Employed Bar? We have recently published new guidance and FAQs for organisations within the Employed Bar who may be interesting in become pupillage providers.

Feedback? We would like to thank all pupillage providers who have worked extremely hard during a difficult period to draft their applications and to reassure all those who have applications in progress that their current authorisation for pupillage is protected. We appreciate how time consuming the application process can be and welcome your feedback and suggestions for how we can improve this, going forward.

If you would like to be involved in our survey and ‘lessons learned’ process, please contact the Acting Authorisations Manager via email to [email protected] for further information.

Please visit our Service Update Page to follow the team’s progress.

About applications for exemptions and waivers

We will consider requests for exemption or waiver applications to be expedited if the outcome is required to confirm registration for Bar Transfer Test assessments, or on a GDL or vocational component Bar Course, or if the outcome is required for an upcoming court appearance (eg authorisation as a licensed access client). We cannot otherwise guarantee to expedite any applications at this time of year.

We would be grateful if you would refrain from sending chaser or follow-up emails in relation to outstanding applications at this time of peak activity for the team.

Following the Christmas closure, we will be processing outstanding exemption or waiver applications based on the date that the application is regarded as ‘complete’ (ie when we have received all relevant documents and payment of the application fee).

Our Service Update page includes the latest information about our activities and anticipated processing times.

About BSB entities

We are continuing to work on the completion of the annual renewal process. If you have not already finalised your renewal, you should have received an email notification from us. Please do complete any outstanding renewals, as soon as possible. If you are encountering any technical difficulties with the portal, or have any further queries about the renewal process, please contact us via email to [email protected]. 

Interested in becoming a BSB Entity? Visit our webpages to learn more, or for an informal discussion with one of our team contact [email protected].

If you have any other comments or suggestions about our service, please do email us.

A fifth Digital Comparison Tool (DCT) – The Law Superstore – has joined our DCT pilot.

The Law Superstore joins the four other DCTs already taking part in our pilot. The existing BSB DCT pilot participants are: Lawyer 365, Legal Utopia, Review Solicitors and Trustpilot. Further DCTs are expected to join the pilot in the coming months.

For more information on the DCT pilot, including how to get involved, please visit the dedicated DCT section of our website.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

For our Board, improving operational performance is our top priority. Last month I explained that we have already made progress in speeding up and concluding investigations. And our Independent Reviewers assure us that our decision-making has consistently been of a high quality. Building on these foundations, Deloitte is currently undertaking an independent review of the fitness for purpose and longevity of our key operating systems. We shall also soon be commissioning an independent review of our end-to-end enforcement process so that we can deliver sustained improvements in productivity, speed of processing and customer service, but with no loss of quality. I am determined to ensure that we embrace continuous improvement and hope that these measures will help us to do so in the coming months.

Perversely, because of the way our key performance indicators (KPIs) are measured, clearing overdue cases can make our performance look worse.  So don’t be surprised if our KPI performance occasionally appears to dip. I can assure you that we are working tirelessly to improve performance and that we are on track.

Last month we published an important report containing a summary of the latest available diversity data for the Bar. The report shows the continuation in 2022 of several positive trends, including an increase in the proportion of practising barristers who are female; who are from a minority ethnic background; who have primary care of a child; who have a disability; and who are aged 55 or more. It is encouraging to see the Bar becoming more diverse and better reflecting the demographics of the UK population. Nonetheless, there still remains work to be done to ensure, for example, that women and barristers from minoritised ethnic backgrounds are represented at the most senior levels of the Bar. We will continue to remind chambers to act to address these inequalities, including in the distribution of work, and I would urge all barristers to respond to our questionnaires so that we obtain the most accurate picture we can of the diversity of the Bar. These data are essential to forming an evidence base from which relevant and targeted policy can be developed, supporting us in meeting our statutory duties and achieving our equality and diversity objectives under the Equality and Diversity Strategy for 2022-25.

Elsewhere, our digital comparison tool (DCT) pilot study has welcomed another organisation – The Law Superstore. The Law Superstore will join the four DCTs already taking part in the BSB pilot, with further organisations expected to join in the coming months. Through this pilot, we are hoping to understand how the DCT market works for the Bar and its consumers. We are encouraging barristers to join the pilot and provide feedback on their experience of working with DCTs. To learn more, or to sign up to our pilot, please contact [email protected]

We are continuing our roundtables on the role of chambers this year. Last year we held very informative meetings in London and Manchester. In March and April this year we will be travelling to Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds and Newcastle to meet members of the Bar and hear your views on the role of chambers in promoting standards, equality and access to justice. The upcoming dates will be added to our events page on our website. I hope to meet as many of you as possible around the Circuits in the coming months.

Kathryn Stone OBE

Chair

The 2023 Authorisation to Practise (AtP) period is fast approaching. During AtP, if you are a practising barrister, you will be required to renew your annual practising certificate and to pay the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF). We will provide more information about AtP closer to the time the process is due to open, including details about the PCF rate bands for 2023-24.

To ensure the smooth and swift completion of the AtP process, please can you ensure that you are able to access your MyBar account and that your practising details are up to date.

Last month we published a summary of the latest available diversity data for the Bar.

Overall, the data shows the continuation in 2022 of several longer-term trends, including an increase in the proportion of practising barristers who are female; who are from a minority ethnic background; who have primary care of a child; who have a disability; and who are aged 55 or more. The most noticeable increase was a rise of 3.3 percentage points in the proportion of pupils who are female to 59.9 per cent.  

The percentage of barristers from minority ethnic backgrounds at the Bar has increased 0.5pp since December 2021 to 16.3 per cent. That compares to an estimate of 16.4 per cent of the working age population in England and Wales as of July-September 2022. But barristers from Black/Black British backgrounds are still underrepresented at 3.4% of the Bar compared to 3.8% in the working age population as a whole.

There has been a continued increase in the proportion of all practitioners who are female, better reflecting the demographics of the UK population, with the proportion of women at the Bar having increased 0.4pp since December 2021. As of December 2022, women constituted 39.7 per cent of the Bar compared to an estimate of 50.2 per cent of the UK working age population. 

This Report sets out an evidence base from which relevant and targeted policy can be developed which will support us in meeting its statutory duties under the Equality Act 2010, the Legal Services Act 2007 and in achieving its equality and diversity objectives under the Equality and Diversity Strategy 2022-2025. You can read the full report on our website.

Following a consultation process in April 2022, the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has made several revisions to their existing Scheme Rules, with the changes applying from 1 April 2023.

The LeO’s Scheme Rules set out the framework for how they resolve complaints between authorised persons including barristers and complainants.

The changes being made can be broken down into four areas as follows:

1 – A change to their time limits.

2 – Discretion to decline to issue a formal Ombudsman decision after investigator case decision

3 – Changes to Ombudsman discretion to dismiss or discontinue a complaint in certain circumstances.

4 – Minor drafting changes to update Scheme Rules including new dates and correcting previous typographical drafting errors.

This guide sets out what the changes are and how they apply, and what service providers need to do to prepare for the changes going live. Read more on LeO’s website.

We have announced that an additional organisation – The Law Superstore – has joined our digital comparison tool (DCT) pilot study.

The Law Superstore will join the four DCTs already taking part in our pilot. The existing DCT pilot participants are: Lawyer 365, Legal Utopia, Review Solicitors and Trustpilot. Further DCTs are expected to join the pilot in the coming months.

DCTs allow consumers to locate and select service providers using a range of criteria, including provider location, availability, area of law, price, ratings and reviews to help with this process.

In addition to signing up more DCTs, we are continuing to encourage barristers to join its pilot. Barristers signing up to the pilot will be asked to join one, or more, of the pilot DCTs. They will then be asked to provide their feedback on their experience of working with DCTs. To learn more, or to sign up to our pilot, please contact [email protected].

Insights gathered from the pilot, including those provided by barristers, consumers and DCT participants, will directly feed into our evaluation of this pilot. We expect that our DCT evaluation report will be published towards the end of 2023.

For Pupillage Providers

We are continuing to process applications for currently authorised Pupillage Training Organisations (PTOs) seeking authorisation as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs).

All pupillage providers that have current pupillages registered with us have now had their PTO status extended to 31 August 2023 or the end date(s) of their current pupillage(s), whichever is the later date. If you are in this position, please submit your AETO application to us, as soon as possible, if you have not already done so.

PTO status has been terminated for all pupillage providers who have not yet submitted an application for AETO status and do not have current pupillages registered with us. Any pupillage provider in this position will not be permitted to take on new pupils until they have been granted AETO status.

If you are unsure whether you remain authorised as a PTO or have now been granted AETO status, please contact us as soon as possible via email to [email protected]. If you have never delivered pupillage training before but would like to apply for the first time to become an AETO, you may do so at any time.

Once you have submitted an application you can continue to advertise for new pupils while your application is being processed, so long as it is clear that the pupillage is offered subject to your successful authorisation as an AETO.

If you have any other enquiries relating to AETOs or need support with the transitional process, please contact the Acting Authorisations Manager, Sophie Maddison ([email protected]) as she will be happy to assist. 

In the Employed Bar? We have published new guidance and FAQs for organisations within the Employed Bar who may be interesting in become pupillage providers.

Feedback? We would like to thank all pupillage providers who have worked extremely hard during a difficult period to draft their applications and to reassure all those who have applications in progress that their current authorisation for pupillage is protected. We appreciate how time consuming the application process can be and welcome your feedback and suggestions for how we can improve this, going forward.

If you would like to be involved in our survey and ‘lessons learned’ process, please contact the Acting Authorisations Manager via email to [email protected] for further information.

Please visit our Service Update Page to follow the team’s progress.

About applications for exemptions and waivers

Currently, the team is dealing with a high volume of applications across all categories, with the most common being applications for admission to the Bar as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer. We will be processing outstanding exemption or waiver applications based on the date that the application is regarded as ‘complete’ (ie when we have received all relevant documents and payment of the application fee).

We will consider requests for exemption or waiver applications to be expedited:

• if the outcome is required to confirm registration for Bar Transfer Test assessments; or
• if the outcome is required to confirm registration on a GDL or vocational component Bar Course; or
• if the outcome is required for an upcoming court appearance (eg authorisation as a licensed access client).

We cannot otherwise guarantee to expedite any applications, at present.

We would be grateful if you would refrain from sending chaser or follow-up emails in relation to outstanding applications at this time of peak activity for the team.

Our Service Update page includes the latest information about our activities and anticipated processing times.

About BSB entities

We are continuing to work on the completion of the annual renewal process. Please do complete any outstanding renewals, as soon as possible. If you are encountering any technical difficulties with the portal, or have any further queries about the renewal process, please contact us via email to [email protected]. 

Interested in becoming a BSB Entity? Visit our webpages to learn more, or for an informal discussion with one of our team, please contact us via email to

[email protected].

If you have any other comments or suggestions about our service, please do email us.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

We have this month published three separate reports which, taken together, demonstrate that our reforms have had some success in making Bar training more flexible, accessible, and affordable while maintaining high standards. It is also encouraging that the reports show that Bar students have become more diverse. You can read more about these reports below.

Last month we published our response to the Legal Service Board’s (LSB’s) policy statement on ongoing competence. As the frontline regulator, we set standards of practice and ensures that they are met and maintained by barristers. We have in place a broad range of measures which support this objective and we have also introduced an Action Plan to strengthen these arrangements over the coming 12-18 months. You can read more about this Action Plan and our full response below.

Our approach will be evidence-led and proportionate. Where the evidence warrants, we will make targeted regulatory interventions, as we have done to underpin standards in the Youth Courts and Coroners Courts. We recognise, however, that the profession itself can play an important role in sustaining standards through good feedback to barristers on their performance, through reflection on that feedback and through the oversight of chambers.

This is one of the reasons why we are continuing our series of roundtables with chambers this month, visiting Newcastle where we met members of the North Eastern Circuit and had a very interesting discussion around the sharing of best practice, information and resources, and how we as the regulator can best support chambers. We will also visit Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham in April and May. At these meetings we intend to continue to talk to chambers, as well as the employed Bar, as to how best we can bring all our regulatory requirements guidance on good practice into one place. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible around the different Circuits in the coming weeks.

We would also like to draw your attention to the Authorisation to Practise (AtP) process which has now opened for 2023. Barristers are required to complete the renewal process by 31 March 2023 in accordance with Rule S62 in the Bar Standards Board (BSB) Handbook after which additional fees may apply. You can find full details below, including the key dates, guidance and what to do if you need assistance with the process.

We are currently calling for tenders from bodies authorised to provide reserved legal activities (including the conduct of litigation) to provide legal advice, representation and other support. Our current contract for legal support is due to expire in May 2023 and we are now opening the tender process for the provision of services for the next three-year cycle. Please see the full details in the section below.

Kathryn Stone OBE

Chair

The Authorisation to Practise (AtP) process has now opened for 2023. You are required to complete the renewal process by 31 March 2023 in accordance with Rule S62 in the Bar Standards Board (BSB) Handbook after which additional fees may apply.

You will need to log into your account on the MyBar portal using the unique email address you have linked to your account, along with the password you have previously set.  If you have forgotten your password, you will need to use the Forgotten Password function on MyBar which will enable you to reset your password by sending an email to your registered email address.

If you no longer have access to the email you previously used, but remember your password, you can still login to your MyBar account and can update your email address and details once you have logged in.

If you have not used MyBar previously please click on the First Time Login guide which will walk you through the process of setting up your MyBar account.

The key dates and deadlines to note are shown below:

For details on how your fees are compiled and for important policies and guidance relating to the AtP process, please review the Authorisation to
Practise 2023/24 Policy and Guidance and AtP FAQs. If you require any assistance, please refer to the Authorisation to Practise Renewal Guide which will guide you through the AtP process. 

We have announced that an additional organisation – The Law Superstore – has joined the digital comparison tool (DCT) pilot study.

The Law Superstore will join the four DCTs already taking part in the pilot. The existing DCT pilot participants are: Lawyer 365, Legal Utopia, Review Solicitors and Trustpilot. Further DCTs are expected to join the pilot in the coming months.

DCTs allow consumers to locate and select service providers using a range of criteria, including provider location, availability, area of law, price, ratings and reviews to help with this process.

In addition to signing up more DCTs, we are continuing to encourage barristers to join its pilot. Barristers signing up to the pilot will be asked to join one, or more, of the pilot DCTs. They will then be asked to provide their feedback on their experience of working with DCTs. To learn more, or to sign up to the pilot, please contact [email protected].

Insights gathered from the pilot, including those provided by barristers, consumers and DCT participants, will directly feed into an evaluation of this pilot. It is expected that the DCT evaluation report will be published towards the end of 2023.

Last month we published our response to the Legal Service Board’s (LSB’s) policy statement on ongoing competence. The response includes an action plan which sets out our approach to assuring the professional competence of barristers and, in doing so, how it meets the expectations of the LSB’s policy statement.

It is our primary responsibility, as the front-line regulator, to set standards of practice and ensure that they are met and maintained by barristers. We have in place a broad range of measures which support this objective, including:

• The Professional Statement, which describes the knowledge, skills and aptitude that barristers should have as they enter the profession;
• Targeted regulation where there is evidence of concerns in standards of practice – our work on Youth Courts and Coroners Courts are examples;
• The BSB Handbook, which defines the core duties and rules relating to practice at the Bar.

The action plan sets out plans to strengthen these arrangements over the coming 12-18 months. This includes:

• The ongoing review of the approach to Continuing Professional Development and in particular the use of feedback and reflective practice to support learning and development.
• Looking at the role of chambers and employers in supporting high standards of practice.
• Improving our intelligence and data analysis capability to ensure that regulatory interventions are targeted and based on a broad range of evidence.
• A review of the regulation of the early years of practice at the Bar to build on the expectations outlined in the Professional Statement.
• Enhancing our intelligence gathering and analysis and strengthening our intelligence sharing arrangements with other regulators and organisations such as the Legal Ombudsman.

This week we published:

• an interim report from AlphaPlus evaluating our Future Bar Training (FBT) reforms;
• Our 2023 Bar Training Report, covering the period from 2011/12 to 2022/23; and
• the Central Examinations Board (CEB) Chair’s Report, which presents the latest results for candidates sitting the centralised assessments in civil and criminal litigation in December 2022.

Our reforms were designed to make Bar training more flexible, accessible, and affordable while maintaining high standards. In 2019, we commissioned AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd to evaluate the reforms. Their report looks at how the reforms are being implemented and explains that new training routes have become available since the introduction of the reforms, with four different training pathways authorised by us, while maintaining the traditional three components (academic, vocational, and pupillage). The report also outlines how vocational training providers have changed their approach to delivering Bar training, including by adopting more online delivery, greater flexibility for students, and some providers offering a ‘two-step’ vocational training component.

Most vocational authorised education and training organisations (AETOs) believed that the reforms gave them the opportunity to offer greater flexibility and reduce costs and increase choice to students. Those training providers interviewed during the evaluation generally welcomed the introduction of our Professional Statement, and considered the Authorisation Framework to be helpful, although some training providers did find the authorisation process itself to be time-consuming. The restrictions necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic were found to have had a negative impact on the learning experiences of some students on the vocational component, especially the 2020 – 2021 cohort.

The evaluation work will continue over the next year, with a further report to evaluate the impact of the reforms against their key objectives of greater flexibility, improved accessibility, improved affordability, and continued high standards.

Our 2023 Bar Training Report contains statistics on enrolment, results and trends in vocational training to become a barrister, and student progression onto pupillage in England and Wales. Since the reforms were introduced, there are now two additional providers of the course, and it is now offered at five additional sites. Vocational Bar training courses are also offered via several different pathways, increasing flexibility for students. The data from the Report also demonstrate that course fees from 2020/21 onwards have decreased quite substantially compared to the fees previously charged for the BPTC. The average cost per Bar training student (adjusted for inflation) was £14,000 in 2021/22, compared to £18,700 in 2018/19, a saving of £4,700. 

The Report also shows that the proportion of UK-domiciled students from a minority ethnic background has increased over the period from 23 per cent to 39 per cent, with the increase principally driven by those from Asian/Asian British backgrounds, and those from Mixed/Multiple ethnic backgrounds. You can read our Bar Training 2023 Report on our website.

The Central Examinations Board (CEB) Chair’s Report explains how the CEB rigorously assesses the results of the centralised examinations to ensure that they are fair. It shows that the centralised assessments remain demanding examinations with an average pass rate for the December sitting of around 56% for civil litigation and around 50% for criminal litigation. The Report also shows the variation in pass rates between different providers. The Report explains some of the factors that may lead to these variations. We will be examining this in our forthcoming thematic review of providers’ admissions arrangements which will also look at how they ensure that standards are maintained once a student is admitted and what systems are in place to ensure that a student develops to their full potential. You can read the full report on our website.

As we told you in February, following a consultation process in April 2022, the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has made several revisions to their existing Scheme Rules, with the changes applying from 1 April 2023.

The LeO’s Scheme Rules set out the framework for how they resolve complaints between authorised persons including barristers and complainants. The following resources are available on their website:

• Guidance on the changes: this document outlines the key changes to the LeO’s Scheme Rules and includes suggested wording for service providers to use in their client care letters - both before and after the changes have gone live.
• Scheme Rules FAQs: this FAQ document is an updated version of the existing Scheme Rules FAQs but includes information relating to the application of the amended rules. This document is for complaints received on or after 1 April 2023. The document also includes some case studies to illustrate the guidance provided.
• Scheme Rules: this page includes both the LeO’s current Scheme Rules document and the amended Scheme Rules document which applies to complaints received by them from 1 April 2023. Please note the new Scheme Rules document is currently watermarked as ‘not applicable until 1 April 2023’ but this will be removed once the changes have gone live. As the changes are not being applied retrospectively to complaints the LeO receives before 1 April, the old Scheme Rules document will remain available for information.

Alongside work to update their Scheme Rules, the LeO has also developed a one-page consumer leaflet outlining how and when they can help. This is aimed at ensuring that consumers contact them at the right time – after a service provider has had a chance to address their complaint. It isn’t mandatory for service providers to use this leaflet. However, it is intended as a simple way for providers to help convey the key information about LeO they are required to in their client care communication.

The leaflet is available to download from the LeO’s website in English and Welsh. Service providers are responsible for meeting any additional accessibility needs their individual customers may have.

The LeO also set up a dedicated email address for enquiries relating to the new Scheme Rules: [email protected]. If service providers have any queries regarding the changes or if they would like to talk to one of the Ombudsman about the application of the new rules, they can contact them using the email address above and they will be able to provide further information and guidance to assist with the query.

This guide sets out what the changes are and how they apply, and what service providers need to do to prepare for the changes going live. Read more on the LeO’s website.

We are calling for tenders from bodies authorised to provide reserved legal activities (including the conduct of litigation) to provide legal advice, representation and other support.

Our current contract for legal support is due to expire in May 2023 and we are now opening the tender process for the provision of services for the next three-year cycle.

We are looking for providers with the knowledge, experience and capability to provide legal, and other, support in relation to our regulatory decision-making, litigation (including statutory appeals), outsourced investigations and disciplinary work (where necessary), as well as our contracts and data protection responsibilities.

We will accept tenders from firms who choose to bid for some (and not all) areas of work for which we seek support and reserve the right to appoint more than one firm in relation to some or all areas covered by this tender.

For a copy of the tender documentation, including our selection criteria and the process timetable, please email the Legal Support Team at [email protected].

The tender will close on Monday 27 March 2023 at 10:00am.

We are seeking a new Chair for our Independent Decision-Making Body. We are seeking a senior leader with the skills to lead this body and to support us in the continuing modernisation of our enforcement processes.

The Independent Decision-Making Body (IDB) is a non-executive body responsible for taking regulatory decisions that require independent input and has been operating since October 2019. It consists of a pool of suitably qualified decision makers from which panels of lay and barrister members are formed to take decisions on individual cases - panels of five are used for enforcement cases and panels of three are used for appeals against authorisation decisions. Most of the decisions for which the IDB is responsible are in relation to whether enforcement action should be taken where breaches of the professional obligations, as set out in our Handbook, may have occurred.  However, the IDB is also responsible for, amongst other things, taking decisions in relation to appeals against executive decisions not to grant waivers from the Handbook requirements or decisions not to authorise or license a body to provide legal services. 

The work of all IDB members (including the Chair) includes preparing for, attending and/or chairing Panel meetings, attending training sessions as required and ensuring that they stay up to date with issues related to the regulation of the Bar. The Chair of the IDB is also responsible (in conjunction with the Vice Chair) for providing leadership of the IDB which includes: appraisals of members, giving feedback to members where issues are identified, hosting quarterly training sessions, meeting quarterly with senior staff involved in operational delivery, contributing to the quarterly newsletter, and approving and presenting the IDB’s annual report to the Board. The Chair also has the power to impose immediate interim suspensions or disqualifications on any applicable person.

We welcome applications from practising barristers and lay people, both executive and non-executive. Lay members cannot be (or ever have been) barristers or solicitors, as defined in paragraph 2(4) of Schedule 1 of the Legal Services Act 2007.

Appointments will be for an initial period of up to three years, potentially renewable for a further three-year term, subject to satisfactory appraisal on completion of 18 months’ and three years’ service.

Remuneration for all members of the IDB is paid at a flat rate of £308 per day or £154 per half day (plus VAT, if relevant) – the fee covers both attendance at meetings and preparation time.

We welcome applications from those located outside London. Panel members can attend meetings remotely although there is an expectation that the Chair will, from time to time, attend meetings/training in person in London for which reasonable expenses will be paid.  

After reading the Information Pack and Supporting Details Form, candidates should provide a covering letter outlining how they meet the competencies required for the position, together with a CV. Please also complete the Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form.

We welcome applications from all people who meet the role requirements regardless of background and particularly encourage those from groups that are currently underrepresented in our independent decision-making processes such as people from minority ethnic groups, people who are LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities.

We are a “Disability Confident”. Candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for this role will be guaranteed an interview under this scheme.

If you have any queries, please contact Rebecca Forbes, Head of Governance and Corporate Services, in the first instance: [email protected].

Please send completed applications to: [email protected] by 9am on 27 March.

For Pupillage Providers

We are continuing to process applications for currently authorised Pupillage Training Organisations (PTOs) seeking authorisation as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs).

All pupillage providers that have current pupillages registered with us have now had their PTO status extended to 31 August 2023 or the end date(s) of their current pupillage(s), whichever is the later date.

If you are unsure whether you remain authorised as a PTO or have now been granted AETO status, please contact us as soon as possible via email to [email protected]. If you have never delivered pupillage training before but would like to apply for the first time to become an AETO, you may do so at any time.

Once you have submitted an application you can continue to advertise for new pupils while your application is being processed, so long as it is clear that the pupillage is offered subject to your successful authorisation as an AETO.

If you have any other enquiries relating to AETOs or need support with the transitional process, please contact the Acting Authorisations Manager, Sophie Maddison ([email protected]) as she will be happy to assist. 

In the Employed Bar? We have published new guidance and FAQs for organisations within the Employed Bar who may be interesting in become pupillage providers.

Feedback? We would like to thank all pupillage providers who have worked extremely hard during a difficult period to draft their applications. We appreciate how time consuming the application process can be and welcome your feedback and suggestions for how we can improve this, going forward.

If you would like to be involved in our survey and ‘lessons learned’ process, please contact the Acting Authorisations Manager via email to [email protected] for further information.

About applications for exemptions and waivers

Currently, we are dealing with a high volume of applications across all categories, with the most common being applications for admission to the Bar as a Transferring Qualified Lawyer. We will prioritise these applications where possible, with consideration to approaching BTT assessment registration deadlines, which is likely to extend the normal processing times for our other application types.

We will be processing other outstanding exemption or waiver applications based on the date that the application is regarded as ‘complete’ (ie when we have received all relevant documents and payment of the application fee).

We will consider requests for exemption or waiver applications to be expedited:

• if the outcome is required to confirm registration on a GDL or vocational component Bar Course; or
• if the outcome is required for an upcoming court appearance (eg authorisation as a licensed access client).

We cannot otherwise guarantee to expedite any applications, at present. We would be grateful if you would refrain from sending chaser or follow-up emails in relation to outstanding applications at this time of peak activity for the team.

Our Service Update page includes the latest information about our activities and anticipated processing times.

Pupillage registration and completion

We are anticipating the Spring peak period for non-practising pupillage completion in March and April. Consequently, we will be dealing with a high demand for the issue of Provisional Practising Certificates at this time.

These Certificates and Confirmation of Full Qualification Letters will be issued, via email, as soon as possible and will be backdated where appropriate. We aim to issue any Provisional Practising Certificates in advance of the starting date of the practising period of pupillage.

Pupillage completion and the registration of new pupillages will be prioritised over Notification of Material Change forms. Your patience is appreciated until we are able to send email confirmations that these material changes have been recorded. 

As we are anticipating a high volume of emails relating to pupillage completion and registration, we would be grateful if you would refrain from sending chaser or follow-up emails.

We will publish updated processing times for pupillage completion and registration forms on our Service Update page.

About BSB entities

We are grateful for your patience while we have been working to complete the 2022 entity renewals process, which was extended due to the cyber-attack in the Spring and technical difficulties with the portal as we brought our systems back online. We will be launching the 2023 renewals process soon and will be sending out further instructions to entities in due course.

Interested in becoming a BSB Entity? Visit our webpages to learn more, or for an informal discussion with one of our team, please contact us via email to

[email protected].

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

Let me begin by wishing you a Happy New Year although we of course remain acutely conscious of the challenges which we all continue to face. You can stay in touch with the latest information from the BSB in relation to the latest response to the health emergency by reading our regularly-updated statement on our website.

In spite of the pandemic we must continue to perform our regulatory duties and an updated version of the BSB Handbook came into force on 31 December 2020 at the end of the transition period following the UK’s exit from the EU. The changes in the latest version affect Registered European Lawyers (RELs) practising at the Bar of England and Wales, and European lawyers seeking to be admitted to the Bar. The amendments also implemented provisions relating to the Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement, which was agreed by the UK and Switzerland in 2018. You can read more about this in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

If your organisation had made any recent changes to pupillages or is thinking of making any in light of the latest national lockdown, please remember to contact us to discuss them. Also, please don’t forget that the minimum pupillage award increased on 1 January 2021 to £18,960 per annum for pupillages in London and £16,601 per annum for pupillages outside London.

An updated version of the BSB Handbook come into force at the end of the transition period following the UK’s exit from the EU. The changes affect Registered European Lawyers (RELs) practising at the Bar of England and Wales, and European lawyers seeking to be admitted to the Bar. They also implement provisions relating to the Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement, which was agreed by the UK and Switzerland in 2018.

The new rules have applied since 11pm GMT on 31 December 2020.

We have been in frequent direct communication with those affected by these changes including RELs and those barristers with an EU address as their primary practising address. Any barristers who are habitually resident in an EU member state may find that their insurance arrangements are affected by the end of the transition period and should contact us or Bar Mutual urgently to discuss their situation.

You can read more about our regulation and the UK’s exit from the EU on our website.

The 2021 Authorisation to Practise (AtP) period will start in February. During AtP, all practising barristers will be required to renew their annual practising certificates and to pay the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF). We will provide more information about AtP next month, including details about the PCF rate bands for 2021-22. The Records team will be in contact with you directly when AtP opens.

Last month, we announced that Andrew Mitchell QC has been appointed as our new Vice Chair for the next three years, taking effect from 1 January 2021.

The announcement follows the appointment of Naomi Ellenbogen QC as a High Court Judge, which required her to relinquish the role of Vice Chair of the BSB in November 2020, a position she had held since 2016.

Having served on the Board for six years and prior to that as a member of our Professional Conduct Committee for four years, Andrew brings a wealth of experience and a strong commitment to regulating the Bar in the public interest.

The minimum pupillage award is set annually, having regard to the Living Wage Foundation’s hourly rate recommendations, which are announced in November each year. The annual increase applies from January each year to all pupils, regardless of when they started pupillage. Monthly payments to pupils must be adjusted accordingly. The rate for the minimum pupillage award that applies from 1 January 2021 is £18,960 per annum for pupillages in London and £16,601 per annum for pupillages outside London. You can read more about this in the newly redesigned Bar Qualification Manual.

We have been contacted by the Legal Services Board to ask us to spread awareness of significant changes being made by Ofcom and Openreach to the telephony network that will have implications for legal service providers.

In summary, the current telephony network is over 35 years old and is to be upgraded. This upgrade has been happening for some years now, but the old telephony network will close by the end of 2025. The older analogue network supports devices that have been around for some time, such as fax machines, that won’t necessarily work when the network is digital. The simple rule of thumb is that when the telephone line is changed to digital or “ALL IP”, it will need any device that currently plugs into a wall socket, to be plugged into the broadband router instead. It is possible that adaptors will become available on the market that will connect these devices to the broadband router, but Openreach advises that the efficacy and long-term durability of these solutions cannot be guaranteed.

There is some further information on these websites:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/future-of-landline-calls

https://www.futureofvoice.co.uk/

If you would like further information, please contact Openreach directly by emailing [email protected] 

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

At the end of January, we published our annual report on Diversity at the Bar. The report shows that while the profession continued to become increasingly diverse in 2020, there is still more that needs to be done before the Bar can say that it truly reflects the society it serves at every level of seniority.

You can read more about the latest Diversity Report – including, for example, how different minority ethnic groups have varied levels of representation at the Bar – in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

The number of barristers providing us with their diversity data increased last year but we should very much like more of you to do so in order to help us in our work of promoting equality and diversity at the Bar. The annual Authorisation to Practise (AtP) process is due to begin later this month. Do please complete the diversity data questions when renewing your practising certificates for the year ahead. We collect this information not because we wish to intrude on the privacy of individual barristers but in order better to understand how different groups are faring at the Bar.

A widely reported aspect of the 2020 Diversity Report was the figures it contained about the fall in the number of pupillages starting last year due to the pandemic. We have subsequently published a more detailed report which shows that pupillage registrations were down 35% in 2020. The report suggests that many pupillage organisations have delayed the start of their pupillages by a few months as opposed to cancelling them outright, and that the waiver scheme we introduced in May 2020 has had a positive effect in allowing many pupillages to go ahead which might not otherwise have done so. That said, we expect the pandemic to continue to have an adverse effect on the number of pupillages this year and next. You can read more about our report on the impact of COVID-19 on pupillages in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

In case you missed it, on 29 January, we published a joint statement with The Bar Tribunals Adjudication Service (BTAS) about current concerns from the public and the profession at the level of sanctions imposed in cases of sexual misconduct. The sanctions imposed fall within the current Sanctions Guidance which covers the whole range of professional misconduct. The Guidance has been under review since last year. Proposals from the review will be published and subject to consultation with a view to having updated Guidance in place in the summer.

In January, we published updated Anti-Money Laundering (AML) guidance on our website. The guidance is produced by the Legal Sector AML Group (of which we are a member). You can read more about this in the online version of Regulatory Update. When you apply for or renew your practising certificate via the AtP process, you are asked to declare whether you carry out work that falls within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations. So please familiarise yourself with the new guidance.

Completing AtP will also require you to declare that you fulfilled your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements in 2020. We know that completing CPD remains very difficult during the pandemic but this month’s online Regulatory Update contains a short list of some areas for development and training that may be useful for you to consider when choosing your CPD for 2021.

On 29 January, we published our annual report on Diversity at the Bar. The report shows that the profession became increasingly diverse in 2020 and that a greater proportion of barristers disclosed their demographic data.

While diversity of the profession continues to improve, there is still more that needs to be done so that the Bar reflects the society it serves at every level of seniority.

For the first time, the report uses the term ‘minority ethnic groups’ rather than ‘BAME’ and provides more disaggregated data about ethnicity at the Bar in order to reflect the varied experiences of barristers from different minority ethnic groups.

Some of the key findings[1] include:

• At 60.9 per cent, men still outnumber women at 38.2 per cent of the practising Bar. The percentage of women at the Bar overall increased by 0.2 percentage points during the last year (or 0.4%).

• The percentage of practising barristers from minority ethnic groups overall increased by 0.5 percentage points (or 3.7%) to 14.1 per cent, slightly exceeding the estimate of 13.3 per cent of the working age population in England and Wales.

• Different minority ethnic groups have varied levels of representation at the Bar.  The report presents disaggregated data for different minority ethnic groups:

• Asian/Asian British barristers made up 7.5 per cent of the practising Bar in December 2020 – an increase of 0.3 percentage points (or 4.4%) year on year. This compares with 5.6 percent of the working age population who identify as Asian/Asian British.

• The proportion of practising barristers who are Black/Black British rose by 0.05 percentage points (or 1.4%) to 3.2 per cent in 2020; this compares with around 3.4 per cent of the working age population.

• 3.3 per cent of the practising Bar are from a Mixed/Multiple ethnic background as compared with around 1.5 per cent of the working age population.

• Male QCs still outnumber female QCs, but the percentage of female QCs increased from 16.2 per cent in December 2019 to 16.8 per cent (0.6 percentage points or 3.7%) in December 2020.

• The percentage of QCs from minority ethnic backgrounds has increased by 0.7 percentage points (or 8.6%) year on year to 8.8 per cent.

• The percentage of female pupil barristers was equal to the percentage of male pupils. Although the percentage of female pupils has fallen by around four percentage points since 2019 (or 7.8%), this may be an anomaly resulting from an exceptional year in 2020.

• The proportion of pupil barristers from minority ethnic backgrounds increased by 3.7 percentage points (or 19.4%) to 22.9 per cent in 2020. This is the highest proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds, and the largest year on year increase in this statistic, seen since the first Diversity at the Bar Report in 2015.

• Of the 56.9 per cent who provided information on disability status to us, only 6.3 per cent disclosed a disability. This is substantially lower than the percentage of disabled people in the employed working age UK population estimated at 11.3 per cent.

The response rate amongst barristers disclosing their diversity information increased across all categories in 2020 except for a very small decrease for gender which was already over 99 percent.

We have a statutory responsibility to monitor and promote equality and diversity both as an employer and as the regulator of barristers in England and Wales.

On 3 February, we published an updated report on the impact of COVID-19 on pupillage places at the Bar of England and Wales.

The report shows that there were 386 pupillages registered with us in 2020. This compares with 592 pupillages registered in 2019: a fall of 35%. The impact of the pandemic on the profession looks set to affect pupillage numbers in 2021, although recruitment levels are picking up. As of 19 January 2021, 172 organisations were advertising pupillages on the Gateway. By way of contrast, 159 organisations had new pupils starting with them during 2020.

The report suggests that the waiver scheme we introduced in May 2020 has had a positive effect, allowing 95 pupillages to go ahead which might not otherwise have done so. The scheme allows the first part of pupillage to start before a candidate has completed the vocational component of Bar training.

The impact of delayed start dates is now starting to show in the statistics for 2021, as January registrations are higher than usual. There were 51 pupillages registered in January 2021, compared to 15 in January 2020.

Much of the information in the report comes from our ongoing engagement with the pupillage organisations we authorise about the effects of the pandemic on the supply of pupillages.

Pupils represent the future of the Bar and provide assurance that consumers will have access to high quality legal representation into the future. We shall therefore want to work closely with the Bar Council and with the rest of the profession to see how we can maintain pupillage numbers in these challenging times. We are pleased that our waiver scheme seems to be helping and that the figures suggest that many pupillages have been delayed, not cancelled. We also welcome the initiative by some leading commercial chambers to support criminal pupillages which have been affected by the health emergency. But these initiatives, welcome though they are, may not be enough on their own and we want to consider with the Bar Council and the profession other options for supporting pupillages.

We will soon publish our wider findings on the impact of COVID-19 on the profession (ie the impacts beyond pupillages). This will follow the completion of the first part of the 2020-21 Regulatory Return which was issued to a selection of around 350 chambers, BSB entities and sole practitioners in September. The first part of the Return focused only on the impact of the health emergency and responses were due back to us on 4 January 2021. (The rest of the Regulatory Return does not need to be completed until 31 March.)

The full report on the impact of COVID-19 on pupillages is available at: [LINK]

We know that completing CPD during a pandemic is much more difficult, but we hope that you are now turning your mind to the CPD that you want to do in 2021. Details on what you are required to do and guidance on how to do it is available on our website.

It is a matter for you to decide upon the areas of your practice where you want to focus your CPD. To help you, we have identified some areas for development and training that we would encourage you to have regard to when choosing your CPD. They relate to aspects of practice and professional life as a barrister that we see as being particularly important over the coming 12 months.

Technology

COVID-19 has given rise to many people needing to master new technology, including barristers. Increases in virtual hearings and meetings operated via different platforms, present different challenges for you. Similarly, the skills required to be effective as an advocate in remote court cases or in managing virtual conferences with clients can be different. Being able to communicate effectively and to represent clients, many of whom are vulnerable, brings with it different challenges and expectations.  You are encouraged therefore to think about whether they would benefit from additional training in how to be effective in operating in an increasingly virtual world.

Equality and diversity

Understanding what diversity and inclusion means and how they apply to both barristers and their chambers is a key facet of practising at the Bar. We set out our expectations in our Equality Rules and issued our statement on anti-racism for the Bar at the end of last year. Both the rules and the statement are available on our website. We believe that you should periodically refresh your understanding of equality and diversity through specific training. That training should look at, amongst other things, what good equality and diversity practice looks like, dignity and inclusion at work and discrimination.

Data protection and information security

With more remote working and greater reliance on electronic management and storage of data and files, as well as increased use of email for correspondence, it is important that barristers are familiar with their responsibilities under data protection legislation. They need to understand how to keep information secure and ensure compliance with GDPR. Guidance is available on our website but we would recommend that barristers keep their knowledge up to date through regular training.

Pupil supervisor training

The Inns deliver mandatory training for barristers who are pupil supervisors. This covers the general expectations placed on pupil supervisors including their regulatory and ethical responsibilities to their pupils. Critical to effectiveness as a pupil supervisor is the ability to give constructive feedback to pupils and to provide them with guidance and direction so that they make the progress they need to complete their pupillage satisfactorily. Giving (and receiving) feedback can be challenging and is likely to be particularly difficult where, as now, many pupillages are being managed and supervised remotely. The pastoral and other support that chambers routinely provide to pupils is less easily replicated virtually and pupils may feel isolated as a result. The pupil supervisor plays an important role in helping pupils achieve a positive start to their careers at the Bar. Given the challenges of remote supervision of pupils, barristers may feel that they could benefit from training in how to give feedback constructively and in how to be effective in managing their responsibilities to their pupil. 

Training in all of the areas highlighted above is readily available. We will also share this note with the Inns, the Bar Council and other training providers so that they can consider further or modified training for barristers.

On 29 January, we published a joint statement with The Bar Tribunals Adjudication Service (BTAS). The statement said:

“We are aware of current concern from the public and the profession at the level of sanctions imposed in cases of sexual misconduct. The sanctions imposed fall within the current Sanctions Guidance. This Guidance covers the whole range of professional misconduct and has been under review since last year. Proposals from the review will be published and subject to consultation with a view to having updated Guidance in place in the summer.”

The Legal Sector AML Group (comprising legal sector regulators and representative bodies) has completed an extensive review of the Anti-Money Laundering guidance. The new guidance replaces the previous version and can be found on our website. It builds upon the guidance previously published and incorporates amendments implemented via The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 and The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

The Legal Sector AML Group has also been working on an additional section that will provide tailored guidance for the Bar, which will be published shortly.  In the meantime, the Bar Council’s guidance is still available, with some case studies to further assist barristers, chambers and BSB entities in applying the Regulations.

When you apply for or renew your practising certificate, you are asked to declare whether you carry out work that falls within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations. We have compiled a set of FAQs to help you, when making your declaration, in understanding your obligations and whether the work that you do falls within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations. They can also be found on the MyBar portal when you renew your practising certificate. Please read these FAQs carefully. It is essential that you make an accurate declaration and that you do not declare that you do work under the Regulations when you do not; this distorts the risk profile of the Bar and leads to additional regulatory costs.

The 2021 Authorisation to Practise (AtP) period is due to start in later this month. During AtP, all practising barristers will be required to renew their annual practising certificates and to pay the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF). We will provide more information about AtP next month, including details about the PCF rate bands for 2021-22. The Records team will be in contact with you directly when AtP opens.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

This year’s annual Authorisation to Practise (AtP) process is now open. It is therefore time to renew your practising certificate.

For those of you who have completed AtP before, you will know that as well as paying the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF), it involves making a number of regulatory declarations. These include providing certain details about your practice such as the declarations required for Youth Court work and those required for anti-money laundering purposes. You will also be asked to confirm that you completed your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements during 2020. Do please complete the diversity data questions when completing AtP as your answers help us better to understand how different groups are faring at the Bar.

As we are very aware that many barristers’ incomes have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, we have held our budget down as far as is reasonably practical taking into account our regulatory obligations and to reflect the pressures on the Bar. This is in anticipation that many barristers may be in lower PCF income bands this year and therefore the money we generate from our share of the PCF is likely to be less than in previous years. We will be publishing our 2021-22 Business Plan and budget later this month.

For more information about the 2021 AtP process, please refer to our website.

In the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update, you can read more about the review of the BTAS Sanctions Guidance which is being taken forward by the BTAS secretariat together with the BSB with guidance from the BTAS Strategic Advisory Board.  The intention is to undertake a first public consultation over a period of six weeks beginning in April seeking views on proposals to amend the recommended ranges of sanctions for specific types of breaches.   In the light of that consultation, the full Guidance will then be re-drafted and submitted for a further ten-week consultation which it is intended will begin in July. We expect the revised Guidance to come into force in November.  We very much hope that all those with an interest in these important matters will take part in the consultations and give their views.

The online edition of Regulatory Update also reproduces our recent blog on how we intend to encourage innovation and the use of new technology in our regulation of the Bar. This is important as we want to ensure that regulation adapts to enable the profession and the public to benefit from the opportunities which technology can bring.

Finally, the online edition also contains information about our recent report on the diversity of our Board members and our staff.

The annual Authorisation to Practise (AtP) process is now open. AtP is the process by which you must make a number of regulatory declarations and pay the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF) in order to renew your practising certificate.

Your PCF depends on your income in the preceding year. So, in 2021 it is determined by your earnings in 2020. As we know that many barristers’ incomes have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, both the BSB and the Bar Council – who take shares of the money raised by the PCF – have budgeted accordingly in anticipation that many barristers may be in lower PCF income bands this year. The level of PCF due from each barrister in each income band is the same as it was in 2020.

The Bar Council – who is responsible for collecting the PCF – have confirmed that those who pay their PCF via “block payments” may again do so by paying in two instalments with a minimum 50% first instalment due by 31 March and the second balance payment due by 30 September.

When completing AtP, you must make a number of regulatory declarations to us including providing certain details about your practice such as the declarations required for Youth Court work, immigration supervision, and for anti-money laundering purposes. You must also confirm compliance with your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements during 2020

Please complete the AtP process via the MyBar portal by 31 March 2021. Detailed instructions on how to complete this year’s process should have been emailed directly to you or your practice.

More information about the 2021 AtP process is available on our website.

On 29 January 2021, we announced with the Bar Tribunals Adjudication Service (BTAS) that the current Sanctions Guidance covering professional misconduct has been under review since last year and that proposals from the review will be published and subject to consultation. 

The review is being taken forward by the BTAS secretariat together with the BSB. It will draw on guidance from the BTAS Strategic Advisory Board, which exists to provide an independent source of advice and challenge to BTAS. The Strategic Advisory Board has both lay and professional members and its terms of reference and membership are on the BTAS website.

We can now give more details as to how the changes to the Sanctions Guidance will be subject to consultation with both the Bar and with the wider public.

The intention is to undertake a first public consultation over a period of six weeks beginning in April 2021, seeking views on proposals to amend the recommended ranges of sanctions for specific types of breaches.

In the light of that consultation, the full Guidance will then be re-drafted and submitted for a further ten-week consultation which it is intended will begin in July 2021. We expect the revised Guidance to come into force in November 2021.

We very much hope that all those with an interest in these important matters will take part in the consultations and give their views. The consultation documents will be published on the BTAS website and Press Notices will be issued.

Anyone who wishes to register their interest in the consultation in advance should please email [email protected].

We have published our annual report, Diversity of BSB Staff and Board Members 2020. It follows the publication of the Diversity of the Bar report 2020, which showed that while diversity in the profession was gradually increasing, further progress was needed.

The report demonstrates our commitment to our legal obligations as an employer under the Equality Act 2010. We also remain firmly committed to encouraging a strong, independent, diverse and effective legal profession and to meeting our equality duties in every aspect of our work.

The data were captured on 1 December 2020, with staff data deriving from an anonymous and voluntary survey, and data relating to Board members being collected and analysed annually.

For the twelve Board members of the BSB, the key findings of the report are:

• seven members were female and five were male;
• ten members were from a White background, with the others from another ethnic group; and
• of the eight members who responded to the question about disability, the most frequently given responses was “no disability”.

For BSB staff, of which there were 83 at the time the data were captured, the key findings of the report are:

• 65% of all staff were female and 35% were male, and within the top four (of seven) seniority grades, 53% of staff were female and 45% were male.
• 34% of BSB staff were from a minority ethnic background, compared to an estimate of 13.3% of the working age population of England and Wales. In the four most senior grades, 66% of staff were White English/Welsh/Northern Irish/Scottish/British, 9% identified as being from another white ethnic group, 16% were Asian British, and 9% were Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Background.
• 6% of staff declared a disability, compared to an estimate that around 11.3% of the working age population have a declared disability

You can read the full Diversity of BSB Staff and Board Members 2020 report on our website.

At the BSB, one of our commitments is to focus on the use of technology in the profession. We understand the important role innovation and technology could play in improving access to justice.  We would like the profession to adapt and take advantage of the opportunities this brings and are keen to play our part in encouraging the use of technology where it can bring benefits. Being a risk-based regulator, it is important that we understand the risks and opportunities that can arise from technological innovation and, where necessary, act quickly to mitigate any risks.

This short blog highlights some of the ways in which we are seeking to gain insight into the use of technology, helping us to understand how new ideas can be translated into reality, and ensuring that regulation adapts to facilitate the opportunities, while managing the risks.

Through our engagement with LawtechUK: This is a Government backed initiative aimed at supporting digital transformation of the UK legal sector. As part of this initiative, the BSB is working alongside other legal services regulators to provide regulatory support to those innovators who were successful in the pilot phase of this initiative. A list of the projects and more on this initiative can be found here. We are excited to be working on this initiative and look forward to seeing what opportunities this could bring to improve access to justice, while at the same time considering what they might mean for the Bar and for the BSB itself. 

Flexibility in applications of rules: One of the ways we can facilitate innovation, is through keeping our rules flexible. As we review our Code of Conduct, we aim to remove unnecessary prescription to facilitate different ways of thinking to deliver the right outcomes for the consumer and public interest. If our current rules are acting as a block to innovation or the use of technology, we can consider granting a waiver. More on waivers and how you could apply for one can be found [here].

Ongoing engagement with barristers’ practices and further research: last year we sent out a request to barristers’ chambers asking them to answer a range of questions about their practice. Our Regulatory Return, as this is known, included questions relating to the current and future use of technology, as well as the perceived risks and barriers to the take up of technology. We are looking forward to hearing what is happening in Chambers and to consider where we might be able to do more to enable innovation and better use of technology.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

Last month, we published our annual Business Plan for 2021-22. It sets out our main priorities for the year ahead and our budget.

The Plan explains how we will prioritise our core regulatory work such as analysing the impact of the pandemic, overseeing of education and training requirements, monitoring standards of conduct and compliance with our rules (including the new transparency rules), and ensuring that everyone we authorise to practise is competent to do so.

Alongside the core work, we shall focus on a small number of projects addressing significant risks to our regulatory objectives.  This includes our work with the Bar Tribunals Adjudication Service (BTAS) to review the Sanctions Guidance. BTAS began this work last year and the review  will cover all areas of professional misconduct including sexual harassment.

Later this month, we will be issuing a joint consultation with BTAS about the Sanctions Guidance and we urge everyone with an interest in this matter to respond and to share their views with us.

You can read more about our 2021-22 Business Plan in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

One of the effects of the response to the health emergency for the BSB has been a significant increase in the number of people applying for authorisation and/or exemptions and waivers from our rules. Last month, we launched a new webpage to provide updates for those waiting to hear from us about their applications. We are sorry that these are currently taking longer to process than usual but we are working hard to deal with the current backlog as soon as possible.

Finally for this month, do not forget that the deadline for our annual Authorisation to Practice process was 31 March. If you have still not completed this important regulatory process and have not yet renewed your practising certificate for 2021-22, then you must do so by 30 April or cease practising. If you fail to complete the renewal process by this date, you will no longer appear on our Barristers' Register and you will not be authorised to practise.

Last month, we published our annual Business Plan for 2021-22 in which we set out our main priorities.

The Plan includes details of our budget for the year ahead. It reflects the continuing effects of the coronavirus pandemic on both the profession and our own work.

Our 2021-22 Business Plan outlines how, where necessary, we will temporarily put on hold some of our longer-term policy development projects in order to prioritise our core regulatory work and our analysis of the impact of the health emergency. This core work involves overseeing the education and training requirements for becoming a barrister, monitoring the standards of conduct of barristers and compliance with the rules in our Handbook, including the new transparency rules, and ensuring that everyone we authorise to practise is competent to do so. 

The policy development which will remain important during 2021-22 and which is explained in more detail in the Plan reflects our analysis of risk to the regulatory objectives. Consistent with those risks, the plan targets:

• continuing work to raise standards at the Bar;

• completing the final implementation of Bar training reforms;
• working with the Bar Tribunals Adjudication Service to review their Sanctions Guidance;  
• promoting equality and access to justice including tackling bullying, discrimination and harassment at the Bar; and
• ensuring the future supply of pupillage places, and hence of barristers, following a big reduction in response to the health emergency in 2020.

2021-22 is the third year in our  current three-year Strategic Plan which was first published in March 2019. The focus over this period has been to ensure that recent policy initiatives, such as reforms to the rules governing Bar training and to disciplinary and enforcement processes, have been successfully implemented and evaluated. This remains the case despite the effects of the pandemic.

We have launched a new webpage to provide updates for those applying for authorisation and/or exemptions and waivers from our rules about when they can expect to hear from us.  The page has been developed following an increase over the past few months in the number of enquiries received. 

The page is intended to support you by providing guidance on when you can expect to hear from us regarding applications and other documentation submitted to us. 

It will also advise you of any changes or anticipated days to our service, so you will not need to contact us with queries about when your application will be processed.  

Visit the page to view our current processing timetable and information relating to AETOs, Pupillage and Entity Regulation. 

We seek applications to join the Tribunal Representation Panel (TRP), the independent disciplinary tribunals for barristers facing charges of professional misconduct as well as other hearings.

Applications from barristers’ chambers or other authorised organisations should demonstrate a strong track record of regulatory disciplinary work, and experience across a range of seniority but we particularly seek experienced juniors with up to 10 years’ Call.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on 7 May 2021 with interviews taking place during the week of 14 June 2021.

The successful applicants will join 11 Kings Bench Walk on the Panel, who were appointed in January 2020.

If your chambers or organisation is interested in joining the TRP, please read the full Application Pack.

We are seeking barrister and lay members for our Independent Decision-Making Body. This is the second year of our new processes for taking regulatory decisions and we want to encourage a diverse range of people to support us in our ongoing modernisation of our enforcement processes.

The Independent Decision-Making Body (IDB) is a non-executive body responsible for taking all our regulatory decisions that require independent input, and has been operating since September 2019. It consists of a pool of suitably qualified decision makers from which panels of lay and barrister members are formed to take decisions on individual cases – panels of three are used for authorisations and five for disciplinary cases. Most of the decisions for which the IDB is responsible are in relation to whether disciplinary action should be taken where breaches of the professional obligations, as set out in the BSB Handbook, may have occurred. However, the IDB is also responsible for, amongst other things, taking decisions in relation to appeals against executive decisions not to grant waivers from the Handbook requirements or decisions not to authorise or license a body to provide legal services. 

The work of an IDB member will include preparing for, chairing and/or attending Panel meetings, attending training sessions as required and ensuring that they stay up to date with issues related to the regulation of the Bar. 

We are also recruiting to the position of Vice Chair of the IDB. This position, in addition to the above functions, will be responsible with the Chair of the IDB for: providing the leadership of the IDB; carrying out the appraisals process of IDB members; providing feedback on panel member performance; and taking limited decisions outside panel meetings.  

For both the positions of Vice Chair and those for ordinary members of the IDB we welcome applications from barristers and lay people with experience across a range of practice areas, both executive and non-executive. Knowledge of higher legal education and/or qualification as a barrister are also sought. 

Appointments will be for an initial period of up to three years, subject to satisfactory appraisal on completion of 18 months’ and three years’ service. Candidates are welcome to apply for both positions and should indicate which role(s) they are applying for in their covering letter, and address the corresponding competencies contained in the application pack.

Remuneration for all members of the IDB is paid at a flat rate of £308 per day or £154 per half day (plus VAT, if relevant) – this covers both attendance at meetings and preparation time.

Where physical meetings are necessary or desirable they will be hosted from London, but we encourage applications from those located elsewhere in the country. All IDB panel meetings have been held remotely in the past year and we will continue to provide these facilities. However, members may be requested, from time to time, to attend events in London for which reasonable expenses will be paid.  

For more information and details on how to apply, please visit the About Us section of our website www.barstandardsboard.org.uk. Candidates should provide a covering letter outlining how they meet the competencies required for the position(s), together with a brief CV.

We welcome applications from all people who meet the role requirements regardless of background and particularly encourage those from groups that are currently underrepresented in our independent decision-making processes such as women, and people from minority ethnic groups, people who are LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities.

If you have any queries, please contact Rebecca Forbes, Head of Governance and Corporate Services, in the first instance: [email protected]

For more information on how to apply, please review the candidate pack. Candidates should provide a covering letter outlining how they meet the competencies required for the position(s), together with a brief CV, supporting details form and equality and diversity monitoring form (optional). The candidate pack can be found on our website.

Please send completed applications to: [email protected]

Closing date for applications:  9am Monday 3 May 2021.

Interviews will take place in London or via remote participation in the week commencing 28 June 2021.  The date may change, including the possible addition of other dates, depending on interview panel and applicant availability.

It is anticipated that mandatory training will take place in September 2021.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

On 29 April, the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service (BTAS) published its first consultation document proposing revisions to parts of the Sanctions Guidance which is used by Disciplinary Tribunals in deciding what sanctions to impose in cases of proven professional misconduct by barristers. We welcome the publication and encourage barristers to contribute to this important review.

The consultation document was prepared by a Working Group made up of representatives of BTAS, lay and barrister members of the BTAS Disciplinary Tribunal panel and the BSB.

We very much hope that all those with an interest in the sanctions which barristers face for professional misconduct will take part in this consultation. We are aware that there has been recent criticism of the sanctions imposed in cases of sexual misconduct but this review also covers a wider range of professional misconduct. It includes proposals to increase the indicative sanctions for some types of misconduct, including misconduct of a sexual nature. It is very important that the final Guidance commands the confidence of both the public and the profession.

On 6 May, we published an independent review of the August 2020 Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exams. The review found that the difficulties experienced by candidates sitting the examinations were due to a variety of factors. It proposed a number of recommendations and we have published an Action Plan to ensure that we act upon those recommendations. You can read more about the review’s findings and our response to it in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

The Legal Sector Anti-Money Laundering Group (comprising legal sector regulators including the BSB and representative bodies) has recently completed an extensive review of its Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing guidance. You can read more about the updated guidance in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

Finally for this month, the Legal Ombudsman has asked us to share details with you about their recently updated best practice complaint handling guidance. This is important reading for everyone in the profession and you can read more about the new guidance in the online version of this month’s Update.

On 29 April, BTAS published its first consultation document proposing revisions to parts of the Sanctions Guidance which is used by Disciplinary Tribunals in deciding what sanctions to impose in cases of proven professional misconduct. We welcome the publication.

The consultation document was prepared by a Working Group made up of representatives of BTAS, lay and barrister members of the BTAS Disciplinary Tribunal panel and the BSB.

We very much hope that all those with an interest in the sanctions which barristers face for professional misconduct will take part in this consultation. We are aware that there has been recent criticism of the sanctions imposed in cases of sexual misconduct but this review also covers a wider range of professional misconduct. It includes proposals to increase the indicative sanctions for some types of misconduct, including misconduct of a sexual nature. It is very important that the final Guidance commands the support of both the public and the profession.

Details of the Review can be found on the BTAS website.

On 6 May, we published an independent review of the August 2020 Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exams. The review was commissioned by us in November and has been conducted by Professor Rebecca Huxley-Binns, the Pro Vice Chancellor (Education) of the University of Hull, and Dr Sarabajaya Kumar, an interdisciplinary social scientist who is also an equalities consultant and a disability activist.

The Review finds that the difficulties experienced by candidates sitting the August 2020 examinations were due to a variety of factors. It therefore contains a number of recommendations. In response, we also published an Action Plan to ensure that we act upon those recommendations. The Action Plan, which has been endorsed by Professor Huxley-Binns and by Dr Kumar, is grouped into five main themes and includes measures to:

• make our approach to policy and process development in this area more inclusive by improving our engagement with key stakeholders;
• clarify our role and responsibility and those of the training providers in the management of the centralised exams and, where we contract with a third party supplier, to hold external parties to account in a more structured and formal way with clearer service expectations and performance measures;
• improve our communication and engagement with students and training providers during the exams process;
• make the centralised assessments more accessible especially for those who need reasonable adjustments; and
• introduce a critical incidents policy and improve data protection and project management.

Responding to the Review, our Chair, Baroness Tessa Blackstone, said: “First and foremost, I should like to apologise again to all those students who faced difficulties completing their exams last August. The BSB had to move from pen and paper based assessments delivered by training providers to arrange computer based assessments in a very short period of time in the middle of a global pandemic. Ordinarily such a change would have taken at least 12 months to plan and to pilot. I am pleased that the report finds that the BSB was right to do so and right to contract with Pearson PV to deliver the exams. Around 75% of BPTC exams were completed but far too many students faced difficulties both in booking and sitting their exams which should never have occurred. Our staff worked very hard to deliver these exams in exceptional circumstances, but we know that many students had a difficult experience both in booking and sitting the exams.

The Board has welcomed the Review by Professor Huxley-Binns and Dr Kumar. It has approved the Executive’s proposed Action Plan and will ensure that the Review’s recommendations are put into effect. I am pleased that the Review found no failure of governance. The Board is determined to ensure that the BSB learns the lessons for the future. To those who had difficulties last August, I can only repeat my apology.”

The Legal Sector Anti-Money Laundering Group (comprising legal sector regulators and representative bodies) has completed an extensive review of the guidance that we published after the implementation of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017. 

The updated version builds upon the guidance previously published and incorporates amendments implemented via The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 and The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

The new guidance replaces the previous version and has been published in draft form, pending approval by HM Treasury. You are not required to follow this guidance but doing so will make it easier to account to regulators and others for your actions. We will consider whether a barrister or BSB entity has complied with this guidance when undertaking our role as a supervisory authority for the purposes of the Regulations. You may be asked to justify a decision to deviate from this guidance. This status is explained more fully in the introduction to the guidance.

The guidance is in two parts:

Part 1 Guidance for the legal sector

Part 2 Sector specific guidance, including:

• Guidance for Barristers and BSB Entities
• Guidance for Trust or Company Service Providers

Self-employed barristers and BSB entities who engage in work that is within scope of the Money Laundering Regulations should read the sector specific guidance in Part 2 in the first instance. It has been written specifically to reflect the type of work that barristers typically engage in and it contains a number of useful FAQs and case studies to assist interpretation. If you require further detail (for example in the area of conducting due diligence) you should refer to Part 1.

Employed barristers who work in organisations such as financial institutions or law firms that are regulated by other supervisors under the Money Laundering Regulations (such as the Financial Conduct Authority or the Solicitors Regulation Authority) should refer to guidance published by the relevant regulator. 

During a recent seminar, the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) asked which of these is true:

 A case fee is…

1. always charged.
2. always charged unless the complaints handling was reasonable or the ombudsman found in your favour.
3. always charged unless the complaints handling was reasonable and the ombudsman found in your favour.

The answer is C, but 68% of delegates got this wrong.

LeO have spent some time with the legal sector on a 1:1 basis over the last year and picked up on some common themes which they feel are creating barriers to resolving first tier complaints.

As a result, LeO has updated their Best Practice Complaint Handling Guide to help barristers to improve their internal complaints process, prevent complaints coming to the Legal Ombudsman or ensure that their decisions are in line with any the ombudsman would recommend.

During 2020-21, LeO found inadequate tier 1 complaint handling in 20% of complaints raised about barristers/firms regulated by the BSB. 

LeO’s guide is broken up into two key principles and four key steps which they consider is a best practice approach to good complaint handling. 

Transparency and language are the two key principles that are important in enabling effective dialogue. Having a transparent and clear complaints procedure in place instils confidence in your service. Behind this, should sit an easy to follow complaints process which supports a smooth, accessible, and timely complaint journey.

The language and tone used throughout complaint handling is vital in breaking down any barriers and provides an opportunity to resolve issues at first tier. If a legal consumer can understand you, feels you understand them and have empathy with their situation, then you are more likely to alleviate their concerns and resolve any issues.

The four key steps an effective complaints process should cover are: listen, inform, respond and learn. It starts with identifying what approach to take with a complaint and the importance of tailoring your approach. One size won’t fit all.

The guide sets out the important time limits that you must follow to be compliant with your complaints handling responsibilities, considerations to make, how to respond and what to consider if you feel a remedy is appropriate.

Included throughout are case studies and useful links to more detailed guidance which will help you to check and refresh your process.

Please refer to LeO’s learning resources page for other guidance notes.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

When we launched our 2021-22 Business Plan back in March, we explained that it reflected the significant continuing effects of the pandemic on both the profession and our own work. We also said that we would prioritise our continuing work to maintain and, where necessary, to improve standards at the Bar. With this in mind, in this month’s online edition of Regulatory Update, you can read more about our new “Assuring Competence” programme of work.

The programme includes implementing targeted regulation to improve standards in Coroners’ Courts, looking at how we can improve flows of evidence from the judiciary and others about areas of concern, and how we can improve feedback to individual barristers from a range of stakeholders to inform their self-reflection and continuing professional development. It also includes work to review our rules surrounding those in their early years of practice and there is a separate article about this in the online Regulatory Update.

There will be plenty of opportunities to share your views on our work within the Assuring Competence programme over the next few months, so please do keep up with Regulatory Update and our website to find out more.

Speaking of opportunities to share your views, please do not forget that the first BTAS consultation on the Sanctions Guidance which is used by Disciplinary Tribunals in deciding what sanctions to impose in cases of proven professional misconduct closes on 14 June. This is such an important issue that we hope that everyone with an interest will let BTAS know their views.

The increase in remote hearings and working from home, alongside the greater use of technology to support changes in working, has led to an increase in risks to information security and client confidentiality. Please see the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update for some important reminders and guidance about how to create a secure virtual working space.

Finally, if you still need to switch from being a Pupillage Training Organisation (PTO) to becoming an Authorised Education and Training Organisation (AETO) in order to continue to provide pupillage, please be aware that we have extended the deadline to complete this process until 31 March 2022. We contacted all remaining PTOs last month to let them know this but for more information, please visit our website or contact us.

It is common across professions for there to be defined skills and competences (or ‘professional standards’) that members of that profession are expected to meet. Few would argue against the suggestion that our primary role is to set the standards that we expect of barristers and to ensure that those entering the profession meet those standards and continue to do so throughout their careers.

In fulfilling this role, we can give assurance to members of the public that they have access to barristers who are competent to practise. But professional standards are not just the preserve of the regulator. Equally important is the role that the profession itself plays in maintaining standards. A profession operates effectively where its members set high standards for themselves and each other and take pride in the quality of the service that they provide to clients. The aim then is to adopt an approach which sets a clear regulatory framework for professional standards and which holds the profession to account in maintaining those standards, whilst at the same time encouraging the barrister profession to flourish.

It is these issues that underpin our new “Assuring Competence” programme of work. We recognise that the profession is currently focused on recovering from the effects of the national health emergency, but the question of maintaining and, where necessary, raising standards is important and will therefore be one of our priorities for the coming year.

It is important to acknowledge that there is no evidence of widescale concerns, and standards of practice at the Bar are generally high. Our strategy is therefore focused on ensuring that those high standards are maintained, with intervention limited to where there is evidence of a problem.

As we said in our Business Plan for 2021-22, this programme will continue our work to raise standards at the Bar. It will include implementing targeted regulation to improve standards in Coroners’ Courts, looking at how we can improve flows of evidence from the judiciary and others about areas of concern, and how we can improve feedback to individual barristers from a range of stakeholders to inform their self-reflection and continuing professional development.

We want to hear your views, both on CPD and more generally on our approach to professional standards, and there will be opportunities for you to contribute your thoughts and ideas over the coming weeks and months. We will also engage with consumers and consumer organisations and are particularly interested to understand what information or assurances they believe that members of the public need in order to have confidence that their barristers meet expected levels of professional standards. Do look out for opportunities to contribute.

You can read more about this aspect of our work in our Director of Regulatory Operations, Oliver Hanmer’s piece in the May edition of Counsel Magazine.

We have recently begun our review of our regulatory requirements for barristers in their early years of practice. Current rules place certain restrictions and requirements on barristers who are in their early year of practice. These include the requirement for new practitioners to have a “qualified person” to advise and support them in their first three years of practice; the “three year rule” which prevents new practitioners from going into sole practice in their first three years of practice; and the “New Practitioner Programme” (NPP), which is the CPD programme for new practitioners delivered by the Inns and Circuits.

At the BSB, we take a risk-based approach to regulation. Such an approach to regulation requires us to understand what risks arise in a barrister’s early years of practice; set clear outcomes for addressing those risks; and develop policies and rules that help us achieve those outcomes. 

In 2016, we published the Professional Statement for Barristers which sets the required competences that a practising barrister must meet on their first day of practice. Pupils now need to be signed off as meeting the threshold standard of competency within the Professional Statement before they are eligible for their first practising certificate. This means that all new practising barristers are certified as having met this minimum standard.

In last month’s Counsel magazine, Oliver Hanmer, the BSB’s Director of Regulatory Operations, wrote about the CPD programme for established practitioners moving away from a prescriptive approach to an outcomes focused approach to CPD in 2017. The current New Practitioners Programme, however, remains prescriptive and requires new practitioners to attend 45 hours of CPD training by the end of their first three years, with nine of those hours having to be spent on advocacy training and three hours on ethics training. As part of this review, we will be considering whether a separate CPD programme for new practitioners continues to be necessary and, if so, whether it should be more outcomes focused and in line with the CPD programme for established practitioners. We will also be reviewing the requirement for new practitioners to have a “qualified person” and the restrictions placed on new practitioners from entering sole practice in the first three years of practice.

We would very much welcome your views on what you think are the risks that arise in a barrister’s early years of practice and what support needs to be provided to address those risks.  Please do get in touch with us directly or keep an eye out for the round table discussions which we will be organising with stakeholders over the next couple of months on barristers’ early years of practice.  If you wish to get in touch with us directly to share your views or if you have any questions, please email [email protected].

The increase in remote hearings and working from home, alongside the greater use of technology to support changes in working, has led to an increase in risks to information security and client confidentiality. 

Core Duty 6 says that you must keep the affairs of each client confidential. From analysis of our latest Regulatory Return, we have observed a range of problems specific to individual barristers or chambers and there is a general issue around information security risks with more remote working and use of a wider range of technology.

To this end, we wanted to take this opportunity to remind you of the need to create “a secure virtual space” – to quote an article in Counsel Magazine from February 2021, reflecting on how you might maintain client confidentiality and changes in cyber-security needs arising from these changes. 

We encourage you also to read the useful information, which the Bar Council published in March and April 2020 on ”Data protection and security when working from home” and on “Videoconferencing software, data protection and confidentiality”. Very much linked to these issues, is the need to ensure compliance with GDPR and we would like to remind you that the Bar Council run an online course “Barristers, Chambers & GDPR: An Update”, the next of which is due to take place on 29 June 2021.

We launched a new webpage in February to provide updates for those applying for authorisation and/or exemptions and waivers from our rules about when they can expect to hear from us. 

We hope that you have found it to be a useful resource and encourage you to provide feedback to us so that we can continue to develop the page.

The page has been developed following an increase over the past few months in the number of enquiries received.

The page is intended to support you by providing guidance on when you can expect to hear from us regarding applications and other documentation submitted to us.

It will also advise you of any changes or anticipated delays to our service, so you will not need to contact us with queries about when your application will be processed.

Visit the webpage to view our current processing timetable and information relating to AETOs, Pupillage and Entity Regulation.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

I need to start this month with an important reminder about the transparency rules which came into force on 1 July 2019. As you all know, these rules are designed to improve the information available to the public about the areas of law in which barristers practise, the legal services they provide, what those services may cost, and a client's right to redress. Whether you practise from a chambers, a BSB entity or a sole practice, you must ensure that you comply by publishing the required information on your website (if you have one). If you do not have a website or the consumer does not have internet access you must have this information in a readily available format, such as a factsheet.

The Supervision Team is conducting a series of compliance checks and good progress has been made – the majority of chambers and sole practitioners are complying with the new rules and the team is always ready to help barristers and their chambers to ensure that compliance.  But it is now two years since these rules came in and where a chambers, BSB entity or sole practice is assessed as non-compliant and is not clearly working to ensure compliance, we do need to be clear that this will result in enforcement action.

On 6 July, we published a new statistical analysis of the outcomes of complaints made about barristers, and the likelihood of them being subject to a complaint, between January 2015 and October 2019. The way in which reports about barristers’ conduct are dealt with was changed significantly in October 2019, so an equivalent analysis will be undertaken again later this year to understand the effect of the new system after two years of its operation.

The aims of this research were to investigate the relationship between barrister characteristics - particularly gender and ethnicity - and the outcomes of complaints against barristers, and the likelihood of practising barristers being subject to a complaint during this period. You can read a summary of the findings from the analysis in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

On 1 July, the Legal Services Board (LSB), which monitors the performance of all the frontline legal services regulators, published their latest performance review of the BSB.

Their report was based on a review of three issues considered by the BSB Board in the period between April 2018 and March 2020, including a decision to stop funding the Legal Choices website with which the LSB disagreed. The report finds some improvements were needed to the way in which we took that decision in particular. The BSB Board has accepted the LSB’s findings in this respect, although it adheres to its decision to withdraw from Legal Choices and instead to pursue public legal education through partnerships with organisations which work with consumers facing legal difficulties. Our action plan includes a review of the Public Legal Education Strategy.

We are clear that we should aim continually to improve our governance, including our engagement with consumers of barristers’ services. Accordingly, we have commissioned our own independent review of our Board’s governance which will report later this month, and have drawn up our own comprehensive plan to refresh our governance for the decade ahead. That action plan takes full account of the LSB’s findings, but reflects the Board’s and senior management’s own assessment of where improvement is needed.

On 6 July, we published a new statistical analysis of the outcomes of complaints made about barristers, and the likelihood of them being subject to a complaint, between January 2015 and October 2019. The way in which reports about barristers’ conduct are dealt with was changed significantly in October 2019, so an equivalent analysis will be undertaken again later this year to understand the effect of the new system after two years of its operation.

The aims of this research were to investigate the relationship between barrister characteristics - particularly gender and ethnicity - and the outcomes of complaints against barristers, and the likelihood of practising barristers being subject to a complaint during this period.

During the period under analysis, we divided complaints into two categories: “internal complaints” (complaints raised by us based on information received from a wide variety of sources, including self-reports of potential professional misconduct; referrals from other departments within the BSB; referrals from other regulators; judicial criticisms; and public/media coverage of barristers’ behaviour) and “external complaints” (complaints raised by members of the public, legal professionals or other external sources, who wished to make a formal complaint about a barrister). 

The key findings from this analysis include:

• Male barristers subject to a complaint were found to be around 2.1 times more likely to have their case referred for disciplinary action compared with female barristers subject to a complaint;
• Male barristers were also found to be around 1.3 times more likely than female barristers to be subject to an “internal complaint”;
• There was not a statistically significant relationship between gender and whether cases were closed without investigation, or whether a barrister was subject to an “external complaint”. However, gender was close to being significant when looking at whether cases were closed without investigation, suggesting that there may be some association between being male and a lesser likelihood of a complaint being closed without investigation;
• Compared to White barristers, barristers from minority ethnic backgrounds were found to be around 1.7 times more likely to be subject to an “internal complaint” compared with White barristers;
• There was not a statistically significant relationship between ethnicity and whether cases were closed without investigation or referred to disciplinary action, or whether a barrister was subject to an “external complaint”. However, ethnicity was close to statistical significance when looking at whether cases were referred to disciplinary action, suggesting there may be some association between being from a minority ethnic background and a greater likelihood of a complaint being referred for disciplinary action; and
• Analysis of year-on-year trends of complaint outcomes and ethnicity suggests that while there were a greater proportion of complaints referred for disciplinary action for barristers from minority ethnic backgrounds in comparison to White barristers prior to 2017, from 2017 onwards there is no clear trend. This suggests that the association between ethnicity and the likelihood of an “internal complaint” being referred for disciplinary action may have become weaker from 2017 onwards.

We published similar research in 2016.

The recent report illustrates our commitment to transparency in the way in which we deal with reports about barristers’ conduct. Our decision-making is regularly reviewed to ensure that it is of a high quality and free from bias and it is essential that we keep monitoring these issues. Our decision-making processes have changed significantly since the period covered by this report   and later this year, we will be reviewing the impact of those changes on the outcomes for barristers with different diversity characteristics.

A summary of the research findings can be found on our website.

The full research findings can be found on our website.

The Bar Transparency Rules came into force on 1 July 2019. The rules are designed to improve the information available to the public before they engage the services of a barrister. Whether you practise from a chambers, a BSB entity or a sole practice, you must ensure that you comply by publishing the required information on your website (if you have one). You must have this information in a readily available format, such as a factsheet, to provide to consumers if you do not have a website or where, for example, the consumer does not have internet access.

We have published extensive guidance to assist you in complying with the Transparency Rules. If you are unsure about how to comply, please read this guidance, which includes:

• Guidance on the mandatory transparency rules for all self-employed barristers, chambers and BSB entities.

• Guidance on the additional transparency rules for those undertaking Public Access work.
• Checklists to help with compliance.
• Annexes that include lots of practical examples and templates in a range of areas of law, which you can adapt for your own use. These were developed with the help of practising barristers.

The Supervision Team is conducting a series of compliance checks and good progress has been made. The team is prepared to work with those engaging with them, to help them to achieve compliance with their obligations. But it is now two years since these rules came in and where a chambers, BSB entity or sole practice is assessed as non-compliant and has not engaged satisfactorily with the actions set to achieve compliance, it is likely to result in enforcement action.

Throughout May and June, the Authorisations Team focussed on applications received from Transferring Qualified Lawyers seeking admission to the Bar of England and Wales.

If you have applied for either an authorisation or exemption and waiver from the Bar Qualification Rules, then do visit our service update page for an expected date for decision.

The transitional arrangements for currently authorised PTO’s waiting for authorisation as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) are underway and we have contacted all these organisations inviting them to submit their applications to us by 31 August 2021. If you have any enquiries relating to AETOs please contact the team via email at [email protected]

The Authorisations Team would like to take this opportunity to remind you that pupillage “sign off” forms can be submitted a maximum of ten working days prior to the “sign off” date.  This is to enable us enough time to process the documentation and afford pupils’ time to apply for their Provisional Practising Certificate (PPC) or Practising Certificate (PC) in time for proposed court dates.

If you have any comments or suggestions about our service please email us.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

Since the last edition of Regulatory Update, we have published several research reports. The first concerns consumers’ expectations and experience of working with barristers. This is an important piece of research which will help us gain a deeper insight into the experience of barristers’ clients. It complements others’ recent studies about consumers’ experience in the legal services market, and will help inform our work in various areas, in particular the review of the Code of Conduct expected of barristers. You can read more about the findings of this research in the  online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

The second piece of recently published research shows trends of retention and the changing profile of the Bar over the last 30 years. It shows that retention at the Bar continues to improve, and that the proportions of female barristers and of minority ethnic barristers continue to rise. But we remain concerned that the data show that female barristers are far more likely to leave after the early stages of their career and that barristers from minority ethnic backgrounds are more likely to have difficulty in the early years to establish themselves professionally. We will continue to work with the profession to improve these trends.

During this period the Bar has been growing but also ageing. The number of practising barristers has grown every year from 9,541 barristers in 1990/91 to 17,351 in 2019/20, but the average age of practising barristers has risen from 38.5 years in 1990/91 to 46.5 in 2019/20. We are also concerned about the possible implications for future access to justice of this ageing of the profession brought about by strong retention and much lower recruitment to pupillage than in the 1990s. 

This, too, we expect, will be a major theme of our future work. You can read more about our “Trends in retention and demographics at the Bar” report in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

The third piece of research was our annual edition of the statistical information relating to student performance on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC). As this report has shown in previous years, training for the Bar remains highly competitive. This year’s edition also shows clearly the impact that the health emergency has had on both the proportion of students completing the BTPC in 2019-20 and on the proportion of BPTC graduates from the 2019-20 intake proceeding to pupillage. You can read more about this in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

On 29 July, we published our latest annual report summarising our activities during the 2020-21 business year – a period when the effects of the pandemic were felt in many aspects of our work. The report describes what we did in response to the national measures taken to respond to the health emergency including analysing the risks to the Regulatory Objectives, maintaining Bar training and enabling Bar students to progress their careers, and ensuring that we maintained our services and cared for the well-being of our people. You can read more about the 2020-21 BSB Annual Report in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

In September 2020, we issued a Regulatory Return to a selection of around 350 chambers, BSB entities and sole practitioners. In the Return, we asked a range of questions including views on the risks that the profession faces, information about the processes and controls in key areas of practice, and some questions on specific topics that are currently a priority in our strategic plan. You can read more about the Regulatory Return on our website.

We are very grateful for the huge effort that everyone has put into completing the Return at a very difficult time. It has provided us with a great deal of information of which we have already made very good use.

• Information that was submitted in relation to how the profession has responded to the pandemic, views on key risks faced by the profession and the changes that are expected in the wake of the health emergency, has been used to develop our thinking about the areas that we will be focussing on in our next three-year strategic plan on which we will be consulting later this year. We will be publishing a separate report on the profession’s response to the pandemic.
• We asked a number of questions to help provide an evidence base for various continuing projects, including in the areas of: bullying and harassment; competence of barristers; equality and diversity; the impact of the transparency rules; emerging technology; our review of the Code of Conduct; supervision of claims management activity; and supervision under the Money Laundering Regulations.

The Supervision Team is in the process of working through the questions about how risks are being managed, compliance with key areas of the BSB Handbook and how high standards of practice are maintained. We are giving individual feedback to chambers, entities and sole practitioners and this process will continue over the summer. If you have not heard from us yet, you will do soon. We will also publish a report on themes that emerge from this work.

If you have questions about the Regulatory Return, please email [email protected]

On 4 August, we published research on consumers’ expectations and experience of working with barristers. As an evidence-based regulator acting to protect and promote the interests of consumers, this new research helps us to gain an up-to-date understanding of what consumers expect from barristers and the findings here will inform our work in many areas.

The research was undertaken by IRN research, an independent research agency. It involved in-depth interviews with 50 consumers who had used the services of a barrister in the previous two years (therefore referred to as clients of barristers), followed by focus group discussions involving 12 participants with the aim of exploring issues raised in the interviews in more detail.

The research sample focused on both clients who had been referred to their barristers by a solicitor, and Public Access clients, who chose their barristers directly. Additionally, it included five in-depth interviews with consumer support organisations to provide additional insight into consumer needs and experiences within the legal system.

The research also includes views of clients in vulnerable circumstances and considered the impact of the health emergency on the expectations clients have of barristers providing services remotely.

The key findings from the research show that:

• very few clients are completely confident that they can deal with a legal matter when it first occurs. For most, it is a completely new experience, often stressful and with an uncertain outcome.
• many clients, who are referred by a solicitor to their barrister, are referred to just one barrister and have little or no involvement in this decision. While most clients feel that the referral to just one barrister did not impact on the usefulness of the advice given, the research indicated that there are opportunities to involve clients more in this early decision to select a barrister.

• at the start of their engagement with a barrister, most clients have little understanding of a barristers’ duties or how the relationship will work. The research suggests that most barristers are diligent in reassuring a client at an early stage, explaining how the legal process will work, and working in the best interests of the client.
• COVID-19 has led to some hearings being held virtually and these were a good experience for most participants. Reasons included that there was no need for travel or childcare logistics; and the hearing itself was less formal and less intimidating for participants, especially in contentious situations.
• Most clients were satisfied with the way their barrister dealt with the legal process. Key indicators of good service identified by clients included: professionalism; approachability; friendliness and empathy; experience and knowledge; and accessibility. However, the research also indicated that stress of the legal process itself can reduce dissatisfied clients’ motivation and willingness to complain – even if they were aware of where to direct their complaint.
• Many clients are unlikely to dwell too much on regulation and complaints procedures when they are starting a legal matter. When interviewees were asked what they understood regulation to involve, most associated regulation with a certain level of professional conduct and standards, plus the holding of appropriate legal qualifications.

This is an important piece of research which will help us gain a deeper insight into the experience of barristers’ clients. It complements others’ recent studies about consumers’ experience in the legal services market, and will help inform our work in various areas, in particular the review of the Code of Conduct expected of barristers.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel (LSCP) and Legal Services Board (LSB) regularly undertake research with legal consumers, including regular large-scale surveys in the LSCP Tracker Survey and the LSB Legal Needs Survey. This research complements this work by focussing solely on the Bar.

A summary of the research findings can be found on our website.

On 27 July, we published new research on trends of retention and the changing profile of the Bar over the last 30 years.

The report shows that, overall, retention at the Bar appears to have improved substantially on several measures, and the proportion of the Bar leaving practice and/or having time away from practice has not increased over the time period analysed. Additionally, the proportion of barristers leaving in the first 10 years of their career also appears to have decreased substantially, particularly when compared with those that started practising in the 1990s.

Although retention does appear to have improved, the research reveals a consistent trend of female barristers leaving practice indefinitely after the early stages of their career in greater proportions than male barristers. And although the size of the relative difference has slowly been decreasing over time, this difference between male and female barristers still exists. Over the 30 years covered by this research, the average age of female barristers leaving practice has increased by 11 years compared with 9 years for male barristers. In the first half of the 1990s the average age of female barristers that left practice indefinitely was around 37 and the figure was 48 for male barristers. For the 2014/15-2019/20 period the comparative figures were 48 for female barristers and 57 for male barristers.

Barristers from minority ethnic backgrounds were not found to be more likely to leave practice indefinitely than White barristers during the period analysed, but barristers from a minority ethnic background were found to be more likely to spend periods out of practice during the earlier stages of their career than White barristers. However, it should be noted that the term “minority ethnic background” encompasses a range of ethnicities for whom the statistics can look quite different once broken down.

The other key findings from this analysis include:

• The number of those undertaking pupillage has fallen significantly from a peak of 882 in 1992/93 to an average of 450 through much of the 2010s. These patterns may be related to changes in the regulation of pupillages, as it was not a requirement that pupillages were paid until 1 January 2003.
• From 1999/00 the proportion of pupils who were female has been around 50%. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds overall has increased by around five percentage points from 1990/91-2019/20, but with varying trends for ethnic groups within this broader category. The proportion of Black/Black British pupils over time has remained at around the same level, whilst the proportion of those from Asian/Asian British backgrounds and Mixed/Multiple ethnic group backgrounds has increased overall.
• There has been a big increase in the proportion of pupils who go on to practise for more than three years following pupillage. The proportion has doubled for those undertaking pupillages from 2000/01 onwards compared to the rate seen for those undertaking pupillages in much of the 1990s.
• The number of practising barristers has grown every year, although this growth has slowed since 2008/9; the Bar has grown from 9,541 barristers in 1990/91 to 17,351 in 2019/20. The proportion of practising barristers who are female and the proportion from a minority ethnic background has almost doubled during this period.
• The Bar is getting older, and its demographics may change significantly as older (and therefore more likely to be White and male) barristers retire. In 1990/91 about 13.1% of barristers were aged over 50. The comparative proportion in 2019/20 was 39.3%. The average age of practising barristers also increased substantially during the period, going from 38.5 years in 1990/91 to 46.5 in 2019/20.

The research was undertaken to address evidence gaps around how previous trends in recruitment into the Bar have influenced the current profile of the practising Bar, how the profile of practising barristers in each year has changed over time, and how patterns of retention at the Bar have changed over time. 

A summary of the research findings can be found on our website.

The full research findings can be found on our website.

On 15 July, we published the seventh and final annual edition of our statistical information relating to student performance on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC). As the report has shown in previous years, training for the Bar remains highly competitive.

The report includes information about students who enrolled in the 2019-20 academic year, in total and by provider, as well as those who enrolled on the BPTC in the preceding two academic years. It also provides information on demographics and results for those who enrolled on the BPTC between 2017-18 and 2019-20, and information on those seeking pupillage who graduated from the BPTC between 2015-16 and 2019-20. This provides a wider timeframe in which to see the proportion of graduates who began pupillage within five years of completing the course.

The health emergency had an impact on both the proportion of students completing the BTPC in 2019-20 and on the proportion of BPTC graduates from the 2019-20 intake proceeding to pupillage. Of students enrolling on the BPTC in 2019-20, 18% less completed the course in that year compared with the year before. Of UK/EU graduates from the course in 2019-20, only 10% began pupillage in 2020-21 compared to 23% of the 2018-19 cohort who began pupillage in 2019-20. This reflects the fall of 35% in pupillage places offered in the 2020 calendar year, which we reported earlier this year.

The other key findings from the report are:

• 1,685 students enrolled on the BPTC in 2019-20, a decrease of 68 students compared to 2018-19, but an increase of 66 over the number enrolled in 2017-18;
• almost half of students (46%) who enrolled on the BPTC in 2019-20 were overseas (non-UK/EU) domiciled, a similar proportion as in 2018-19 when they accounted for 47% of enrolled students;
• the percentage of female BPTC students has increased from 52.3 per cent in 2011-12 to 57.8 per cent in 2019-20;
• of the 95% who provided information on their ethnicity, the percentage of UK/EU domiciled students from a minority ethnic group was 35% in 2019-20. This was down by around five percentage points compared to 2018-19, around one percentage point compared to 2017-18, and was at the lowest level since 2015-16;
• of the UK/EU domiciled BPTC graduates, 39.5% of those who enrolled on the course from 2015 to 2019 had started pupillage by March 2021. This figure increases to around 49 per cent when looking at those enrolled from 2015 to 2018 only, as it can take time for more recent graduates to gain pupillage;
• of UK/EU-domiciled BPTC graduates who enrolled from 2015 to 2019 and went on to secure pupillage, 55% were female; and
• when controlling for first degree class and BPTC grade, UK/EU BPTC graduates from minority ethnic backgrounds who enrolled on the course from 2015 to 2019 were less likely to have commenced pupillage than those from white backgrounds. For example, of UK/EU domiciled BPTC graduates with an upper-second class degree and Very Competent overall BPTC grade, 41 per cent from White backgrounds had commenced pupillage, compared to around 23 per cent of those from a minority ethnic background with the same degree class/BPTC grade.

2019-20 was the last year of the old BPTC course and from next year, reporting will be undertaken on the new vocational training courses which began in 2020.

On 29 July, we published our latest Annual Report summarising our activities during the 2020-21 business year.

During the period covered in this Report, the effects of the pandemic were felt in many aspects of our work. The Annual Report describes what we did in response to the national measures taken to respond to the health emergency including analysing the risks to the Regulatory Objectives, maintaining Bar training and enabling Bar students to progress their careers, and ensuring that we maintained our services and cared for the well-being of our people.

Whilst some of our longer-term policy development work had to be delayed in 2020-21 owing to the effects of the pandemic, progress was made in a number of important areas. These included:

• reinvigorating efforts with the profession to promote equality and diversity at the Bar including the publication of an Anti-Racist Statement requiring action from all barristers’ practices;

• continuing work to tackle bullying, discrimination and harassment at the Bar; and

• issuing a Regulatory Return questionnaire to assess risk within barristers’ practices and to understand better the levels of compliance with our rules.

The report also describes the day-to-day tasks we undertake when regulating barristers and specialised legal businesses in England and Wales in the public interest. This work includes overseeing the education and training requirements for becoming a barrister, monitoring the standards of conduct of barristers, and assuring the public that everyone we authorise to practise is competent to do so. To demonstrate these aspects of our work, the report shows that:

• as of 31 March 2021, there were 17,123 registered barristers in England and Wales as well as 138 specialised legal services businesses we regulate;

• during 2020-21, 2,373 applications for waivers and exemptions from our rules were processed – a significant increase compared with the previous year; and

• during 2020-21, 20 barristers had a disciplinary finding against them of whom nine were suspended and four were disbarred.

Further information about out authorisations and enforcement work during the year will be made available in a separate report on our regulatory decision-making to be published in the autumn.

Read the full BSB Annual Report 2020-21 online.

We have also published a separate document alongside our Annual Report, the Cost Transparency Metrics for 2020-21, which seeks to summarise and explain our costs.

We are seeking to recruit five experts to join our Advisory Pool of Experts (APEX) to offer us advice and support as we develop and implement policy. Expertise is sought in the following areas: Consumer Affairs (two specialists – one with experience of vulnerable consumers and one with experience of small business consumers), Equality and Diversity, Quality Assurance / Professional Competence, and Regulatory Policy and Theory.

APEX offers a flexible way of contributing to important and interesting topics in our policy development at an early stage. APEX members are not employees of the Bar Standards Board but we recognise your input publicly and show your details on our website. You will be paid for your time. You will become part of a group of experts from a range of different specialisms, with regular opportunities to come together and learn from each other.

For more information on how to apply, please review the candidate pack. Candidates should provide a covering letter outlining how they meet the competencies required for the position(s), together with a CV, supporting details form and equality and diversity monitoring form (optional).

The candidate pack can be found on our website.

Please send completed applications to: [email protected]  Vacancies are open until 9.00am on Monday 16 August 2021.

Interviews will take place in London or via remote participation in the weeks commencing 20 and 27 September 2021.

We aim to recruit talented candidates and value diversity in background, skills and experience.  We are committed to providing equality of opportunity for all applicants.

Our Authorisations Team has prioritised academic waiver and exemption applications for Graduate Diploma in Law and Bar Course entry in September 2021.

If you have applied for either an authorisation, exemption, or waiver from the Bar Qualification Rules, then please do visit the Service Update page for an expected date for the outcome of your application.

We are preparing for one of our busiest periods of the year, with September and October being the deadline for Pupillage registration and completion (“sign off”).

We would like to remind you that Pupillage sign off forms can be submitted a maximum of ten working days prior to the end of the non-practising or practising periods of pupillage. This ensures we have sufficient time to process the documentation and to allow Pupils time to apply for their Provisional Practising Certificate (PPC) or Practising Certificate (PC) in advance of any proposed court appearances. Don’t forget to include Pupils’ Advocacy Course dates on your pupillage forms

Information about our pupillage processes is available on our our website

The transitional arrangements for currently authorised Pupillage Training Organisations (PTOs) waiting for authorisation as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) are underway. If you have any enquiries relating to AETOs please contact the Authorisations Manager

If you have any comments or suggestions about our service, please email us.

We welcomee the response published last month by the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service (BTAS) following its first consultation regarding the review of the Sanctions Guidance. 

We look forward to the second consultation in September on the proposed revised Sanctions Guidance. 

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

On 13 September, in association with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and CILEx Regulation, we published new guidance for barristers, solicitors, and CILEx Advocates working in the Coroners’ Courts. This includes a set of competences which set the standards expected of lawyers by the regulators and the public, and guidance and other resources to help make sure that the standards are met.

The new guidelines have been introduced in response to concerns about the standards of practice among some lawyers in the Coroner’s Court in particular, issues about the adversarial approach adopted by some lawyers, and reports from the charity INQUEST on the experience of bereaved families in Coroner’s Court cases. You can read more about the new guidelines in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

On 2 September, we launched a consultation paper outlining three possible options for the future of the Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT) as a prerequisite for students enrolling on a Bar training course. We also published an evaluation of the performance of the BCAT over time which has prompted us to review whether it continues to be necessary. If you have views on the BCAT, please respond to the consultation by 31 October. You can read more about this in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

The Bar Tribunal and Adjudication Service (BTAS) also launched a consultation this month – the second in their continuing review of the Sanctions Guidance used by Disciplinary Tribunals in deciding what sanctions to impose in cases of proven professional misconduct by barristers. We very much welcome this review and urge everyone with a view to respond to the BTAS consultation which you can find on the BTAS website.

Last month, we announced that the Professional Ethics exam (to be taken place during pupillage from next year) will in 2022 only, take place in April with further sittings in July and October. This means there will be no January sitting. You can read more about this in the online version of Regulatory Update.

On 13 September, the Bar Standards Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and CILEx Regulation published new guidance designed to ensure standards for solicitors, barristers and CILEX Advocates working in the Coroners’ Courts. This includes:

• a set of competences which spell out the standards expected of lawyers by the regulators and the public; and
• guidance and other resources to help make sure that the standards are met.

The new guidelines have been introduced in response to concerns about the standards of practice among some lawyers in the Coroner’s Court. In particular, issues about the adversarial approach adopted by some lawyers, and reports from the charity INQUEST on the experience of bereaved families in Coroner’s Court cases.

The competences complement the existing wider professional competency statements from regulators and set targeted expectations for lawyers working in the Coroner’s Court. The competences cover:

• law and procedure;
• dealing with vulnerability;
• communication and engagement; and
• raising awareness of key organisations.

Speaking about the new competences, the Chief Coroner for England and Wales, HHJ Teague QC, said: “It is important that the competencies for lawyers practising in inquests are met. They are important for effective advocacy and reflect the particular and unique challenges lawyers face in inquests. Also, since they helped develop them, coroners will be vigilant in ensuring those before them are meeting the expected standards.”

Coroners will be encouraged to address practice that falls short of these competences either during the hearing itself or through raising their concerns with the relevant regulator.

In developing the resources, we have worked closely with the Chief and Deputy Chief Coroners, practitioners, the Ministry of Justice, and bereaved families. We will also continue to work with these groups to evaluate the impact of the new guidelines and ensure that they are addressing the concerns identified.

For more information and to read the new guidelines, please visit: https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/coroners-court or: https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/for-barristers/resources-for-the-bar/resources-for-practising-in-the-coroners-courts.html

We are aware that a group of immigration barristers is seeking to give pro bono assistance to Afghan nationals, who may be in need of urgent advice about seeking asylum in the UK. In such circumstances, it may not be possible to satisfy the normal requirement in the BSB Handbook for the terms of any instructions to be set out in writing and sent to the client in advance. We want to enable barristers to help those in urgent need. Barristers in this situation should seek to ensure the client understands the nature of the service being provided and that a record is kept of how they have done that and why it was not possible to send a letter. They should also consider following up in writing if and when that is feasible.

Following a recent ransomware incident at a barrister’s chambers and phishing scams which impacted upon solicitors, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is encouraging as many people as possible to sign up to for their Early Warning Scheme. Early Warning is a free NCSC service designed to inform organisations of potential cyber-attacks on their network, as soon as possible. The service uses a variety of information feeds from the NCSC, trusted public, commercial and closed sources, which includes several privileged feeds which are not available elsewhere. More information can be found on the NCSC website. Other relevant information on how to defend against malware and ransomware attacks can be found online. The Bar Council has also produced useful information.

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Do you have views on the Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT)? In a consultation paper published on 2 September, we outline three possible options for the future of the BCAT as a prerequisite for students enrolling on a Bar training course.

Alongside the consultation paper, we also published an evaluation of the performance of the BCAT over time which has prompted us to review whether the BCAT continues to be necessary. 

The BCAT was introduced in 2013 as the number of students failing the vocational component of the Bar training was high; too many students who had little prospect of successfully completing a Bar training course were being enrolled. This was also having a detrimental impact on the learning experience of their peers and the ability of lecturers to teach the course. The BCAT was introduced to mitigate this risk by “filtering” for aptitude and preventing students who did not have the ability to succeed from enrolling on a Bar training course. Our evaluation of the BCAT suggests, however, that it is not operating as an effective filter. We are also aware that Bar training providers have introduced more effective entry checks since the BCAT was launched.

The three options which Bar students and other interested stakeholders are asked to consider in this consultation are:

• Option 1: Retain the BCAT in its current form as a prerequisite for all students enrolling on a Bar training course;
• Option 2: Retain BCAT as a prerequisite for all students enrolling on a Bar training course but amend it so that it is a more effective filter; and
• Option 3: Withdraw the BCAT as a prerequisite for students enrolling on a Bar training course.

The consultation asks respondents to consider the equality impacts of each option on those with different protected characteristics and/or those from disadvantaged or underrepresented groups, or those who are neuro divergent. It also asks respondents to consider whether there are any further options which have not been considered as part of this consultation. The views received in response to this consultation will help us to decide the future of the BCAT.

Please respond to this consultation by emailing [email protected] by the closing date of 31 October 2021. A response form is available on our website.

We expect to announce a decision about the future of BCAT after this consultation has closed and the responses have been analysed. This means a decision is likely to be made around February/March 2022. Until a final decision has been made on the BCAT and a timeline set out for the implementation of that decision, it remains a requirement for entry onto a Bar training course. we will communicate our decision clearly to everyone concerned and provide clear instructions for those intending to apply for a Bar training course from 2022.

The new Bar training rules require that those who commenced training for the Bar from 2020 take a BSB exam in Professional Ethics if, after their vocational training, they then go on to pupillage.   

As previously announced, the exam to be taken during pupillage will normally take place in January (with further sittings available in April and July), but in 2022 we have decided that the first of these exams will take place in April (with further sittings in July and October). 

This will allow any registered pupils who wish to do so to take advantage of study materials which the Inns of Court College of Advocacy intend to make available in February 2022 via their Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), at no cost to pupils. The use of these materials will not be mandatory - and they have been prepared independently of us –but we recognise that pupils may wish to take advantage of their availability (or any support which may be offered by other organisations) before sitting their exam.

Further information about the new Professional Ethics exam is available on our website.

The final changes arising from our review of the curriculum for the pupillage component of Bar training and how it is assessed relate to the current advocacy course and the introduction of a new negotiation skills course. We will provide outcomes for these courses, which must be met in order for pupils to complete the non-practising period of pupillage. Work in these areas was put on hold due to the impact of the pandemic. We expect that the new courses will therefore be introduced for pupils commencing on or after 1 September 2023. Meanwhile, pupils should continue to attend the advocacy training currently provided.

The Ministry of Justice recently launched a Call for Evidence on Dispute Resolution to find the best ways to help people resolve disputes outside of the courtroom.

This is the first step to understanding more about the current dispute resolution landscape and to consider where there may be areas for improvement across the civil, family and tribunals jurisdictions.

The Call for Evidence will run for eight weeks until 30 September and they are seeking input from a wide range of interested parties to help build their knowledge and inform their next steps. 

For any questions related to the Call for Evidence, please contact the Dispute Resolution Project Team: [email protected].

The team are working on pupillage administration (including registration and sign off) and applications for waivers and exemptions relating to the work-based learning component (pupillage).  

If you have applied for either an authorisation, exemption, or waiver from the Bar Qualification Rules, then do visit the Service Update page for an expected date for the outcome of your application. 

We would like to remind you that Pupillage sign off forms can be submitted a maximum of ten working days prior to the end of the non-practising or practising periods of pupillage. This ensures we have sufficient time to process the documentation and to allow Pupils time to apply for their Provisional Practising Certificate (PPC) or Practising Certificate (PC) in advance of any proposed court appearances. Don’t forget to include Pupils’ Advocacy Course dates on your pupillage forms 

Information about our pupillage processes is available on our website. 

The transitional arrangements for currently authorised PTOs waiting for authorisation as AETOs are underway. If you have any enquiries relating to AETOs please contact the Authorisations Manager.

If you are not sure whether you are remain authorised as PTO or need to apply as an AETO please contact us via email at [email protected]

If you have any comments or suggestions about our service, please email us.  

The Bar Standards Board is responsible for setting the education and training requirements for becoming a barrister. We are recruiting Subject Specialist External Examiners to ensure that the common assessment criteria for the vocational component of Bar training specified in our Curriculum and Assessment Strategy are met. Barristers play a vital role in the administration of justice. They must demonstrate a high standard of professional practice to justify the trust placed in them by the public and other professionals.

We are recruiting the following roles commencing in November 2021, to join our current teams of External Examiners:

• 2 Subject Specialist External Examiners in Advocacy,
• 1 Subject Lead External Examiner in Drafting, and
• 5 to form a ‘reserve’ pool across all subject areas.

Subject Specialist External Examiners act on behalf of the Bar Standards Board (“BSB”) in monitoring the consistency of standards of assessments set by the organisations that we authorise to provide the vocational component of Bar training (Authorised Education and Training Organisations or “AETOs”) in their specialist subject area. These are:

1. Advocacy
2. Professional Ethics
3. Opinion Writing and Legal Research
4. Drafting
5. Conference Skills

External Examiners must be competent in the relevant subject area and be familiar with quality assurance practices established in UK Higher Education. They must demonstrate integrity, impartiality and independence.

Subject Lead External Examiners co-ordinate the work of the Subject Specialist External Examiners to provide an interim and annual written report to the BSB and to the AETO course leaders, upon whether or not:

• the assessment process measures student achievement rigorously and fairly in line with the Curriculum and Assessment Strategy; and
• the standards and the achievements of students are consistent between AETOs.

They also report any urgent concerns as they arise.

A current list of AETOs is available on our website. External Examiners review assessments in their subject areas across a range of AETO locations but will not be required to visit them to do so. Our External Examiners are no longer be required to visit AETOs to assess student experience. Some travel may be required to attend Extenuating Circumstance and Final Boards, but these can be attended remotely.

An indication of fees and time commitment for each role and subject area is shown in the Candidate Brief.  External Examiners will enter into a consultancy agreement for services with the BSB and will not be employed by the BSB. Reasonable expenses can be claimed in line with the BSB’s expenses policy.

To express an interest in one or more of these roles please send a CV and brief covering letter stating how you think you meet the requirements of the role to [email protected] by 1 October 2021. Please ensure that you specify the role(s) you are applying for.

Interviews are likely to be held online and are scheduled to take place in the week commencing 18 October 2021.

We aim to recruit talented candidates and value diversity in background, skills and experience. We are committed to providing equality of opportunity for all applicants.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

Earlier this week, we launched a consultation on our strategy for 2022-25.This latest strategy review looks at the new challenges which the Bar faces as a result of the health emergency, and especially the growing use of technology.

It also looks at the need for us to work with both individuals and chambers to promote high standards and inclusivity. To encourage responses we have made our consultation document as brief as possible and we would welcome your views on the opportunities and challenges we highlight. We would like to know what you think we need to do to deliver our regulatory objectives.

We would like to know whether you agree that our vision for the BSB (we will ensure that the Bar and the BSB deliver diversity and high standards, and promote the public interest) is the right one and what you think we need to do to deliver our regulatory objectives and reinforce our identity as an independent regulator. You can read more about our new strategy in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

We have also recently announced that we will be moving to the next phase of our work to ensure that all barristers’ practices comply with the Bar transparency rules. Whilst most practices are complying, a minority remain non-compliant over two years after the rules came into force. We will continue regularly to check compliance with the rules and to provide support and guidance and those who are falling short must now comply or will be subject to enforcement action.

This follows publication of a new report on the impact of the transparency rules on the profession. You can read more about the report and our change in approach to non-compliance in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update. You can read more about the transparency rules themselves and what you need to do to comply on our website.

On the subject of ensuring that your practice complies with our rules, this month’s online Regulatory Update contains helpful information about our requirement that all organisations wishing to offer pupillage apply to us to become Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs). Authorisation is a one-off process and provides real benefits for pupils, pupil supervisors and AETOs themselves. Our online article contains strong endorsements from chambers which have already been through the process. These demonstrate how beneficial it is to become an AETO and to ensure that your pupils receive the standard of training they are expecting and entitled to receive. If you have yet to begin your authorisation application, I urge you please to do so by getting in touch with us as soon as possible.

In this month’s online Regulatory Update, you can also find the latest update and guidance for the legal profession from the National Cyber Security Centre. This is an important topic for all of us to be alert to, so please do read the information in their update.

For those with an interest in our rules and requirements relating to barristers’ early years of practice, we are holding the last of our online round table events on 18 October. You can read more about these rules in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update as well as finding out how to join us at our event.

Finally, please do not forget that 1-5 November is Pro Bono Week which provides an opportunity to support and celebrate the excellent work of all those who give free legal help to those in need. This year is the 20^th anniversary of the Week.  For details of events that week, which include a launch event on 1 November and a panel debate featuring Lady Hale and Helena Kennedy QC on 2 November, go to www.probonoweek.org.uk

We have launched a consultation on our Strategy for 2022-25.

At the Bar Standards Board we review our strategy for delivering our Regulatory Objectives every three years. This is a good discipline because it enables us to step back and engage with our stakeholders on the risks and opportunities confronting the profession and on how we should respond.

This latest strategy review is timely because it comes in the wake of the health emergency which has created new challenges for the Bar in meeting the needs of consumers and in sustaining the rule of law. Alongside the important continuing challenges of promoting diversity and sustaining high standards, the profession must now adapt to the growing use of technology in the delivery of its services to consumers and in its own working practices. These challenges would be demanding for any profession to absorb but are especially taxing for a decentralised and largely self-employed profession like the Bar. It underlines one of the central themes of our consultation: the need for us to work with both individuals and chambers to promote both high standards and inclusivity.

To encourage responses we have sought to set out our initial thoughts about our new strategy as briefly as possible and we would welcome your views on the opportunities and challenges we highlight in the overview document (including any positive or negative impact on particular groups in order to inform our equality impact assessment). That is not all we are seeking, however. We have also sought to re-frame a vision for ourselves as your regulator. We should like to know whether that vision – we will ensure that the Bar and the BSB deliver diversity and high standards, and promote the public interest – captures what should guide us in all our work.

And we have also taken the opportunity of our review of strategy to look hard at the capabilities we will need in the new decade if it is to be effective in realising our vision and in delivering our regulatory objectives. We very much welcome your observations on our evolution, and how we can reinforce our identity as an independent regulator.

Please let us know what you think via by 5pm on 10 December 2021. We are eager to engage with you on our future priorities.

We are moving to the next phase of our work to ensure that all barristers’ practices comply with the Bar transparency rules which came into force in July 2019. (Barristers’ practices had until January 2020 to comply with them.) We will continue regularly to check compliance with the rules and to provide support and guidance on compliance. Most barristers’ practices are now complying with the rules - but those who are falling short must now become compliant or be subject to enforcement action.

The Bar transparency rules are designed to improve the information available to the public before they engage the services of a barrister and to help them find the information they need to make informed decisions about barristers’ services. The rules require all self-employed barristers, chambers and BSB-regulated entities to publish specified information about their services, including which types of legal service they provide, their most commonly used pricing models (such as fixed fee or hourly rate) and details of their clients' rights of redress. Public Access barristers providing certain types of services are also required to publish additional price and service information.

The move follows publication of a new report on the impact of the new rules on the profession. While most barristers’ practices have complied with the rules, the report reveals that compliance testing in 2020 and 2021 (which is ongoing) has revealed that there is still a significant minority who were not fully compliant with the rules. They have been informed what steps they need to take to become fully compliant and are being monitored by the BSB’s Supervision Team. Since the rules were introduced in 2019, we have taken a guiding and supportive approach to enable practices to comply, but today’s announcement signals a switch to a tougher stance, with enforcement action being taken in cases where practices continue to fail to meet the transparency requirements in material respects. 

The report contains information from:

• an initial spot check of compliance with the full set of transparency rules undertaken in January 2020 and the continuing checks and follow up work completed since then;
• web sweeps of chambers’ websites undertaken in 2017, 2019 and 2020 which looked at the levels of price information available; and
• analysis in 2021 of the responses received from the profession in the latest Regulatory Return which included specific questions about the transparency reforms, asking what action organisations had taken in response to the reforms, and what impact they had noticed to date.

The evaluation shows that many chambers, barristers, and BSB-regulated entities recognise the business benefits which greater transparency about their prices can bring.

Despite the health emergency and its impact on the Bar, we recognise those in the profession who have made every effort to comply with the new transparency rules. Whilst the majority of practices are complying – and many are already seeing the benefits of doing so – a significant minority remain non-compliant. This is unacceptable - the profession has had ample time to comply with these rules, which are designed to improve the information available to the public. It is therefore right that our approach to non-compliance changes and we will take enforcement action where necessary to ensure compliance.

We will be publishing a separate report on the impact of the new rules on consumers at a later date.

The report on the impact of the rules on the profession is available on our website. and you can read more about the transparency rules themselves and what you need to do to comply online.

The Authorisation Framework sets out the standards that organisations must meet in order to provide education and training for the Bar. It is the means by which we ensure that training for the Bar is of a high standard and that it meets the needs of pupils, the legal profession and the consumers of legal services. Education and training for the Bar must prepare pupils to satisfy the requirements of the Professional Statement, which prescribes the knowledge, skills and attributes that all barristers will have on “day one” of practice.

For organisations wanting to provide pupillage (including those who were previously referred to as “Pupillage Training Organisations”), authorisation as an Authorised Education and Training Organisation (AETO) is a one-off process.

Once authorised, you will be free to provide pupillage in the ways prescribed in the Authorisation Framework although you will be held to account by our Supervision team, particularly where we receive reports of poor standards.

We are keen to stress that we are increasingly finding that where instances of poor standards are reported to us by pupils, the chambers have not yet completed their AETO application process. So, starting and completing the process is an important step to make sure that your pupils receive the standard of training they are expecting and entitled to. 

To provide an example from one of our recent Supervision visits, we found that training was completely unstructured and there was no evidence that pupils and their supervisors were considering the competences in the Professional Statement. Nothing was documented and pupils told us that there was no clarity about what they could expect in terms of progression during pupillage and exposure to an appropriate range of work. Our discussion with the chambers focussed on relevant criteria in the Authorisation Framework in order to help both the chambers, pupil supervisors, and, of course, the pupils themselves.

From 31 March 2022, only organisations authorised as AETOs may provide pupillage. In this way, we aim to make sure that everyone benefits from the structure and clarity outlined in the Authorisation Framework. If you have not already started your AETO application, please do so now. You can talk to us informally about the process by contacting the Authorisations Manager.

We realise that becoming an AETO might initially seem daunting, but we are here to help you and really do believe that the process of benefit to you as an organisation. And it is not just us saying this either! Here is a sample of just some of the feedback we have received from those who have already gone through the process:

“At first, the process of becoming an AETO seemed daunting, with copious amounts of material to read and absorb. However, I am immensely gratefully to the authorisation team who were tremendous in their support and provided great guidance and advice throughout the process, certainly lightening the load. At the end of it, I felt well-placed to proceed with the business of providing Pupillage as the copious reading of the authorisation framework enabled me to focus on providing top level Pupillage in accordance with the framework. I have no doubt that I am better placed as a pupil supervisor and indeed Head of Chambers for going through the process!"

Dwain Coward – Phoenix Chambers

“Chambers sees the recruitment and training of pupils as essential to the future of the Bar, particularly those in publicly funded sets. It is vital that we continue to attract pupils of the highest calibre to sets such as ours. Without them there will be no such future. We are therefore dedicated to offering the best possible training that we can and the AETO application process will enable us to do that going forward.

The AETO process means that we take a very close look at every aspect of Pupillage Recruitment – from how we advertise, where we advertise, how we can become more diverse, where we may not be meeting our diversity aims, through to completely re-writing our Training Programme for new pupils, so that every pupil receives the highest standard of training and gains experience in every area of law in which Chambers specialises.

This will mean that when it comes to Tenancy applications they will have met all of the competencies in the Professional Statement as well as the exercises set by their Supervisors and our Advocacy Training Team. They will therefore be more than ready to make an application and with the confidence of having a very high standard of training behind them.

The process has encouraged more of our experienced practitioners to become Pupil Supervisors, giving our pupils even greater flexibility in seeing different advocacy styles and types of cases.

This is by no means an easy or quick application process. But it means that Chambers examines all aspects of their procedures and policies that relate directly or indirectly to pupils, to allow us to give pupils the best possible experience and for each pupil to be fully aware of how their training will develop and how their career path may be planned, if they join us.

Those Chambers who already offer pupillage will find that much of what is required is probably already in place. But the AETO process requires that every area, from drafting the first advertisement to the very end of pupillage, then to tenancy application is fully examined, in many areas expanded upon and that it is all fully documented.

It means Chambers examines in detail how we meet the requirements of the four main aspects of the AETO processes, namely Flexibility, Accessibility, Affordability and High Standards. Whilst we may think that we already do so, this process makes Chambers reconsider those areas very carefully and to take steps to really understand what is required to fulfil the requirements of such important criteria.

We have learned an enormous amount from this process and we are busy putting what we have learned into practice.

We currently have pupils with us who will most certainly benefit from the many new ideas and training possibilities that we have learned and will use in our newly developed bespoke Training Programme.

Becoming a successful AETO will mean that we are a Chambers to which pupils can apply with confidence, knowing that we meet the rigorous standards set by the BSB, the Professional Statement, the Bar Qualifications Manual and the Authorisation Framework. We have worked with and been guided by all of them to ensure we get this right.

Chambers has been greatly assisted by the Authorisations Team at the BSB and their support has made the process a great deal easier. They are very approachable, even when you think the question may seem trivial. If you are concerned about how you will deal with the process, you can rely on having their support whilst you develop your application.” 

Christine Eadie - Chambers of S.Azhar & J.Mole at 9 Kings Bench Walk

You will no doubt be aware of the ransomware threat currently faced by UK organisations. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) aims to provide advice and guidance and services to help improve the cyber security resilience of organisations in the UK. To help mitigate the threat of ransomware they would recommend that your organisation take the following steps:

Sign up to their Early Warning service.

This free NCSC service uses a range of information feeds to notify organisations of cyber incidents, malicious activity and web-based vulnerabilities on your public facing domains and IP ranges. Signing up also ensures that NCSC can contact organisations quickly in case of an incident. More information is on their website at https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/early-warning-service?referrer=ES303.

      Read this guidance: ‘Mitigating malware and ransomware.’

 The NCSC urges all organisations to read and follow their guidance on mitigating malware and ransomware. This advice was updated in March 2021 and details a number of steps organisations can take to disrupt ransomware attack vectors and enable effective recovery from ransomware attacks. This includes a wide arrange of actions that you can take to minimise the impact of a ransomware attack. They appreciate that acting on all the recommendations could be an involved operation, so if you want to do something right now, they recommend that you consider the steps below in the first instance.

Back up your key data         

What would you do if your business files were lost to ransomware? To get back up and running the NCSC recommend Offline Backups, this will enable quick restoration of business functions. Good backups make getting back to business quicker with less long-term impact. In addition to encrypting files on your computers, ransomware attackers will often attempt to corrupt or alter existing backups. Offline backups are your best defence and will mean encrypted devices can be wiped and restored from Offline backups.

Offline backups (cloud or disconnect physical media) are when the data can be protected from accidental or malicious deletion, they also should offer version retrieval. If you lose access to your files due to ransomware you should protect against this by recovering from an earlier version if a backup has been completed since the attack and preventing deletion of backups.

The NCSC recommend that you follow the blog on offline backups https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/offline-backups-in-an-online-world

Disable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) – where possible….

RDP account compromise is the source of 50% of ransomware attacks. Where possible the NCSC suggest you turn off RDP. In order to do that you need to understand if you have it. NCSC’s Early Warning service will help you know and provide many other benefits. If you identify RDP and didn't know it was on, turn it off.

If you have to use RDP the NCSC recommend using Multi-Factor Authentication and following the guidance https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/multi-factor-authentication-online-services. Make sure you follow the principles of Privileged Access Management (PAM)" )" https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/protecting-system-administration-with-pam & https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/connected-places-security-principles/managing-your-connected-place/managing-your-connected-places-privileges

Make sure that the accounts that are allowed to use it have unique passwords - try #3randomwords https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/three-random-words-or-thinkrandom-0?referrer=ES303

Sign up for Exercise in a box

We recommend signing up for the NCSC’s free exercising tool and have a look in particular at the Ransomware and Supply Chain exercises. https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/exercise-in-a-box?referrer=ES303

If you would like to keep informed of relevant products and services from NCSC please subscribe to our small organisation newsletter here: https://ncsc-production.microsoftcrmportals.com/SME_News/

For more information please see their web page www.ncsc.gov.uk or get in touch

You will no doubt be aware of the ransomware threat currently faced by UK organisations. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) aims to provide advice and guidance and services to help improve the cyber security resilience of organisations in the UK. To help mitigate the threat of ransomware they would recommend that your organisation take the following steps:

Sign up to their Early Warning service.

This free NCSC service uses a range of information feeds to notify organisations of cyber incidents, malicious activity and web-based vulnerabilities on your public facing domains and IP ranges. Signing up also ensures that NCSC can contact organisations quickly in case of an incident. More information is on their website at https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/early-warning-service?referrer=ES303.

      Read this guidance: ‘Mitigating malware and ransomware.’

 The NCSC urges all organisations to read and follow their guidance on mitigating malware and ransomware. This advice was updated in March 2021 and details a number of steps organisations can take to disrupt ransomware attack vectors and enable effective recovery from ransomware attacks. This includes a wide arrange of actions that you can take to minimise the impact of a ransomware attack. They appreciate that acting on all the recommendations could be an involved operation, so if you want to do something right now, they recommend that you consider the steps below in the first instance.

Back up your key data         

What would you do if your business files were lost to ransomware? To get back up and running the NCSC recommend Offline Backups, this will enable quick restoration of business functions. Good backups make getting back to business quicker with less long-term impact. In addition to encrypting files on your computers, ransomware attackers will often attempt to corrupt or alter existing backups. Offline backups are your best defence and will mean encrypted devices can be wiped and restored from Offline backups.

Offline backups (cloud or disconnect physical media) are when the data can be protected from accidental or malicious deletion, they also should offer version retrieval. If you lose access to your files due to ransomware you should protect against this by recovering from an earlier version if a backup has been completed since the attack and preventing deletion of backups.

The NCSC recommend that you follow the blog on offline backups https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/offline-backups-in-an-online-world

Disable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) – where possible….

RDP account compromise is the source of 50% of ransomware attacks. Where possible the NCSC suggest you turn off RDP. In order to do that you need to understand if you have it. NCSC’s Early Warning service will help you know and provide many other benefits. If you identify RDP and didn't know it was on, turn it off.

If you have to use RDP the NCSC recommend using Multi-Factor Authentication and following the guidance https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/multi-factor-authentication-online-services. Make sure you follow the principles of Privileged Access Management (PAM)" )" https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/protecting-system-administration-with-pam & https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/connected-places-security-principles/managing-your-connected-place/managing-your-connected-places-privileges

Make sure that the accounts that are allowed to use it have unique passwords - try #3randomwords https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/three-random-words-or-thinkrandom-0?referrer=ES303

Sign up for Exercise in a box

We recommend signing up for the NCSC’s free exercising tool and have a look in particular at the Ransomware and Supply Chain exercises. https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/exercise-in-a-box?referrer=ES303

If you would like to keep informed of relevant products and services from NCSC please subscribe to our small organisation newsletter here: https://ncsc-production.microsoftcrmportals.com/SME_News/

For more information please see their web page www.ncsc.gov.uk or get in touch.

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

We are seeking to recruit a new lay Board member.

The successful applicant will work with others on the Board to govern and oversee the regulator's work. There are currently eleven positions for members of the Board – six lay members, including the Chair, and five practising barrister members, of whom one is the Vice Chair. 

Our Board seeks applications for the current vacancy from a wide variety of backgrounds. We would particularly welcome applications from those with expertise of consumer affairs and from those with diverse backgrounds, who would complement the skills and experience of our current Board members.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

More information about the vacancies and the application process can be found at: https://bsb-appointments.com/

In September, we appointed 13 new members to its Independent Decision-making Body (IDB).

The IDB makes certain decisions on how we should proceed if a barrister appears to have broken the rules in the BSB Handbook. It also hears appeals against the regulator’s authorisation decisions. The IDB is made up of 32 decision makers, 13 of whom are barristers and 19 of whom are members of the public who are not solicitors or barristers.

Decisions about individual cases are made by small panels of three or five decision makers. This ensures that decisions can be made efficiently and swiftly. Panels always include both barrister and lay members and always include more lay members than barristers.

The new appointees to the Independent Decision-making Body are as follows:

Lay Members:

Vice Chair – Rohan Sivanandan

Jacqui Adams

Polly Clarke

Kevin Gould

Lesley Horton

Mark Stobbs

Karen Townsend

Judith Worthington

Barrister Members:

Alice Dobbie

Emma Louise Fenelon

Claire Lindley

Sheleen McCormack

Martin Sleight

The transitional arrangements for currently authorised Pupillage Training Organisations (PTOs) waiting for authorisation as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) are underway. With 268 PTOs in the process of being transitioned during September and more to follow this month.

If you have any enquiries relating to AETOs or need support with the transitional process please contact the Authorisations Manager.  

If you are not sure whether you remain authorised as PTO or need to apply as an AETO please contact us via email at [email protected].

The team continue to concentrate on pupillage administration (including registration and sign off) and applications for waivers and exemptions relating to the work-based learning component (pupillage).  

We would like to remind you that Pupillage sign off forms can be submitted a maximum of ten working days prior to the end of the non-practising or practising periods of pupillage. This ensures we have sufficient time to process the documentation and to allow Pupils time to apply for their Provisional Practising Certificate (PPC) or Practising Certificate (PC) in advance of any proposed court appearances. Don’t forget to include Pupils’ Advocacy Course dates on your pupillage forms 

More information about our pupillage processes is available on our website. 

If you have applied for either an authorisation, exemption, or waiver from the Bar Qualification Rules, then do visit the Service Update page for an expected date for the outcome of your application. 

If you have any comments or suggestions about our service, please email us.  

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

With the end of the year fast approaching, now is a good time to make sure you are on track to comply with your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements. If you are on the Established Practitioner Programme (EPP), this means that you should be recording and reflecting on the CPD activities you have undertaken this year in accordance with your written CPD Plan in which you should have set out your learning objectives for the year. In doing so, you may wish to seek feedback from colleagues, Judges, instructing solicitors and other chambers’ professionals.  As you will know, you will need to declare that you complied with your CPD requirements during 2021 when you renew your practising certificate in the first quarter of next year. You can read more about the EPP scheme on our website. If you have held a practising certificate for less than three years, then you need to complete CPD in accordance with the rules of the New Practitioner Programme (NPP). Details of the NPP scheme can be found on our website. 

Whichever CPD scheme you are on, if you practise in the Coroners’ Court, you will want to consider how the guidance and competences which we published in September with the other legal regulators might affect your development needs and therefore your CPD learning objectives. As a reminder, you can find out more about these new guidelines on our website. 

In October, we published our annual Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Report. It contains information about the work we do as a regulator in this area, including how we encourage the reporting of actual or potential breaches and the measures we have carried out to monitor, and enforce, compliance with the regulations. This report provides an opportunity for us to share with you the work we are doing to prevent the Bar becoming involved in money laundering and what you can do to support that.

In last month’s Regulatory Update, I wrote about our proposed strategy for 2022-25. Our consultation seeking views on the new strategy is open until 10 December and, if you have not responded yet, we would still very much like to hear from you.

Finally, I’d like to thank all those of you who responded to our consultation on the future of the Bar Course Aptitude Test. We are carefully considering your responses and will be discussing options at the Board soon.

Money laundering is a key enabler of serious and organised crime, which the Government estimates costs the UK at least £37 billion every year. Some types of money laundering need the services of legal professionals. It is therefore essential that, if you are a chambers, a barrister or a BSB entity that engages in work that falls within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations, you understand the risks and your obligations under the Regulations so that you do not unwittingly act as a facilitator in the laundering of money.

Under Regulation 46, we are obliged to publish an annual report containing information about the work we do as a regulator in this area, including how we encourage the reporting of actual or potential breaches and the measures we have carried out to monitor, and enforce, compliance with the Regulations. This report provides an opportunity for us to share with you the work we are doing to prevent the Bar becoming involved in money laundering and what you can do to support that. We would encourage you to read it.

The transitional arrangements for currently authorised Pupillage Training Organisations (PTOs) waiting for authorisation as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) are underway. With 299 PTOs in the process of being transitioned during October and more to follow this month.

If you have any enquiries relating to AETOs or need support with the transitional process please contact the Authorisations Manager. 

If you are not sure whether you remain authorised as PTO or need to apply as an AETO please contact us via email at [email protected] .

The team continue to concentrate on pupillage administration (including registration and sign off) and applications for waivers and exemptions relating to the work-based learning component (pupillage).  Please visit our update page for more information.

More information about our pupillage processes is available on our website.

If you have applied for either an authorisation, exemption, or waiver from the Bar Qualification Rules, then do visit the Service Update page for an expected date for the outcome of your application.

If you have any comments or suggestions about our service, please email us. 

We are currently reviewing our rules and requirements relating to barristers’ early years of practice and are pleased to have had the opportunity to hear from so many of you in our three roundtable discussions. We will be holding a follow up roundtable discussion on 23 November 2021 between 5pm – 7pm with a focus specifically on equality issues relating to early years of practice.

Please register via this form to book your place and to find out more about the roundtable event. If you have already attended one of the previous roundtable discussions but still wish to join us for this discussion, we would be happy to hear from you.

We very much value your opinion.

On 30 November, we published two reports about our business-as-usual regulatory activities during 2020-21.

The first was our Regulatory Decision-Making Annual Report which showed that there was a substantial increase in both the number of reports about barristers’ conduct and the number of applications for exemptions and waivers received. This increase coincided with the worst effects of the pandemic and has had a significant impact on our performance against our key performance indicators. The complexity of reports has also increased.  Nonetheless, we have increased proactive supervision and support of the profession in key areas of pupillage and bullying and harassment. You can read more about this and a statistical analysis of our core work in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

The second was the annual report of the Independent Decision-Making Body (IDB). The IDB is responsible for making decisions on our behalf where independent input is required. Its remit includes enforcement decisions in relation to breaches of the BSB Handbook and considering applications for review of decisions taken on authorisations such as the issue, amendment or revocation of a practising certificate or applications for waivers in relation to compliance with the BSB Handbook. You can read more about the IDB annual report for 2020-21 in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

The online version of this month’s Update also contains information about changes coming into force from April 2022 to the way in which Certificates of Good Standing will be issued. In short, because this is a regulatory activity, from this date they will be issued by the BSB rather than by the Bar Council. Barristers requesting Certificates of Good Standing will need to pay a fee per Certificate and the current option of receiving unlimited Certificates upon payment of the Bar Representation Fee will end. The fee has yet to be determined but you can read more about this on our website.

Finally, I should draw your attention to the Bar Council’s consultation on next year’s Practising Certificate Fees in which increases to the fees are  proposed.  Those increases reflect BSB’s need  for more resources to deal with reports about barristers and requests for waivers, exemptions and authorisations more swiftly and effectively – while maintaining the quality  of our decision-making – and to ensure that we can  engage effectively with the wider strategic policy agenda. In particular, we must seek to ensure that sector wide legal regulation recognises the distinctive attributes of the Bar. We share the concern of the Bar that any increases in our budget should be kept to a minimum, especially at a time when many barristers’ incomes have been affected by the pandemic. We will always seek to ensure that our resources are no more than is needed to deliver our statutory objectives and our proposed budget has been subject to careful scrutiny by our Board.

The General Council of the Bar has published its 2022/23 Practising Certificate Fees (PCF) and Budget for consultation. The GCB budget covers the funding of the Bar Council, the Bar Standards Board, our shared pension liabilities and the levies which are paid to the Legal Services Board and the Office for Legal Complaints.  

Read the consultation on the Bar Council website.

The General Council of the Bar  welcomes views from the profession on the planned budget for 2022/23 and the proposal for some increases to certain PCF bands. Please send your responses to: [email protected]

The consultation will close on 14 January 2022 at 5:00pm.

On 30 November, we published our latest annual Regulatory Decision-Making Report.

This is the second Regulatory Decision-Making report that we have published since we reformed the way regulatory decisions were taken in October 2019. It covers the period between April 2020 and March 2021. The report reflects the first full year of data following changes to our approach to regulatory decision-making.

Overall, we have seen a substantial increase in both the number of reports and the number of applications for exemptions and waivers received. This increase coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and has had a significant impact on performance against key performance indicators. Nonetheless, we have increased proactive supervision and support of the profession in key areas of pupillage and bullying and harassment.

The key statistical findings of the report are as follows:

• The number of enquiries and reports – a term that means any incoming information the BSB receives, including what were formerly known as “complaints” – was 3,303 in 2020-21, which is a substantial increase of 54 percent compared with 2019-20 (2,150). The number of actual reports received about barristers’ conduct in 2020-21 was 1,887. This represents a 29% increase on the previous year
• The number of barristers disbarred in 2020-2021 decreased to four, compared to ten in 2019-20, four in 2018-19, and five in 2017-18;
• Nine barristers were suspended in 2020-21, compared to fifteen in 2019-20, four in 2018-19 and nine in 2017-18;
• During 2020-21 we dealt with a total of 1,140 applications for authorisations, exemptions and waivers;
• Waivers were issued encouraging those offering pupillage to allow pupils to start their pupillage pending the results of their BPTC exams, which enabled 95 people to progress to pupillage;
• We engaged extensively with those offering vocational training throughout the period so that computer based assessment as well as traditional pen and paper exam opportunities were offered enabling Bar students to complete their vocational training; 
• The effect of the pandemic on pupillages was carefully researched and monitored.

Around 350 Regulatory Returns were issued to chambers, BSB entities and sole practitioners. These questionnaires are designed to enable us to assess risk across the Bar and the levels of compliance with our rules and include questions about processes and controls in key areas of practice, and on specific priorities such as dealing with allegations of harassment and assessing the impact of the pandemic.

The full Regulatory Decision-making Report 2020-21 is available on our website. A statistical report for the same period is also available on the website.

On 30 November, we published the annual report of the Independent Decision-making Body (IDB) for the year ending 31 March 2021.

The IDB was established in October 2019 as part of the modernisation of our regulatory decision-making, replacing the Professional Conduct Committee and the Authorisations Review Panel. It is responsible for making decisions on our behalf where independent input is required. The remit of the IDB includes enforcement decisions in relation to breaches of the BSB Handbook and considering applications for review of decisions taken on authorisations such as the issue, amendment or revocation of a practising certificate or applications for waivers in relation to compliance with the BSB Handbook.

This is the first full annual report as the last report covered the period from 15 October 2019 (when the IDB was established) to 31 March 2020 to allow future reports to align with our standard reporting year. The report covers the period when the impacts of the pandemic and remote working were most felt.

Although they do not bear direct comparison because of the different length of reporting period, on a pro rata basis the numbers of cases considered by the IDB has more than doubled in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 partly due to an increase in overall caseload and partly due to more regular scheduling of panel meetings.  The Chair of the IDB also comments on an increase in the complexity of cases considered by the IDB panels.

Key facts from the report include:

• in 2020-21, 73 enforcement cases and 32 authorisation cases were considered by the IDB;
• of the enforcement cases, 37 were referred to disciplinary action, ten had administrative sanctions imposed, 22 saw allegations dismissed, one was referred to Supervision, and three required further enquiries;
• of the authorisations cases, 27 culminated in previous decisions being upheld and five resulted in decisions of our Executive being overturned;
• 10 of the authorisations’ cases related to admission to the Bar as qualified foreign lawyers and four related to reductions in the duration of pupillage. The rest concerned a wide range of authorisation decisions including those relating to waivers and exemptions; and 
• three authorisations’ decisions made by the IDB in 2020-21 were appealed, of which one was successful and the other two are awaiting a decision.

You can read the IDB Report 2020-21 on our website.

Following discussions with the Bar Council, we have agreed that from 1 April 2022, we will take on responsibility for issuing Certificates of Good Standing from the Bar Council. As these certificates involve the confirmation of regulatory information such as disciplinary findings, it is more appropriate for the issuing of the certificates to be managed by us. This is consistent with the Internal Governance Rules which require regulatory activities to be conducted independently by us.

Under this new arrangement, barristers requesting Certificates of Good Standing will pay a fee per Certificate. The current option of receiving unlimited Certificates upon payment of the Bar Representation Fee will end.

We will ensure that the fee charged achieves full cost recovery for the work required to issue them. We are currently carrying out that analysis and more information about the new per certificate fee, as well as the process for requesting a certificate, will be provided in a future issue of the Regulatory Update.

If you have any questions on the above, please email [email protected]

The minimum pupillage award is set annually, having regard to the Living Wage Foundation’s hourly rate recommendations, which are announced in November each year. The annual increase applies from January each year to all pupils, regardless of when they started pupillage. Monthly payments to pupils must be adjusted accordingly. The rate for the minimum pupillage award that will apply from 1 January 2022 will be £19,144 per annum for pupillages in London and £17,151 per annum for pupillages outside London. You can read more about this in section 4E of the Bar Qualification Manual.

Pupils who commenced Bar Training from 2020 onwards or who completed the Bar Transfer Test from August 2021 onwards must take a new exam on Professional Ethics during their pupillage. (BPTC graduates are not required to do so, as they have already passed a centralised exam in Ethics. Some pupils who are transferring qualified lawyers may have been given a waiver by us so may be exempt from taking the exam.)

The first such exam will take place in April 2022.

We will be holding a webinar at 6-8pm on Thursday 13 January for pupil supervisors and others in Authorised Education and Training Organisations who are responsible for pupillage. This will be a chance to hear more about the background to the new ethics exam (why we have introduced it, how it is set and marked) as well as practical information about what pupils need to do to prepare for and register for the exam, and how they get their results. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and we will record it for those who cannot attend. You can read more about the exam, including more details about the webinar and how to sign up for it, on our website.

We have appointed four new members to its Advisory Pool of Experts (APEX).

APEX is a pool of external advisors who can be called upon to provide expertise to assist us in performing our regulatory functions. We use APEX for advice and support, helping the organisation to develop policy and make regulatory decisions. APEX is made up of a diverse group of people, from a wide range of backgrounds, who are experts in their respective fields.

The new appointees to our Advisory Pool of Experts, and their corresponding areas of expertise, are:

• Harriet Gamper – Consumer Affairs
• Dr Andromachi Georgosouli - Regulatory Policy and Theory
• Dr Sally Gosling – Quality Assurance
• Marie Pye – Equality & Diversity

Members of APEX will be engaged by us on a case-by-case basis and enter into a paid consultancy agreement for services with us for up to ten days’ work per year.

The transitional arrangements for currently authorised Pupillage Training Organisations (PTOs) waiting for authorisation as Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) are underway. With 293 PTOs in the process of being transitioned during November 2021 and more to follow this month. We expect to receive a further 75 by the end of December 2021.

If you have any enquiries relating to AETOs or need support with the transitional process please contact the Authorisations Manager. 

If you are not sure whether you remain authorised as PTO or need to apply as an AETO please contact us via email at [email protected].

The team have completed the pupillage administration (including registration and sign off).  Please visit our Service Update page for more information.

If you have applied for either an authorisation, exemption, or waiver from the Bar Qualification Rules, then do visit the Service Update page for an expected date for the outcome of your application.

Christmas Closure The team will not be determining applications between 24 December and 4 January, please see our service update page for expected decision dates.

If you have any comments or suggestions about our service, please email us.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

On 27 November, we published an anti-racist statement to support our common objective to reduce race inequality at the Bar. As well as explaining what steps we are taking to evaluate and strengthen our own commitment to anti-racism, the statement sets four anti-racist actions for barristers’ chambers and BSB-regulated entities to implement. The actions are to:

• complete a race equality audit to identify the barriers to race equality within a practice;
• design and implement positive action measures where the audit shows that there is an underrepresentation of, or adverse impact on, people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds;
• undertake comprehensive anti-racist training for all barristers and staff; and
• produce and publish an anti-racist statement for members of chambers and the public.

During 2021/22 , we will review the profession’s response to the statement by asking what steps have been taken to meet the published actions. This will take into account any resource challenges experienced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, but we expect all practices to have regard to the four actions in reviewing their own anti-racist plans. You can read more about this in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update. The published anti-racist statement provides more information and advice about these actions and how to complete them.

In conjunction with the Bar Council, we have recently published a short paper seeking views on the proposal not to increase the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF) rates for 2021-22. The consultation paper also outlines the proposed income and expenditure budget for the whole of the General Council of the Bar during 2021-22. Please share your views by 14 December at 5.00pm. You can read more about this in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

On 27 November, we published our first annual Regulatory Decisions Report. It provides an overview of the wide range of decisions we took in relation to our regulatory operations and our legal and enforcement work between April 2019 and March 2020. This includes areas such as investigations and disciplinary action, the supervision of chambers, and the authorisation of education and training providers. On the same day, we also published the first annual report of the Independent Decision-making Body – the body established in October 2019 as part of the modernisation of our regulatory decision-making to replace the Professional Conduct Committee and the Authorisations Review Panel. You can read more about both reports in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

Finally, please don’t forget that the new minimum pupillage award that will apply from 1 January 2021 will be £18,960 per annum for pupillages in London and £16,601 per annum for pupillages outside London.

At the BSB, we are conscious that this has been a difficult and challenging year for the Bar and we send you our very best wishes for the holiday season and for a happier and more prosperous new year.

Last month, we agreed an anti-racist statement which aims to reduce race inequality at the Bar of England and Wales.

The statement, which has been published on our website, was developed in collaboration with barristers and BSB members of our Race Equality Taskforce. It has been produced in line with the objectives in our Equality and Diversity Strategy for 2020-22 where race equality is a key focus.

The first part of the anti-racist statement explains what steps we are taking to evaluate and strengthen our own commitment to anti-racism, outlining how we intend to lead by example by setting, and meeting, high standards in our own approach.

The second part of the statement sets four anti-racist actions for barristers’ chambers and BSB-regulated entities to implement. These actions have been framed in terms of the requirements set by the Equality Rules of the BSB Handbook and suggest how practitioners, chambers and entities can embed an anti-racist approach in their work to fulfil those requirements. The four actions are to:

• complete a race equality audit to identify the barriers to race equality within a practice;
• design and implement positive action measures where the audit shows that there is an underrepresentation of, or adverse impact on, people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds;
• undertake comprehensive anti-racist training for all barristers and staff; and
• produce and publish an anti-racist statement for members of chambers and the public.

The published statement provides more information and advice about these actions and how to complete them. During 2021/22, we will review the profession’s response to the statement by asking what steps have been taken to meet the published actions. This will take into account the resource challenges experienced by some chambers as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we expect all practices to have regard to the four actions set out above in reviewing their own plans.

In conjunction with the Bar Council, we have published a short paper seeking views on proposals for the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF) rates for 2021-22.

The General Council of the Bar does not intend to increase PCF for the budget year 2021-22 and will submit a proposal for no PCF increase to the Legal Services Board (LSB) for approval.

If agreed by the Legal Services Board, this would mean that PCF bands and fees for 2021-22 will be:

The consultation paper also outlines the proposed income and expenditure budget for the whole of the General Council of the Bar (GCB) during 2021-22.

You can read the full consultation paper online. We welcome views on the proposal not to increase PCF and our budget for 2021-22. Please send your responses to: [email protected].

The consultation will close on 14 December 2020 at 5:00pm.

We have published our first annual Regulatory Decisions Report. It covers the year ending on 31 March 2020.

The report provides an overview of the wide range of decisions we have taken in relation to our regulatory operations, and our legal and enforcement work from April 2019 to March 2020. This includes areas such as investigations and disciplinary action, the supervision of chambers, and the authorisation of education and training providers.

It replaces our annual Enforcement Report having a broader scope to reflect our new and more holistic approach to regulatory decision-making which began in 2019, in which all incoming queries and information we receive are assessed centrally. These reforms also included the establishment of a new Independent Decision-making Body to take independent enforcement and other decisions.

Important regulatory decisions we made in 2019-20 included:

• making Bar training more accessible, affordable and flexible by enabling students to qualify via one of three pathways and beginning to authorise universities and other organisations to provide a range of courses;
• enhancing the efficiency of our regulatory decision-making with the new Enforcement Decision Regulations which came into force in October 2019, designed to modernise our regulatory operations by streamlining and improving the way we assess and handle reports about those we regulate;
• bringing greater fairness and consistency to pupillage recruitment by requiring Authorised Education and Training Organisations to recruit pupils in line with a single timetable from November 2020;
• clarifying the obligations on pupils and their pupillage providers by determining that written agreements between the two parties be made compulsory from May 2020;
• helping to improve standards of advocacy and the public’s experience in Coroners Courts by collaborating with stakeholders to start developing resources for barristers who work in this area; and
• taking action to address bullying and harassment at the Bar, including by providing specialist training for our staff responsible for dealing with reports about conduct of this nature, carrying out research to better understand why some barristers who have been subject to this conduct do not report it, and monitoring the effectiveness of our pilot schemes which give waivers from the requirement to report serious misconduct to those involved in giving support to members of the profession who have experienced harassment.

The key statistical findings of the report are as follows:

• Overall, the number of reports – a term that means any incoming information we receive, including what were formerly known as “complaints” – was 1,489 in 2019-20, which is an increase of around ten percent compared with 2018-19 (1,340), and significantly above the 1,242 received in 2017-18 and 1,098 received in 2016-17;
• The number of barristers disbarred in 2019-20 increased to ten, compared to four in 2018-19, five in 2017-18 and 20 in 2016-17; and
• 15 barristers were suspended in 2019-20, compared to four in 2018-19, eight in 2017-18 and six in 2016-17.

The full Regulatory Decisions Report 2019-20 is available on our website.

Last month, we published the first annual report of the Independent Decision-making Body (IDB).

The IDB was established in October 2019 as part of the modernisation of our regulatory decision-making, replacing the Professional Conduct Committee and the Authorisations Review Panel. It is responsible for making decisions on our behalf where independent input is required. The current remit of the IDB includes enforcement decisions in relation to breaches of the BSB Handbook and considering applications for review of authorisations decisions such as the issue, amendment or revocation of a practising certificate or applications for waivers in relation to compliance with the BSB Handbook. The report covers the period from 15 October 2019 to 31 March 2020 to allow future reports to align with our standard reporting year.

The report concludes that there has been a remarkably smooth transition from the previous arrangements without any major issues of management or substance arising, and that the six months covered by the report was a learning period both for members of the IDB and the executive staff while new procedures were embedded.

Key facts from the report are as follows:

• In 2019-20, 16 enforcement cases and eight authorisation cases were considered by the IDB;
• Of the enforcement cases, six were referred to disciplinary action, five had administrative sanctions imposed and five saw allegations dismissed;
• Of the authorisations cases, six culminated in previous decisions being upheld and two resulted in decisions of the BSB Executive being overturned;
• Four of the authorisations cases related to reductions in the duration of pupillage before being authorised to practise, two cases pertained to admission to the Bar as a Qualified Foreign Lawyer, one case concerned a decision of the Inn’s Conduct Committee (ICC), and another case related to the withdrawal of authorisation to provide education and training; and
• Two decisions of the IDB to impose administrative sanctions were appealed in 2019-20, of which one was successful and the other is awaiting a decision.

You can read the IDB Report 2019-20 on our website.

The minimum pupillage award is set annually, having regard to the Living Wage Foundation’s hourly rate recommendations, which are announced in November each year. The annual increase applies from January each year to all pupils, regardless of when they started pupillage. Monthly payments to pupils must be adjusted accordingly. The rate for the minimum pupillage award that will apply from 1 January 2021 will be £18,960 per annum for pupillages in London and £16,601 per annum for pupillages outside London. You can read more about this in the newly redesigned Bar Qualification Manual.

The EU transition period ends on 31 December 2020. Negotiations between the UK Government and the EU continue. We will be writing to all Registered European Lawyers practising at the Bar of England and Wales under the outgoing arrangements and to those barristers who practise primarily in Europe to let them know how they might be affected by the changes and what action they may need to take. You can read more about this on our dedicated webpage.

In spite of the current restrictions caused by the national lockdown, we aim to continue to provide a “business-as-usual” service to barristers, students and members of the public, but you may experience a delay in dealing with some queries. Please contact us by email wherever possible. You can still post physical documents to our usual High Holborn address, but they may take longer to reach us.

On 5 November, we published a new report analysing our data on barristers’ income by gender and ethnicity. It shows that female barristers are likely to earn less than male barristers and that those from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups are likely to earn less than White barristers. This holds true when looking at the income of barristers practising within the same area of law, within the same parts of the country, and amongst those with similar seniority in terms of how long they have been practising.

We have taken into account the differences between employed and self-employed barristers in the report. For the employed, we consider gross income before income tax and national insurance etc: for the self-employed, the income is deemed to be their total fee income (excluding VAT) before they pay the costs of their chambers, which is estimated typically to take between 20 and 40 per cent of their income. We also stress that the report is based on figures relating to barristers’ incomes in 2018 so predates the current pandemic which we know has had a significant effect on many barristers’ incomes. However, it is not the levels of incomes that are our focus in the report but the disparities between different groups of barristers. You can read more about this in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

On 3 November, we announced that Professor Rebecca Huxley-Binns has been appointed to lead the independent review into the difficulties experienced by students who sought to sit the centralised BPTC assessments in Civil and Criminal Litigation and Professional Ethics in August. The review will cover all aspects of the delivery of the August 2020 exams including the handling of reasonable adjustments and the governance of our decision making. The review will be undertaken independently of the BSB. It will report to our Governance, Risk and Audit Committee. You can read more about Professor Huxley-Binns and the review in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

At the end of October, we wrote to those barristers’ practices selected to complete our Regulatory Return to advise them that we have extended the deadline for the completion of answers to most of the questions in the Return to 31 March 2021. However, without responses to the five questions in the Return about COVID-19 (four for sole practitioners), we will be unable to understand fully the impact of the pandemic on the profession or to consider how we might be able to support it, within our remit as a regulator, in a timely way. So, we are therefore asking those selected for the Return to respond to these questions by the original deadline of 4 January 2021. You can read more about this in the online version of this month’s Update.

Finally, I would like to congratulate Naomi Ellenbogen QC on her recent appointment to the High Court. Her appointment to the judiciary means that she is no longer able to serve on the Bar Standards Board as our Vice-Chair. I would like to thank Naomi for her sterling work and for her great support during my time as Chair.

On 5 November, we published a new report analysing our data on barristers’ income by gender and ethnicity. It shows that female barristers are likely to earn less than male barristers and that those from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups are likely to earn less than White barristers. This holds true when looking at the income of barristers practising within the same area of law, within the same parts of the country, and amongst those with similar seniority in terms of how long they have been practising.

The report shows that income differences are particularly marked when looking at gender and ethnicity together, with female barristers from minority ethnic backgrounds being the lowest earning group and white male barristers being the highest earning group.

We collect data on income as part of the annual process by which barristers renew their practising certificates. This report examines the gross income of barristers and is based entirely on figures from before the impact of the current pandemic. Around one fifth of barristers are employed and for them by “income” the report refers to their gross income before tax and national insurance etc. For the four fifths of barristers who are self-employed their “income” is their total fee income (excluding VAT) before they pay the costs of their chambers, which is estimated typically to take between 20 and 40 per cent of their income. 

The report is based on figures relating to barristers’ incomes in 2018 so predates the current pandemic which has had a significant effect on many barristers’ incomes. It is not the levels of incomes that are our focus here, however, but the disparities between different groups.  

These disparities are marked and cannot be explained away by seniority, geography or area of law. The disparities underline why we will continue to prioritise our work on diversity and challenge the Bar to do more and better in combatting discrimination affecting the progression of women and of barristers from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds.

The full report on income at the Bar by gender and ethnicity is available on our website. 

On 3 November, we announced that Professor Rebecca Huxley-Binns has been appointed to lead the independent review into the difficulties experienced by students who sought to sit the centralised BPTC assessments in Civil and Criminal Litigation and Professional Ethics in August.

Professor Huxley-Binns is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the University of Hull having previously held the role of Vice-Provost, Academic Enhancement, at the University of Law. Dr Sarabajaya Kumar, an expert in diversity and disability issues will work with Professor Huxley-Binns on the review. The review will report to our Governance, Risk and Audit Committee, which is composed of independent non-executive directors, and will be undertaken independently of us. The final report will be published.

The review will cover all aspects of the delivery of the August 2020 exams including the handling of reasonable adjustments and governance of our decision making. The review terms of reference are available online. In support of the review, Professor Huxley-Binns will offer an open invitation to make representations. She will also hold a series of meetings to capture views on the exams. Information about the review and how it will be conducted can be found online https://www.2020bptcexamsreview.co.uk/.

The final figures confirm that a majority of students were able to sit these exams but we would like to repeat how sorry we are that so many students were unable to complete them. 

At the end of October, we wrote to those barristers’ practices who had been selected to complete our Regulatory Return to advise them that we have extended the deadline for the completion of the majority of the questions in the Return to 31 March 2021.

The extension follows contact with a number of chambers and discussions with the Legal Practice Management Association and the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks who told us that many practices wanted to be able to provide us with effective responses, but were having difficulty in doing this by the deadline of 4 January 2021.

There are, however, five questions in the Return that relate to the impact of COVID-19 on the profession (four for sole practitioners). Without responses to these questions, we will be unable to understand properly the impact of the pandemic on the profession and consider how we might be able to support the profession, within our remit as a regulator, in a timely manner. We are therefore asking those selected for the Return to respond to these questions in line with the original deadline of 4 January 2021.

We hope this flexibility about deadline dates helps those selected to complete the Return effectively.

The Legal Practice Management Association has kindly agreed to host an online Q&A session on Thursday 19 November 2020, which is open to everyone. Now you have had a chance to look through the Regulatory Return, and perhaps start to think about how you might respond, you may have come across some questions where you are not sure what we are expecting of you. This will be an opportunity to ask us about any of the questions in the Return that you need help with, and in particular the questions for which the deadline is still 4 January 2021. Details about how to join are available on our website.

It is almost a year since we published our report on the impact of our revised approach to regulating CPD. It found that most barristers welcome the revised scheme’s greater flexibility but lacked understanding about the role of reflection in maintaining professional standards. As the CPD year comes to an end in December, we would like to remind you of the helpful guidance available on our website for established practitioners.

The Lawtech Sandbox Pilot is an industry led, government backed R&D initiative, designed to fast track transformative ideas, products and services that address the legal needs of businesses and society.

The Lawtech Sandbox Pilot will see a small, first cohort of pioneers gain access to a number of tools, services and people for three months from December, as part of a trial. It includes access to regulators (such as the BSB) for advice, support and assurance at pace - this includes multi-regulator engagement in a single forum called the Regulatory Response Unit.

Applications opened on 5 November. This is a very exciting initiative for the legal sector. The deadline for expressions of interest is 16 November which is very tight. So do please act quickly if you want to take part in this opportunity.

You can find out more about the scheme online. 

18 November 2020 at 7 pm £15 per ticket £8 for students

For their fourth “in conversation” series, Support through Court will be joined by Sarah Langford and William Clegg QC. 

William Clegg QC is a leading Criminal law barrister, and author of “Under the Wig”: exploring his 47 years as a criminal barrister and involvement in over 100 murder cases. Sarah Langford is a Criminal and Family Law barrister who authored the Sunday Times Best-seller “In Your Defence”, which powerfully communicates the human side of the legal system. They are coming together to discuss their experiences at the Bar and their books, with the conversation and subsequent Q+A chaired by Radio 4 Presenter and columnist Matthew Parris.  

100% of ticket sales go to Support Through Court, a charity helping people facing the civil or family justice system without a lawyer, enabling them to access justice.

Tickets can be purchased online. 

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

You may recall that in January 2020 we announced that we would be introducing a single recruitment timetable for all pupillages in line with the Pupillage Gateway timetable. This year, that timetable runs from 28 November 2020 to 14 May 2021.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have meant that many authorised pupillage organisations have had to alter the way in which they are managing pupillage recruitment this year, so we are now introducing alternative arrangements to allow greater flexibility during the 2020-21 recruitment period. Whilst we encourage pupillage organisations to adhere to the Gateway timetable, where this is not possible, we will allow advertising for pupillage outside the timetable to take place. However, interviews will need to be concluded before the end of August 2021 and offers for pupillage can only be made once the Gateway timetable has closed. Any other arrangements require a waiver application to us. You can read more about the Gateway timetable and the additional flexibility in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

We have recently published the results of a study that we commissioned to understand better why bullying, discrimination and harassment still exists at the Bar in 2020. The qualitative study, which is part of our ongoing programme to address the root causes of bullying, discrimination and harassment at the Bar, saw 35 telephone interviews conducted with 30 barristers, and five non-barristers, who had directly experienced or observed discrimination and harassment (including workplace bullying) at the Bar.

We are committed to working alongside the profession and other stakeholders to root out bullying, discrimination, and harassment at the Bar in all their forms and will therefore be convening a roundtable with key stakeholders in the near future to discuss how, within the framework of chambers, supportive arrangements can be established which enable incidences of bullying and harassment to be reported and properly addressed. This must be a high priority for the profession. You can read more about the report’s findings in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

Finally I’d just like to mention that on Thursday 15 October from 8.45am to 10.00 am Sir Andrew McFarlane will be giving a keynote speech on the theme “Coping Post COVID – the road ahead for the family courts”.  The event will also raise funds for the valuable work of Support through Court.

In January 2020 we introduced a single recruitment timetable and written agreements for all pupillages.

The reforms to the advertisement and recruitment process for pupillages require chambers and other Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) to recruit pupils in line with the Pupillage Gateway timetable in order to make pupillage recruitment fairer and more consistent. The Gateway is operated by the Bar Council and the timetable runs annually, this year from 28 November 2020 to 14 May 2021. This prescribes the timelines for each stage of recruiting pupils, including the publication of adverts, submission dates for applications, shortlisting, interviews and making offers. While it is not compulsory to use the Pupillage Gateway to process applications, adherence to a single recruitment timetable will be in addition to the existing requirement to advertise all pupillages on the Gateway.

We appreciate that for many AETOs, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have meant needing to alter the way in which they are managing pupillage recruitment. For this reason, alternative arrangements will be put in place to allow greater flexibility during the 2020-21 recruitment period.

We strongly encourage AETOs to adhere to the Gateway timetable. Where this is not possible, advertising for pupillage outside of the timetable can still take place. However, interviews will need to be concluded before the end of August 2021 and offers for pupillage can only be made once the Gateway timetable has closed. Any other arrangements require a waiver application to us.

We also require written agreements between pupils and their chambers or other AETO in order to improve each party’s awareness of their obligations. Written pupillage agreements must be used for all pupillages which have started since 1 May 2020.

We have recently published the results of a study undertaken by YouGov, to better understand why bullying, discrimination and harassment still exist at the Bar in 2020.

The qualitative study, which is part of our ongoing programme to address the root causes of bullying, discrimination and harassment at the Bar, saw 35 telephone interviews conducted with 30 barristers, and five non-barristers, who had directly experienced or observed bullying, discrimination and harassment (including workplace bullying) at the Bar. 

The aim of the study was to explore the impacts and possible drivers of bullying, discrimination and harassment, and the enablers and barriers to reporting it, as well as to identify any unmet support needs.

Key findings from the report suggest that:

• Participants described a wide range of bullying, discrimination and harassment experiences, varying from unfair treatment based on protected characteristics, sexual harassment, long term bullying, unreasonable work demands and unfair work allocation. Low to medium level incidents were the most common, especially for those who are from more than one underrepresented group such as Black and female, or Asian and LGBT.

• The Bar’s unique structure, with most barristers being self-employed and reliant on clerks for their caseload, led to some participants feeling that a lack of formal management structure allowed harassment and discrimination to ”slip through the net.” Pupil barristers who are early in their career and reliant on chambers for their progression, were seen as particularly vulnerable.

• Bullying, discrimination and harassment can have both short and long-term consequences. Diminished self-esteem, anxiety, mental health complications and negative impacts on physical health were some of the long-term effects cited while negative socioeconomic consequences were also reported such as a dip in earning capacity, disruption of fruitful professional relationships, low job satisfaction and absenteeism.

• Despite an increased focus on equality and diversity at the Bar, most barristers interviewed had not formally reported their experiences. The key reasons were fear of a negative impact on their reputation and, therefore, their earning potential and career progression.
• The lack of clear, anonymous and supportive formal and informal pathways to reporting incidents was seen as a barrier to addressing bullying, discrimination and harassment. Clearer and more accessible guidance about bullying, discrimination and harassment, its impacts, and when to report it, is needed.

• The report concludes that for anti-harassment policies and procedures to be effective, there needs to be a shift in culture at the Bar to encourage openness and to discourage inappropriate behaviour, with a role for the BSB, the Bar Council and other stakeholders in driving change and offering support.

We are committed to working alongside the profession and other stakeholders to root out bullying, discrimination and harassment at the Bar in all its forms. This targeted study amongst those who have directly experienced or observed bullying, discrimination and harassment at the Bar adds a very useful perspective to our understanding of how and why this behaviour is still occurring.

It is plain from the study that there are significant cultural factors, including power imbalances, which inhibit the reporting of bullying and harassment. The Bar Standards Board will therefore be convening a roundtable with key stakeholders in the near future to discuss how, within the framework of chambers, supportive arrangements can be established which enable incidences of bullying and harassment to be reported and properly addressed. This must be a high priority for the profession.”

The full report is available on our website.

In July this year, we published the timetable for pupil supervisor refresher training. All relevant pupil supervisors must now ensure that they have met the requirement to complete refresher training by 31 December 2022.

Please see the Bar Qualification Manual on our website for further details.

If you have not already done so, please take the time to answer the following questions and let us know how your organisation plans to manage this: https://r1.dotmailer-surveys.com/274cge42-774rh85e.

If you have any queries regarding the timetable, please contact [email protected]

We’ve been asked to mention that on Thursday 15 October from 8.45am to 10.00 am Sir Andrew McFarlane will be giving a keynote speech on the theme “Coping Post COVID – the road ahead for the family courts” followed by a panel discussion chaired by Nigel Shepherd, Consultant for Mills & Reeve and winner of Resolution’s 2019 Cornwell Award for Outstanding Contribution to Family Law.

In order to adhere to social distancing restrictions the Breakfast will be taking place via Zoom and guests will receive a complimentary ‘breakfast package’ which will include information about the event and a breakfast treat. Tickets cost £35 and every ticket sold will enable an individual to improve their access to justice with the support of one of Support through Court’s volunteers.  This can make a real difference to the lives of people going through court alone.

You can visit the Support Through Court website  for tickets.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

You may have seen that we recently announced new opportunities for Bar students to sit their Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exams in October. This new opportunity follows the difficulties encountered by many students in attempting to complete these assessments as computer-based exams in August. We have announced that there will be an independent review into what went wrong and this will be published but I should like to apologise again to all those students and to members of the Bar for what was a completely unacceptable situation.  The majority of students were able to complete their exams online but far too many were affected by technical difficulties and we are extremely sorry that that happened.  The October sit will be traditional pen and paper exams arranged by the BPTC providers. You can read our announcement in full on our website.

On 1 September, we published a new version of the BSB Handbook (version 4.5) to reflect the new Internal Governance Rules that govern our relationship with the Bar Council. We have also amended a few of the procedural requirements of the Handbook’s Disciplinary Tribunal Rules and updated guidance on compliance with barristers’ Core Duty 9, which will enhance the effectiveness of our regulation. You can read more about the updates in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update. 

We continue to update our COVID-19 FAQs. Chambers and BSB entities should contact us if there are any significant outbreaks of COVID-19 in their practice and keep us informed if this impacts on their ability to service clients.

We also recently published a report on the impact of COVID-19 on pupillages which we have also drawn to the attention of the Ministry of Justice. You can read more about this in the online version of this month’s Update.

Having delayed its launch when lockdown began in March, earlier this month, we issued a Regulatory Return questionnaire to a selection of around 350 chambers, BSB entities and sole practitioners. The Return is a way for us to assess risk across the Bar and levels of compliance with our rules. We are also very aware that the current health crisis has impacted the Bar in different ways and are keen to know more about that via the Return

We know it will take time to respond to the Return, but a number of participants last time told us that they found it useful in prompting them to review their policies and processes and think about where they could be improved, so we hope that those selected this time will find it a useful exercise too. You can read more about the Regulatory Return in the online version of this month’s Update.

Finally, if you have not already done so, please consider taking part in our pilot reverse mentoring scheme. The scheme, which was launched earlier this month by our Race Equality Taskforce, will see Bar students and pupil barristers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds mentor senior barristers from White backgrounds. It aims to address barriers to race equality and foster a more inclusive culture at the Bar. Read more about the scheme, including how to apply, on our website.

On 9 September, we issued a Regulatory Return questionnaire to a selection of around 350 chambers, BSB entities and sole practitioners.

The Regulatory Return is a way for us to assess risk across the Bar and levels of compliance with our rules. It is an exercise last undertaken in 2015-16.

The Return contains a range of questions including views on the risks that the profession faces, information about processes and controls in key areas of practice, and some questions on specific topics that are currently a priority in our strategic plan, such as dealing with allegations of harassment. We are also very aware that the current health crisis has impacted the Bar in different ways and are keen to know more about that via the Return. For example, we want to know what new risks or opportunities have arisen from COVID-19, whether chambers and entities have modified their governance or working practices or whether it has led to changes in how barristers use technology in their work.

Those sole practitioners selected to complete the Return will receive a shorter, tailored version of the questionnaire.

This is an opportunity for those selected to explain how effectively potential risks are being managed, how they ensure compliance with the BSB Handbook and how high standards of practice are maintained. The Return enables us to target our resources at those chambers, entities, individuals or areas that would most benefit from supervisory attention. Those managing risk effectively can expect a lower level of supervision.

Although we have tried to make completing the Return as simple as possible, we know it will take time to respond, but a number of participants last time told us that they found it useful in prompting them to review their policies and processes and think about where they could be improved, so we hope that those selected this time will find it a useful exercise too.  Those selected have until 4 January 2021 to respond.

You can read more about the Regulatory Return on our website.

On 1 September, we published a new version of the BSB Handbook (version 4.5) to reflect the new Internal Governance Rules (IGRs) that govern our relationship with the Bar Council. We have also amended a few of the procedural requirements of the Handbook’s Disciplinary Tribunal Rules and updated guidance on compliance with barristers’ Core Duty 9, which will enhance the effectiveness of our regulation.  

The new IGRs, set by the Legal Services Board (LSB), aim to further enhance our regulatory independence and this new edition of the Handbook therefore reflects the requirements of the new rules.

The amendments to the Disciplinary Tribunal Rules enhance our regulatory effectiveness by enabling Disciplinary Tribunals to rely on wasted cost orders as proof of conduct occurring. They also clarify that Directions Judges have the discretion to make cost orders. These amendments do not impose any new obligations on barristers.

We have also provided barristers with updated guidance on Core Duty 9, making clear that barristers’ duty to co-operate with their regulators includes all relevant regulators and ombudsman schemes.

We will be issuing a protocol to make clear that BPTC students taking centralised examinations in Professional Ethics following study during the 2019/20 and previous academic years will be examined on the syllabus issued in February 2020, which was based on the previous version of the Handbook.

We continue to update our COVID-19 FAQs. Chambers and BSB entities should contact us if there are any significant outbreaks of COVID-19 in their practice and keep us informed if this impacts on their ability to service clients.

Earlier this month, we published a report on the impact that Covid-19 is having on pupillages. The report finds that, while chambers and other organisations have shown a commendable commitment to sustaining pupillages in difficult circumstances, there is likely to be some pressure on the supply of pupillages available from 2020 to 2022.

The report is based on our engagement between April and September 2020 with 157 out of the 260 chambers and other organisations that are authorised to provide pupillage.

The research shows that all pupillages that had already started when lockdown began in March have been able to proceed, with many pupillage providers overcoming considerable challenges.

Although the vast majority of chambers and other organisations have said that they remain committed to offering pupillage - only one chambers has said that it has decided to permanently reduce the number of pupillages they intend to offer – the report expects that there is likely to be an impact on the number of future pupillages available between 2020 to 2022 as the knock-on effects of the health emergency will affect future pupillage recruitment decisions.

The emerging evidence from our continuing engagement suggests that the biggest impact will be on pupillages that are in areas of law most affected by court closures, especially Criminal and Family. We are conscious that barristers from minority groups are more strongly represented in these publicly funded areas of practice and will carefully monitor the effect of Covid-19 on pupillage and any implications for diversity at the Bar.

We strongly urge chambers and other organisations to support pupillages as much as they can, and have already issued a waiver enabling those who are due to begin pupillage in Autumn 2020 to do so even if they have not yet been confirmed as having passed their Bar Professional Training Course or Bar Transfer Test, subject to their pupillage provider being content.  To date, 44 organisations have indicated that they will use the waiver meaning that a total of at least 60 pupillages can start as planned either this month or in October.

While we are pleased that chambers and other organisations have demonstrated a laudable commitment to sustaining pupillages, we are very conscious that many face continued financial pressure owing to the consequences of the health emergency. We are doing our best to encourage and facilitate chambers to support as many pupillages as possible.

The full report on the impact of Covid-19 on pupillage is available on our website.

This month our Race Equality Taskforce launched a pilot reverse mentoring scheme, in which Bar students and pupil barristers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds will mentor senior barristers from White backgrounds.

The scheme, which is designed to provide an insight into people’s experiences of racism by pairing individuals who might not otherwise come together, aims to address barriers to race equality and foster a more inclusive culture at the Bar.

The first pairing will be between Elisha Lindsay, a Black female Bar student and race equality activist, and her mentee, Paul Stanley QC of Essex Court Chambers.

The scheme has been developed by our Race Equality Taskforce, a group of BAME and White barristers, which advises us on the development of strategy, policy and activity to improve race equality in the profession.

We have appointed three new members to our Advisory Pool of Experts (APEX).

APEX is a pool of external advisors who can be called upon to provide expertise to assist us in performing our regulatory functions. We use APEX for advice and support, helping the organisation to develop policy and make regulatory decisions. APEX is made up of a diverse group of people, from a wide range of backgrounds, who are experts in their respective fields.

The new appointees to our Advisory Pool of Experts, and their corresponding areas of expertise, are:

• Karen Chouhan (Equality and Diversity):
• Eleanor Davison (Money Laundering Regulations); and
• Stewart Horne (Consumer Affairs).

Members of APEX will be engaged on a case by case basis and enter into a paid consultancy agreement for services with us for up to 10 days’ work per year. They took up their appointments on 4 September.

Please ensure that you have given us your correct practice address in accordance with rS69 of our Handbook. If your practice address changes, you must inform our Records Department within 28 days, you can also update your details using the MyBar portal.

Give us your feedback

If you have any thoughts about how we can improve the Regulatory Update or what content you would like to read, please email [email protected].

Last month, we published our latest annual report summarising our activities during the 2019-20 business year.

The report covers the first year of our Strategic Plan for 2019-22 which ended in March 2020. This meant that as the year came to an end, the Bar, along with the rest of the country, was facing the challenge of the national lockdown to combat COVID-19. We are very aware of the challenges currently facing the profession we regulate and have amended our plans for 2020-21 accordingly, whilst at the same time continuing our work to protect the public interest and to improve access to justice.

2019-20 was the year in which several of our long-term policy development projects were realised. These included introducing:

• more accessible, affordable and flexible routes to qualify as a barrister with the new Bar Qualification Rules which came into force in April 2019;

• more transparency about the services provided by barristers with the new Bar Transparency Rules which came into force in July 2019 and which are designed to improve the information available to the public before they engage the services of a barrister; and

• more efficient regulatory decision-making with the new Enforcement Decision Regulations which came into force in October 2019 designed to modernise our regulatory operations by streamlining and improving the way that we assess and handle reports about those whom we regulate.

The report also describes the day-to-day tasks we undertake when regulating barristers and specialised legal businesses in England and Wales in the public interest. This work includes overseeing the education and training requirements for becoming a barrister, monitoring the standards of conduct of barristers, and assuring the public that everyone we authorise to practise is competent to do so. To demonstrate these aspects of our work, the report shows that:

• as of 31 March 2020, there were 16,915 registered barristers in England and Wales as well as 130 specialised legal services businesses regulated by us;

• eight training organisations were authorised by us during 2019-20 to deliver the new vocational component of Bar training (a ninth was authorised earlier this month); and

• during 2019-20, 32 barristers had a disciplinary finding against them of whom 15 were suspended and 10 were disbarred. (Further information about our enforcement work during the year will be made available in a separate report to be published in the autumn.)

We have also published a separate document alongside our Annual Report, the “Cost Transparency Metrics for 2019-20”, which seeks to summarise and explain our costs.

Next month, we will be issuing a Regulatory Return questionnaire to a selection of around 350 chambers, BSB entities and sole practitioners. The Return comprises a series of questions about the processes and controls in key areas, views on the risks that the Bar faces and some questions on topics that are a priority in our strategic plan.

When we last conducted this exercise in 2015, we found that the Return provided a rich source of information that enabled us to direct our regulatory attention to where it was needed most and helped shape our regulatory policies. We will use the information that you provide as follows:

• We will carry out a risk assessment based on your responses. This will reflect whether you have been able to demonstrate effective management of risk and compliance with the BSB Handbook. If we do identify anything specific within a practice which gives us cause for concern, then we will always seek to work collaboratively to make sure that controls are strengthened. Usually, this means that we will agree specific actions and a timeframe for implementation. Feedback from those who completed the last Return was that it was helpful in prompting them to review their policies and processes and think about where they could be improved.
• Some of the questions are on specific topics that are currently a priority in our strategic plan. Your responses will help us gather information that will contribute to our evaluation of recent policy changes or to development of our regulatory policy.
• Other questions will help us to stay up to date on changes in the profession, which will influence our assessment of risks faced by the profession.

We delayed the launch from March because we wanted to use the Return to better understand how the Bar has been affected by, and is adapting to, the ongoing health emergency and we know that this has been a very challenging time for the Bar. We know that the challenges are ongoing, so we will be giving people plenty of time to complete the Return.

We will be issuing the Returns via the MyBar portal and will be in contact with those we have selected. If you don’t hear from us, you don’t need to complete the Return.

The Legal Practice Management Association (LPMA) and the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks (IBC) will be holding a Regulatory Return Question and Answers session on Monday 14 September 2020 at 13.00pm.

The event will be attended by Julia Witting, Head of Supervision at the Bar Standards Board, who will be happy to answer any questions you have on completing the questionnaire.

You can find further details and/or register for the event online.

Further information on the Regulatory Return is available on our website and if you do have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Our Race Equality Taskforce has published two case studies to promote racial diversity and inclusion at the Bar. This marks the launch of a series of case studies that will focus on encouraging barristers’ chambers to adopt equality and diversity best practice from across the sector in order to foster a more inclusive culture in the profession.

The case studies have been written by:

• Raggi Kotak, barrister at 1 Pump Court Chambers, who writes about her experience of delivering compulsory anti-oppression training in chambers; and

• Charlotte Ogilvie, formerly an employee of Garden Court Chambers, who describes the organisation’s award-winning ‘Access to the Bar for all’ mentoring scheme.

Our Race Equality Taskforce is a group of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and White barristers which advises us on the development of strategy, policy and activity to improve race equality in the profession.

It is just over a year since the Bar transparency rules came into force. The rules were introduced to improve the information available to the public before they engage the services of a barrister by helping consumers understand the price and service they will receive, what redress is available, and the regulatory status of their provider.

We have been monitoring compliance with the rules and our most recent analysis of chambers’ websites found a marked increase in the number including information about barristers’ fees. You can read more about this analysis in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update. If your practice has not been involved in any of our spot checking exercises and therefore you have not received any feedback from us about compliance with the transparency rules, please read the guidance on our website.

Last month, we published the latest annual edition of our statistical information relating to student performance on the Bar Profession Training Course (BPTC). It provided information about the 2018-19 cohort of students which was the largest since the BPTC began. As in previous years, the report showed that training for the Bar remains highly competitive. You can read more about the latest statistics in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

If your practice is still considering what to do in relation to pupillages due to start this autumn, our online Regulatory Update  contains a summary of the latest FAQs we have published on our website about COVID-19 and pupillage. There is also a reminder about the new requirement to have written agreements in place for all pupils who started from 1 May 2020.

Finally, you may have seen that we recently published our detailed guide for candidates due to take their centralised BPTC assessments in August. You can read more about this in the online version of Regulatory Update.

We attach importance to enabling members of public to engage confidently with barristers, especially where they use the direct access route. Consumers need a good understanding of the service they will receive and the price they will pay. The transparency rules – now a year old – aim to deliver this transparency.

We are already seeing good practice. For example, 75% of chambers are compliant or partially complaint.

But here is also room for improvement.  In terms of non-compliance with the mandatory rules, common themes identified by the review were failing to provide:

• Information about the factors which might influence the timescales of a case;

• A link to the decision data page on the Legal Ombudsman’s website; and

• A link to our Barristers’ Register.

The most common areas of non-compliance with the additional transparency rules (which apply to certain public access services) were failing to provide:

• Indicative fees and the circumstances in which they may vary;

• Likely additional costs eg Court fees; and

• A description of the relevant public access services (including a concise statement of the key stages and an indicative timescale for the key stages).

We now expect any chambers or entities not in full compliance to achieve it without delay. We shall be undertaking follow-up work to check on compliance and will take supervisory/enforcement action where we find continuing failures to meet the requirements.

Last month, we published the sixth annual edition of our statistical information relating to student performance on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC). As the report has shown in previous years, training for the Bar remains highly competitive.

The report includes information about students who enrolled in the 2018-19 academic year, in total and by provider, as well as those who enrolled on the BPTC in the preceding two academic years. We introduced new Bar Qualification Rules in April 2019, and as a result, new vocational Bar training courses begin in September 2020 which will replace the BPTC.

It also features statistics on students enrolled on the BPTC between 2014-15 and 2018-19 who began pupillage following graduation from the course. This provides a wider timeframe in which to see the proportion of graduates who began pupillage within five years of completing the course. While we are very conscious of the effect that the current public health emergency is having on the Bar and may have upon the availability of pupillages in future, the data contained within this report predates its impact.

Key findings from the report are:

• 1,753 students enrolled on the BPTC in 2018-19, an increase of 134 students compared to 2017-18. This is the highest figure for enrolments since the BPTC began in 2011;

• almost half of students (47%) who enrolled on the BPTC in 2018-19 were overseas (non-UK/EU) domiciled, the same proportion as in 2017-18;

• the percentage of female BPTC students has increased from 52 per cent in 2011-12 to 56.5 per cent in 2018-19;

• of the 94 per cent who provided information on their ethnicity, the percentage of UK/EU domiciled Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students has risen to 40 per cent, around ten percentage points higher than in 2012-13;

• around seven in ten full-time UK/EU domiciled students who enrolled in 2018-19 had passed the BPTC as of January 2020, with the remaining mostly yet to complete the course. Around 9 per cent received an “Outstanding” overall grade, around 50 per cent received a “Very Competent” grade, and around 10 per cent received a “Competent” grade;

• of the UK/EU domiciled BPTC graduates, around 43 per cent of those who enrolled on the course from 2014 to 2018 had started pupillage by March 2019. This figure increases to around 47 per cent when looking at those enrolled from 2014 to 2017 only, as it can take time for more recent graduates to gain pupillage;

• of UK/EU-domiciled BPTC graduates who enrolled from 2014 to 2018 and went on to secure pupillage, 53 per cent were female; and

• when controlling for first degree class and BPTC grade, UK/EU BPTC graduates from BAME backgrounds who enrolled on the course from 2014 to 2018 were less likely to have commenced pupillage than those from white backgrounds. For example, of UK/EU domiciled BPTC graduates with an upper-second class degree and “Very Competent” overall BPTC grade, 45 per cent of those from white backgrounds had commenced pupillage, compared to around 25 per cent of the BAME cohort with the same degree class and BPTC grade. For the first time in this report, we have also published a table showing that a disparity remains even when the ranking of the first university attended is also take into account, although the disparities are less, and for all potential pupils the chances of pupillage are greater, for higher performing BPTC graduates and for higher performing students from higher ranked universities.  The BSB remains determined to address this disparity.

You can view the full report on our website.

At the end of June, we published a detailed guide for candidates due to sit the centralised assessments for the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) and the Bar Transfer Test (BTT) in August. This followed the postponement of the April 2020 sitting and May’s announcement that the exams will be computer-based.

The guide provides further details about the arrangements which we are putting in place to make sure that the exams are accessible for everyone. Students will either sit the computer-based exams remotely via Pearson VUE’s online proctoring solution or in a physical test centre. The guide explains in detail how both types of sitting will work. Discussions will be had with the small number of students whose needs cannot be met by a computer-based solution. The guide does not apply to these students as their arrangements will be bespoke and tailored to individual needs.

We have been liaising with the BPTC and BTT providers to assess students’ needs in light of the necessary change in arrangements for the August sitting. Any student whose needs are assessed as being best met in a test centre will not need to take their exam remotely via the online solution. Breaks, for example, will be permitted in test centres.

Test centre bookings will be available widely to students, depending on their other needs. Priority will be given to those who require reasonable adjustments or who have a specific need to take their exams in a test centre. Pearson VUE has the largest and most widely available network of local centres in the UK and globally.

The full guide is available on the BSB website. You can read more about arrangements for August assessments in our latest statement.

Written pupillage agreements must be used for all pupillages beginning on or after 1 May 2020. Written agreements must be signed by the chambers or other Authorised Education and Training Organisation and pupil at the start of pupillage. Offers of pupillage must also be made by AETOs to prospective pupils in writing. Upon acceptance of the offer, this must be signed by the AETO and prospective pupil. Offers must incorporate the AETO’s standard pupillage terms which must be available to the prospective pupil on their website or on request.

As a reminder, we have published Covid19 FAQs about pupillage. These include important information about the following:

• The waiver we have granted allowing pupils to progress to pupillage before they receive their Bar Professional Training Course results this year, including guidance for Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) to and details about notifying us if they decide to proceed, and
• Heads of Chambers or equivalent must contact us before an AETO takes a decision to make changes to a current or planned pupillage.

Following our announcement last month that the August centralised assessments for the BPTC and Bar Transfer Test (BTT) will be computer-based examinations, we are working closely with the BPTC and BTT providers and Pearson VUE to make sure that the arrangements we have made are fair for everyone. We know that students are anxious about taking their exams in this way and will be publishing further guidance for them around these issues shortly.

Scheduling the exams in August means that students can progress as planned to pupillage or other study/employment in the autumn. In case you missed it last month, we have produced guidance for those chambers due to take on pupils this autumn where the pupils will not have passed their BPTC or BTT by the time they are due to start.

We recently announced additional dates for the Professional Ethics exam and that the results for the other centralised assessments will now be made available on 9 October. (Professional Ethics results will be made available in early November.) You can read more about this in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

We are recruiting sixteen external examiners to ensure consistent standards of assessment by the vocational training providers. Several of our external examiners are also practising barristers and the positions are paid on a consultancy basis.  If you are interested in helping the next generation of barristers and maintaining standards in Bar training, I do hope that you will consider applying. You can find our more online.

Finally, we are currently seeking four members to join our Advisory Pool of Experts (APEX) including a barrister or lay member with expertise in money laundering regulations. Read more about this and the other APEX member vacancies in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

Further to our announcement on 13 May that the August centralised assessments for the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) and Bar Transfer Test (BTT) can be sat remotely, we have announced that the Professional Ethics centralised assessment will be held on 11 and 12 August 2020 as well as the 13 and 14 August dates previously announced and that the Civil Litigation and Criminal Litigation results will be made available in early October, a month earlier than previously announced.   

The extended dates for students to sit the Professional Ethics assessment will ensure that sufficient slots within the Pearson VUE testing system are available for students to take their exams. Students will be allocated a precise day to take their exams in the coming weeks and there will be some flexibility to take account of differing time zones. Measures will be in place to ensure there is no possibility of collusion between students sitting the exams on different dates.

The dates of the other centralised assessments remain unchanged: 17 and 18 August for Civil Litigation, and 20 and 21 August for Criminal Litigation.

Civil and Criminal Litigation results will now also be made available to students via their providers in early October. This is a month earlier than previously announced. This means anyone due to start a pupillage in October should only be awaiting their Professional Ethics result – which will be made available in early November - by the time they start their pupillage. As final overall BPTC results will only be issued once all results are confirmed in November, the BSB has also waived the usual requirement that only those who have been confirmed as having successfully passed a BPTC may start the non-practising period of pupillage.

More information about the August centralised assessments is available in a series of FAQs on the BSB website. We will publish guidance for  students sitting the exams as soon as the remaining details have been finalised.

We use APEX for advice and support, to help it develop policy and make regulatory decisions. APEX is made up of a diverse group of people from a wide range of backgrounds, who are experts in their respective fields.

Four members are sought, including three lay members and one who can be either a barrister or lay member. Each new member must possess expertise in one of the following areas:

• Equality and Diversity (lay member);
• Regulatory Policy and Theory (lay member);
• Consumer Affairs (lay member)
• Money Laundering Regulations (barrister or lay member).

APEX members will be engaged by us on a case-by-case basis and enter into a paid consultancy agreement for services with us for up to ten days work per year. We aim to recruit talented candidates and values diversity in background, skills and experience. It is committed to providing equality of opportunity for all applicants.

For more information on how to apply, please review the candidate pack. Candidates should provide a covering letter outlining how they meet the competencies required for the position(s), together with a brief CV, supporting details form, and equality and diversity monitoring form (optional).

If you have any queries, please contact Rebecca Forbes, Head of Governance and Corporate Services, ([email protected]) in the first instance.

Please send completed applications to: [email protected].

 The candidate pack can be found on our website.

Closing date: 9:00am, Monday 29 June 2020.

Interviews will be conducted remotely for the various roles in the week commencing 27 July 2020.

We are looking for Professional Ethics markers to join our marking team for the August 2020 examination.

The number of markers required will depend on the number of scripts there will be to mark.

We will allocate a number of scripts to each marker to mark. This will be confirmed once the exams have taken place (Tuesday 11 – Friday 14 August).

The role includes:

• Undertaking sample marking of 8 scripts for the question(s) you have been given to mark and collating any feedback or suggestions to your Team Leader to discuss during the Markers Meeting.
• Attending a markers’ meeting (which is likely to take place virtually). This meeting ensures all markers are trained to apply the mark scheme consistently to the standard set by the Central Examinations Board.
• Marking the scripts allocated to you, ensuring overall standards are maintained and deadlines for marking are adhered to.
• Submitting samples for moderation to Team Leaders at the designated times.

We are currently in the process of finalising a marking timetable to include key dates and deadlines but can confirm that the time commitment required from markers will be between mid-August to mid-October.

The fees for marking Ethics are:

£150 for attending the markers’ meeting (this counts as a half-day but the meeting is likely to be less than three hours).

£5 for marking each short answer question (this fee is the same for sample marking, first marking and second marking).

£3 for agreeing the marks of each short answer question (whether you act as first or second marker).

If you would like to discuss the role in more detail, please contact the BSB exams team: [email protected]

There will be other opportunities to mark for us; we are also seeking markers for the December 2020 and April 2021 exams.

We are recruiting 11 Subject Specialist External Examiners and five Subject Lead External Examiners from September 2020 to ensure that the common assessment criteria for the vocational component of Bar training specified in our Curriculum and Assessment Strategy are met.

Subject Specialist External Examiners act on our behalf in monitoring the consistency of standards of assessments set by the organisations that we authorise to provide the vocational component of Bar training (Authorised Education and Training Organisations or “AETOs”) in their specialist subject area. These are:

1. Advocacy
2. Professional Ethics
3. Opinion Writing and Legal Research
4. Drafting
5. Conference Skills

External Examiners must be competent in the relevant subject area and be familiar with quality assurance practices established in UK Higher Education. They must demonstrate integrity, impartiality and independence.

Subject Lead External Examiners co-ordinate the work of the Subject Specialist External Examiners to provide an interim and annual written report to us and to the AETO course leaders, upon whether or not:

• the assessment process measures student achievement rigorously and fairly in line with the Curriculum and Assessment Strategy; and
• the standards and the achievements of students are consistent between AETOs.

     They also report any urgent concerns as they arise.

A current list of AETOs is available on our website. External Examiners review assessments in their subject areas across a range of AETO locations but will not be required to visit them to do so. This is a change to our previous approach, as our External Examiners will no longer be required to visit AETOs to assess student experience. Some travel may be required to attend Extenuating Circumstance and Final Boards, but these can be attended remotely.

An indication of fees and time commitment for each role and subject area is shown in the Candidate Brief. External Examiners will enter into a consultancy agreement for services with us and will not be employed by us. Reasonable expenses can be claimed in line with our expenses policy.

To express an interest in one or more of these roles please send a CV and brief covering letter stating how you think you meet the requirements of the role to [email protected] by 1 July 2020. Please ensure that you specify the role(s) you are applying for.

Interviews are likely to be held online and are scheduled to take place w/c 13 July 2020.

We aim to recruit talented candidates and value diversity in background, skills and experience. We are committed to providing equality of opportunity for all applicants.

We are very conscious of the challenges currently being faced by many barristers and by those training for the Bar. So we have revised our annual Business Plan for 2020-21, which we recently published. Our immediate priorities are now:

• to enable those who could not sit their BPTC exams in April to do so as soon as possible - so we announced this week that they will be able to sit the August centralised assessments for the BPTC and Bar Transfer Test remotely. You can read more in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update;
• to help the Bar to maintain pupillages – which is why we have, this week published new guidance for chambers offering pupillage having recently  sent a survey to Heads of Chambers to find out more about how the current crisis is affecting them]; and
• to find savings in our costs wherever we can, while maintaining our regulatory capability. We announced recently that we have joined the Bar Council in implementing a pay and recruitment freeze, which aims to deliver a saving of £110,000 in our budget, along with other savings measures including furloughing some of our shared staff. 

Alongside these immediate responses to the health emergency, we are also working to understand the longer-term implications for the profession and for our regulation.  The Regulatory Return, which we have now postponed until the Autumn, will play an important role in gathering information to inform this work. 

You can read more about our latest Business Plan in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

Finally for this month, please remember that written pupillage agreements must be used for all pupillages beginning on or after 1 May 2020. You can read more about this new requirement in the online version of this Update.

Last month, we published our annual Business Plan for 2020-21 in which we set out our main priorities for the year.

The work outlined within the Plan has been revised in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic but may be subject to further review as the impact of that becomes clearer. For example, the Regulatory Return exercise has been delayed until Quarter Three in recognition of the current pressures which the Bar is facing.

The focus of our work will continue to be our day-to-day work to regulate barristers in England and Wales. This includes overseeing the education and training requirements for becoming a barrister, monitoring the standards of conduct of barristers, and assuring the public that everyone authorised to practise is competent to do so.

Our Business Plan outlines our budget for the coming year. The Budget has not yet been revised in light of the pandemic, however, because it is not currently possible to forecast what impact the pandemic will have on our income or costs. We are nevertheless already taking measures to reduce our costs including freezing salaries and non-essential recruitment. This aims to deliver a saving of £110,000 in our budget. The Chair, Vice-Chair and Director General of the BSB have also joined the heads of the Bar Council in taking a voluntary 20% pay cut.

The Business Plan also includes the following policy development and implementation work:

• enabling students affected by the cancellation of the April 2020 sitting of the Bar Professional Training Couse central examinations to have the chance to gain the necessary qualifications as soon as possible;
• overseeing the introduction of new Bar vocational training courses from September 2020;
• conducting a review of the BSB Handbook to make sure that it remains fit for purpose, relevant and accessible;
• reviewing the regulatory approach to barristers’ conduct arising from their actions outside their immediate professional practice as barristers;
• implementing a new Equality and Diversity Strategy and continuing work to encourage the reporting of bullying and harassment at the Bar;
• evaluating the impact of new Bar transparency rules which were introduced in July 2019; and
• developing a public engagement strategy to help increase public understanding about legal services, and in particular those offered by barristers, in partnership with charities and consumer organisations.

2020-21 is the second year in our current three-year Strategic Plan which was first published in March 2019.

Written pupillage agreements must be used for all pupillages beginning on or after 1 May 2020. Written agreements must be signed by the chambers or other Authorised Education and Training Organisation and pupil at the start of pupillage. Offers of pupillage must also be made by AETOs to prospective pupils in writing. Upon acceptance of the offer, this must be signed by the AETO and prospective pupil. Offers must incorporate the AETO’s standard pupillage terms which must be available to the prospective pupil on their website or on request.

You can read more about these requirements in the Bar Qualification Manual. To assist AETOs, the Bar Council has provided a template agreement.

The Legal Ombudsman has published COVID-19 guidance on its website. It is also keeping up to date with regulatory guidance as this is likely to be useful to them further down the line if complaints emerge relating to the current situation.

Our senior management team are aware that there are risks associated with remote advocacy and that new skills and competences are required – we identified this as a possible area for Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Our Director of Regulatory Operations, Oliver Hanmer, has spoken with COIC and the Inns who have equally noted this as an area for guidance to the profession. Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA) has now produced some useful guidance.

We have a statutory duty to inform the public about their legal rights and obligations. We recently helped to fund publication, and contributed to the drafting, of new guidance for Litigants in Person, in partnership with Advicenow. You can find this advice online.

Last month, we consulted Heads of Chambers about what the effect of COVID-19 has been on pupillages. We have already had some very useful conversations with some chambers but wanted to understand more widely what the effect of the health emergency has had on pupillages, or the effect it may have on future pupillages. This will help us when making decisions about how we respond to the current situation. It has also informed the new guidance which we have issued to organisations providing pupillage. The guidance outlines the factors they should consider when deciding whether to allow people to progress as planned to pupillage pending the release of the BPTC results in early November.

If you have any questions about this survey or the guidance, please email our BSB COVID-19 email address:  [email protected]

We have announced that the centralised assessments on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) and for the Bar Transfer Test (BTT) which were postponed from April 2020 to August will be computer-based examinations. The BSB exams will be delivered using Pearson VUE’s OnVUE secure global online proctoring solution, which will enable students and transferring qualified lawyers to sit the exams remotely.

We have also confirmed that anyone due to complete their BPTC or BTT this summer who has been offered a pupillage will be permitted to start that pupillage in the autumn whilst awaiting their BPTC or BTT results provided those offering that pupillage are content for them to do so.

The decisions follow the postponement of the April examinations because of the lockdown imposed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT) will reopen for registrations before the start of June. This will also be available as a computer-based test that can be taken remotely.

• The August centralised exams

We have signed a contract with Pearson VUE to deliver the August centralised assessments in Civil Litigation, Criminal Litigation and Professional Ethics via OnVUE, its online proctoring solution. The system uses a combination of artificial intelligence and live monitoring to ensure the exam is robustly guarded, deploying sophisticated security features such as face-matching technology, ID verification, session monitoring, browser lockdown and recordings.

Such robust security measures provide assurance to students (both past and present), the profession, and the public who will rely on the services provided by these future barristers, that the 2020 cohort of BPTC graduates will have been assessed to as high a standard as those in previous years as they will have taken the exams that they were intended to take in a secure environment. The revised arrangements are fully supported and endorsed by the BPTC providers.

The remote centralised exams will take place on the following dates:

• 13 and 14 August - Professional Ethics
• 17 and 18 August - Civil Litigation
• 20 and 21 August - Criminal Litigation

Students will receive instructions for sitting the exams from their BPTC or BTT provider in due course, so it is very important for them to look out for communications from their provider. The exams can be sat remotely or, in certain cases, at an extensive network of Pearson VUE’s physical testing centres around the world (subject to local health and safety guidance and prevailing restrictions at the time of the exams). Providers will be in touch with students to determine what reasonable adjustments they may need.

Full BPTC and BTT results – including both the centralised and provider-set assessments - will be issued to students at the beginning of November. We will schedule a new BPTC and BTT exam sitting in December 2020 to enable students, where necessary, to resit any of the centralised assessments.

• Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT)

We have also announced that those students intending to start their Bar training on one of the new authorised pathways starting in September will be able to sit the BCAT under the same remote proctored conditions described above. Some students have already taken the BCAT, but registrations were suspended when the test centres closed under lockdown.

We expect that the BCAT will reopen for registrations before the start of June. The BCAT can then be taken via OnVUE, Pearson VUE’s remote proctoring solution, or at a test centre where these are available. The BCAT remains an entry requirement for the vocational component of Bar training.

• Progression to pupillage

Most of those due to start a pupillage or period of work-based learning this autumn have already passed their BPTC. However, typically around a third sit the BPTC in the year that they start pupillage.

Given the exceptional circumstances and the fact that they will not know their BPTC result when their pupillage is due to start, we have waived the usual requirement this year that only those who have been confirmed as having successfully passed a BPTC may start the non-practising period of pupillage. We encourage pupillage providers to allow people to progress as planned to pupillage pending the release of the BPTC results in early November and have published guidance to them and to pupils on the factors to consider when taking that decision.

The requirement for pupils to complete their vocational training and be Called to the Bar will remain in order to commence the practising period of pupillage. Although the current lockdown may affect the number of pupillages which can be offered, we hope that as many as possible will remain available.

I am conscious that, for many, this is a difficult and uncertain time, but I know that you will continue to do everything you can to serve the interests of your clients. The role of the Regulator must be to strike an appropriate balance between maintaining rigour in the public interest and demonstrating sensible flexibility in response to the challenges facing the profession.

Since 16 March, we have been updating the information on our website about the impact of the measures to combat COVID-19. As the situation develops, please make sure you check this information regularly.

Our COVID-19 Statement includes the following:

• Information on how to continue to comply with your obligations within the BSB Handbook;
• Frequently Asked Questions for those currently providing pupillage and those intending to do so from the autumn;
• Details of the flexibility which have been introduced following discussions with the Bar Council about the 2020-21 Authorisation to Practise process;
• Frequently Asked Questions about meeting your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements during the current period; and
• Information for Bar training students following our decision not to go ahead with the April sit of the centralised Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) and Bar Transfer Test (BTT) examinations.

Our teams are working hard to provide all our stakeholders with as much certainty as we can in these uncertain times. We will publish more detail on our website as soon as we are in a position to do so.

This week we published our 2020-22 Equality and Diversity Strategy. In taking this forward in the months ahead, we will, of course, be sensitive to the demands made on the profession by the current health emergency, while also ensuring that momentum on this hugely important agenda is maintained. You can read more about our new Strategy on the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

This week we published our Equality and Diversity Strategy for 2020-2022.

This follows the publication of our Diversity at the Bar Report in January 2020, which showed that the diversity of the profession was slowly improving but that further progress is needed.

We have developed equality objectives and a corresponding action plan to increase diversity at the Bar and improve access to justice.

The strategy includes objectives to address discrimination and harassment and to review the role of regulation in enhancing access to justice and wellbeing at the Bar.

The annual Authorisation to Practise (AtP) process is now open. If you have not already done so, please visit the MyBar portal to renew your practising certificate for 2020-21. As well as paying the Practising Certificate Fee, you will need to complete a number of mandatory regulatory declarations. Please complete all the diversity data questions too to help us to improve the evidence base for our Equality and Diversity strategy. The deadline to complete the AtP process is 31 March 2020. You can read more about AtP on our website.

We are in the process of issuing the 2020 Regulatory Return to a selected group of around 350 chambers, BSB entities and sole practitioners. The Return asks respondents a range of questions including their views on the risks that their practice faces, information about the processes and controls they have in key areas of their practice, and some questions on specific topics that are currently a priority in our strategic plan such as dealing with allegations of harassment. If you do not hear from us, you do not need to complete a Return.  But, if you do receive a request, please do complete it promptly. You can read more about the 2020 Regulatory Return exercise in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

Also in the online version of this month’s Update, you can read a brief guide from us about the need to report personal data breaches under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the Data Protection Act 2018 to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). There is also information about when you might need to report such breaches to us too.

You may have seen that over the past few months we have been announcing which providers have become Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) for the provision of the vocational component of Bar training. So far, there are eight such AETOs and Manchester Metropolitan University have also told us that they intend to seek authorisation. The eight approved AETOs are: BPP University, Cardiff University, The City Law School, The Inns of Court College of Advocacy, Northumbria University, Nottingham Trent University, The University of Law, and The University of the West of England. Most of the fees being charged by these AETOs for their Bar training provision are considerably lower than the fees previously charged for the outgoing Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC).

Finally, if you are one of the current pupillage providers who was contacted by us last month to apply to become an AETO for the pupillage / work-based learning component of Bar training, please submit your application to us by 31 May if you still want to continue to be authorised by us to offer pupillages. We are sending out these invitations to apply in batches, so do not worry if we have not contacted you about this yet.

Barristers are reminded of the need to report a personal data breach under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the Data Protection Act 2018 to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) where appropriate. The ICO has a self-assessment tool and guidance to help determine whether a breach needs to be reported to them.

If the personal data breach poses a serious risk to clients or the public, barristers must also promptly report the breach to us in accordance with their duty to report serious misconduct.

Barristers must also promptly report to us if, following their report to the ICO, the ICO takes any enforcement action against them. Failure to report promptly to the BSB would constitute serious misconduct.

Finally, barristers should have regard to our confidentiality guidance in taking steps to protect personal data. 

We are in the process of issuing a Regulatory Return to a selection of around 350 chambers, BSB entities and sole practitioners.

The Return asks respondents a range of questions including their views on the risks that their practice faces, information about the processes and controls they have in key areas of their practice, and some questions on specific topics that are currently a priority in our strategic plan such as dealing with allegations of harassment.

The last time we conducted this exercise was five years ago, and we found that it provided a very rich source of information that enabled us to direct our regulatory attention to where it was most needed and to shape our regulatory policies. We know it takes valuable time to respond to these Returns but a number of chambers also told us that they found it useful too. It prompted them to review their policies and processes and think about where they could be improved.

I am delighted to confirm that Mark Neale joined us on 3 February as our new Director General. He succeeds Dr Vanessa Davies who has retired after nine years of excellent service.

Mark brings a wealth of experience from a distinguished career in public service and I am confident he has the vision and abilities to lead us into the future as we continue to seek to regulate the Bar effectively in the public interest. I know that Mark is looking forward to meeting many representatives of the Bar over the coming months.

Last month, we announced the introduction of a single recruitment timetable and written agreements for all pupillages.

The reforms will require chambers and any other Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) to recruit pupils in line with the Pupillage Gateway timetable from November 2020 in order to make pupillage recruitment fairer and more consistent. From May, we will also require written agreements between pupils and their chambers or other AETO in order to improve each party’s awareness of their obligations. You can read more about these changes in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

Version 4.4 of the BSB Handbook came into force on 3 February 2020. The new version saw the introduction of a new rule (Rule C85A) to prevent barristers from supervising immigration advisers who have been subject to serious sanctions by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or a legal regulator. You can access the latest version of the Handbook on our website.

On 31 January, we published our annual report on Diversity at the Bar. The report shows that progress was made in 2019, with the profession becoming increasingly diverse. The number of barristers providing us with their data has increased but we should very much like more of you to do so in order to help us in our work of promoting equality and diversity at the Bar. You can read more about this and access the report itself from the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update. Do please complete the diversity data questions when renewing your practising certificates for the year ahead. The annual Authorisation to Practise process is due to begin this month.

Finally, you may have seen that we have recently appointed 11 King’s Bench Walk (11KBW) to our new Tribunal Representation Panel. The move to paid legal representation at disciplinary tribunals and other enforcement hearings is an important development in our aim to conduct our legal and enforcement work as an efficient and modern regulator. We will in future seek to recover the costs of tribunal representation where appropriate in order to reduce the impact of the new arrangements on the Bar as a whole. There is more about the recent appointment in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

At the end of January, we announced reforms to the advertisement and recruitment process for pupillages.

The reforms will require chambers and other Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) to recruit pupils in line with the Pupillage Gateway timetable in order to make pupillage recruitment fairer and more consistent.

The Gateway is operated by the Bar Council and the timetable runs annually from late November to early May. This prescribes the timelines for each stage of recruiting pupils, including the publication of adverts, submission dates for applications, shortlisting, interviews and making offers. While it will not be compulsory to use the Pupillage Gateway to process applications, adherence to a single recruitment timetable will be in addition to the existing requirement to advertise all pupillages on the Gateway.

We will also require written agreements between pupils and their chambers or other AETO in order to improve each party’s awareness of their obligations.

Written pupillage agreements must be used for all pupillages commencing from 1 May 2020, and compliance with the Gateway timetable will be required from 1 November 2020, both of which will be conditions of being authorised by us to provide pupillage or work-based learning.

These developments follow a period of engagement with the profession and other key stakeholders during 2019 about the proposals, which along with other recent changes reaffirm our commitment to make Bar training more accessible, affordable and flexible while sustaining high standards. We are committed to working closely with the profession and the Bar Council to implement these reforms.

Version 4.4 of the BSB Handbook came into force on 3 February 2020. You can view, download and search it online.

The new version saw the introduction of a new rule (Rule C85A) to prevent barristers from supervising immigration advisers who have been subject to serious sanctions by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or a legal regulator.

Barristers must also have regard to the updated guidance on supervising immigration advisers.

On 31 January, we published our annual report on Diversity at the Bar. The report shows that progress was made in 2019, with the profession becoming increasingly diverse, and a growing proportion of barristers disclosing demographic data.

While the diversity of barristers and pupils in England and Wales is heading in the right direction, the report shows there is still some way to go before the Bar is as fully diverse as the society it serves.

Some of the key findings include:

• At 61.3 per cent men still outnumber women at 38.0 per cent of the practising Bar. The percentage of women at the Bar overall increased by 0.6 percentage points during the last year.
• The percentage of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) practising barristers has increased by 0.6 percentage points compared to December 2018. 13.6 per cent of the practising Bar is now BAME.
• Within the overall category of BAME there are some notable differences. There is a slightly greater proportion of Asian/Asian British practitioners at the Bar compared to that proportion of the UK working age population (7.2% vs 6.2%), and the same can be said for those from Mixed/Multiple ethnic backgrounds (3.2% vs 1.3%). The opposite pattern is found for those from Black/Black British backgrounds (3.2% vs 3.7%), and for those from Other ethnic groups (1.2% vs 3.2%).
• Male QCs still outnumber female QCs, but the percentage of female QCs increased from 15.8 per cent in December 2018 to 16.2 per cent in December 2019.
• The percentage of BAME QCs has increased by 0.3 percentage points year on year with 8.1% being BAME, 87.4% being white and 4.5% not declaring their ethnicity.
• There is a greater proportion of female pupil barristers, at 54.8%, than male pupil barristers, at 45.2%, for the fourth year in a row.
• The ethnic diversity of pupil barristers slightly exceeds that of the working-age population of England and Wales, with 19.0 per cent being BAME.
• Although there is a relatively low response rate of 53.7 per cent, of those that have provided information on disability status to us, only 6 per cent of the Bar disclosed a disability. This is substantially lower than the percentage of disabled people in the employed working age UK population estimated at 13.4 per cent.

The response rate amongst barristers disclosing their diversity information increased across all categories in 2019 except for a very small decrease for gender which is already at 99.90 per cent.

While the data follow a similar trend to those seen in recent years insofar as they show a slow and steady improvement in gender and ethnic diversity at the Bar, there is more to be done before the profession can be said fully to reflect the society it serves. One of our key strategic aims is to encourage a more diverse legal profession, and these annual diversity reports provide a strong evidence base so that action can be taken. We urge all barristers to complete the diversity data questions when renewing their practising certificates for the year ahead.

We have a statutory responsibility to monitor and promote equality and diversity both as an employer and as the regulator of barristers in England and Wales.

Last month, we published our annual Enforcement Report for 2018-19.

The report provides an overview of our enforcement work during the year to 31 March 2019 – the last full year of the enforcement processes in place prior to the changes introduced in October 2019 – and includes statistics about the volume, trends and outcomes of complaints about barristers, including disciplinary proceedings.

The key statistical findings of the report are as follows:

• Overall, 80% of complaints were concluded or referred to disciplinary action by us within the service standards of eight weeks for initial assessment, five months for concluding investigations which we instigate without an external complaint being received, and eight months for concluding investigations into complaints received from a third party. There was a strong performance in relation to the service standard for completing the initial assessment of external complaints, but the service standards for completing investigations were not achieved;
• The volume of enquiries and reports about possible misconduct by barristers (known as "pre-complaints") we received rose to 1,087 in 2018-19 from 1,026 in 2017-18;
• The number of new complaints we opened in 2018-19 (479) increased slightly compared with 2017-18 (475), and 2018-19 saw the highest number of new complaints opened in one year since 2013-14. Of the 479 complaints, those received from the public (known as “external complaints”) continued to increase for a second year running. 359 external complaints were received as compared to 304 in 2017-18 (an increase of 18%);

• Complaints from litigants-in-person (people who represent themselves in court) continued to account for a significant number of external complaints made to us, increasing from 77 in 2017-18 to 95 in 2018-19. However, 91% of these complaints were closed at the preliminary assessment stage mainly because they did not reveal any breaches of the Handbook and stemmed from the complainants not fully understanding how the court system operates or the role of barristers;

• Reports of serious misconduct received from the profession decreased to 100 in 2018-19 from 133 in 2017-18;

• The number of complaints referred to disciplinary action increased to 50 cases in 2018-19, compared with 37 in 2017-18;
• 27 disciplinary tribunals took place during 2018-19 compared with 39 during 2017-18 with findings of professional misconduct made in 84% of the cases heard by a tribunal – the same percentage as the previous year; and  

• The number of barristers disbarred in 2018-19 decreased to four, down from six in 2017-18, and the number of barristers suspended in 2018-19 was four, compared to eight in 2017-18.

In October 2019, we introduced substantial changes to our regulatory operations and decision-making, and future reporting will reflect this. The reforms, which were designed to enable us to deal with reports about barristers more efficiently and effectively, included establishing a new Independent Decision-making Body and appointing an Independent Reviewer, as well as a new single initial point of contact for sending information to us.

Read the full BSB Enforcement Annual Report 2018/19 on our website.

Following a recent open application process, we have appointed 11 King’s Bench Walk (11KBW) to our new Tribunal Representation Panel. 11KBW will provide counsel to represent us at the Bar's independent disciplinary tribunals and at a range of other hearings associated with its enforcement processes.

The Tribunal Representation Panel replaces our pro bono Prosecution Panel.  The move to paid legal representation at disciplinary tribunals and other enforcement hearings is an important development in our aim to conduct our legal and enforcement work as an efficient and modern regulator.

We began instructing counsel from 11KBW from 1 January 2020. They will be remunerated in accordance with the fee structure published as part of the open application process.  We will in future seek to recover the costs of tribunal representation where appropriate in order to reduce the impact of the new arrangements on the Bar as a whole.

The recent appointment follows our announcement in October that we have modernised our regulatory decision-making by introducing new Enforcement Decision Regulations.

From March this year we will be issuing a Regulatory Return to a selection of around 350 chambers, BSB entities and sole practitioners.

The Return comprises a series of questions that cover a range of topics including your views on the risks that your practice faces, information about the processes and controls you have in key areas of your practice, and some questions on specific topics that are currently a priority in our strategic plan.

When we conducted this exercise before, we found that it provided a very rich source of information that enabled us to direct our regulatory attention to where it was most needed. It also helped us to shape our regulatory policies.

We will be issuing the Returns in stages and will be in contact with those we have selected to tell them when they need to complete it by. If you do not hear from us, you do not need to complete a Return.

If we do identify anything specific within a practice which gives us cause for concern then we will, wherever possible, work collaboratively with you to make sure that your controls are strengthened. We may make recommendations, set actions to be completed within a certain timeframe or, in some cases, conduct a visit to your practice. Feedback from those who completed the last Return was that it was helpful in prompting them to review their policies and processes and think about where they could be improved.

Let me begin by wishing you a very happy new year. We hope you will continue to find our Regulatory Updates a useful way of staying on top of your regulatory requirements as a barrister.  

Amended Money Laundering Regulations came into force on 10 January 2020.

If you undertake work that falls within the scope of the Regulations, you should review the changes and take steps to update your anti-money laundering policies, controls and procedures to ensure that you comply with the changes to the Regulations. We have published interim guidance on our website summarising the key changes. This was developed jointly by all the legal sector regulators.

You must declare to us that you fall within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations when you apply for, or renew, your Practising Certificate or your entity authorisation. There is more important information about the amended Regulations in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

On 1 January, the rate for the minimum pupillage award increased to £18,866 per annum for pupillages in London and £16,322 per annum for pupillages outside London. You can read more about this on our website.

On the same date, new guidelines for determining whether someone is fit and proper to become a practising barrister became live. This means that those applying for admission to an Inn, and subsequently for Call to the Bar, must be assessed against these new guidelines. Again, you can read more on our website.

At the end of this month, our Director-General, Dr Vanessa Davies, will retire. Over the past nine years, she has played a vital role in transforming both the way in which the Bar is regulated and the day-to-day operations of the Bar Standards Board. Under her watch, the BSB has become a modern and more efficient regulator and the profession is now regulated in a more proportionate and risk-based way. I would like to thank Vanessa for all her sterling work and wish her a relaxing and well-earned retirement.

Our new Director-General, Mark Neale, will join us on 3 February following a recruitment process with a strong list of candidates. I am confident that Mark has the vision and abilities to lead the BSB into the future and I look forward to working closely with him.

Amended Money Laundering Regulations came into force on 10 January 2020. They contain changes brought in by the EU’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive. The regulations will continue to apply in England and Wales after Brexit. The changes include:

• an expanded definition of “tax advisers” that come within scope of the Regulations;
• additional requirements relating to Customer Due Diligence checks; and
• a new requirement to report discrepancies on the register at Companies House.

While there had been indication in the consultation paper that there may be changes to the trust registration regime, these have not been included in this legislation. We anticipate that HM Government may seek to implement changes at another time.

We have published interim guidance on our website summarising the key changes. This was developed jointly by all the legal sector regulators. If you do work that falls within the scope of the Regulations, you should review the changes and take steps to update your anti-money laundering policies, controls and procedures to ensure that you comply with the changes to the Regulations. We are currently working with other legal regulators and representative bodies to update the joint legal sector guidance. The updated guidance will be approved by HM Treasury and published on our website. We anticipate that this will be available by March 2020. Further updates will be provided in due course. There is no grace period, as such, for complying with the amended Regulations, but we will be taking a proportionate approach to enforcement.

Barristers and BSB entities must comply with the Money Laundering Regulations if the work that they do falls within scope of Regulations 11 and 12. Barristers and BSB entities must declare to us that they fall within scope when they apply for, or renew, their Practising Certificate or their entity authorisation.

If you require advice on meeting your obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations, please contact the Bar Council’s Ethical Enquiries Service.

The 2020 Authorisation to Practise (AtP) period will start in February. During AtP, all practising barristers will be required to renew their annual practising certificates and to pay the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF). We will provide more information about AtP next month, including details about the PCF rate bands for 2020-21. The Records team will be in contact with you directly when AtP opens.

Let me begin by wishing you a very happy new year. We hope you will continue to find our Regulatory Updates a useful way of staying on top of your regulatory requirements as a barrister.  

Amended Money Laundering Regulations came into force on 10 January 2020.

If you undertake work that falls within the scope of the Regulations, you should review the changes and take steps to update your anti-money laundering policies, controls and procedures to ensure that you comply with the changes to the Regulations. We have published interim guidance on our website summarising the key changes. This was developed jointly by all the legal sector regulators.

You must declare to us that you fall within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations when you apply for, or renew, your Practising Certificate or your entity authorisation. There is more important information about the amended Regulations in the online version of this month’s Regulatory Update.

On 1 January, the rate for the minimum pupillage award increased to £18,866 per annum for pupillages in London and £16,322 per annum for pupillages outside London. You can read more about this on our website.

On the same date, new guidelines for determining whether someone is fit and proper to become a practising barrister became live. This means that those applying for admission to an Inn, and subsequently for Call to the Bar, must be assessed against these new guidelines. Again, you can read more on our website.

At the end of this month, our Director-General, Dr Vanessa Davies, will retire. Over the past nine years, she has played a vital role in transforming both the way in which the Bar is regulated and the day-to-day operations of the Bar Standards Board. Under her watch, the BSB has become a modern and more efficient regulator and the profession is now regulated in a more proportionate and risk-based way. I would like to thank Vanessa for all her sterling work and wish her a relaxing and well-earned retirement.

Our new Director-General, Mark Neale, will join us on 3 February following a recruitment process with a strong list of candidates. I am confident that Mark has the vision and abilities to lead the BSB into the future and I look forward to working closely with him.

In conjunction with the Bar Council, we have published a short paper seeking views on our proposal to keep the Practising Certificate Fee (PCF) rates for 2020-21 the same as what they have been for 2019-20.

If agreed by the Legal Services Board, this would mean that PCF bands and fees for 2020-21 will remain as follows:

This proposal is in line with the commitment made in our 2019-22 Strategic Plan to provide value-for-money to the profession which funds us in everything that we do.

The paper also outlines the proposed income and expenditure budget for the whole of the General Council of the Bar (GCB) during 2020-21.

The BSB’s regulatory costs are budgeted to rise, but as the paper explains, this increase can be offset without raising the PCF fee level due to the imminent completion of the GCB’s long-term accommodation and refurbishment programme in the current finance year.

The reasons why regulatory costs are set to increase include:

• the need to maintain dual exam systems for a period of two years starting in 2020-21 during the implementation phase of our Future Bar Training programme to make Bar training more accessible, affordable and flexible whilst maintaining the high standards of entry expected at the Bar; and
• a long-standing commitment to remunerate prosecutors’ work that was previously undertaken pro bono. This initiative will help drive fairness and diversity in the profession and comes into effect on 1 January 2020.

You can read the full consultation paper online.

Last month, we announced that the rate for the minimum pupillage award that will apply from 1 January 2020 will be £18,866 per annum for pupillages in London and £16,322 per annum for pupillages outside London.

This follows our announcement in May 2018 that there would be a minimum award paid to those undertaking pupillage or any other form of work-based learning, to be set having regard to the Living Wage Foundation’s hourly rate recommendations, which are announced in November each year. The revised minimum award will apply to all pupils who commenced pupillage on or after 1 September 2019.

The minimum pupillage award first took effect from 1 September 2019 and was set at £18,436 per annum for pupillages in London and £15,728 per annum for pupillages outside London.

This increase to the minimum pupillage award reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that training for the Bar is more accessible, affordable and flexible while sustaining high standards.

The Bar transparency rules came into force 1 July 2019. The rules are designed to improve the information available to the public before they engage the services of a barrister.

More information about the new rules is available here.

To ensure compliance with the transparency rules, we will undertake spot-checking from January 2020. In addition to random sampling, we will target:

• higher risk practice areas such as immigration and family law, which are likely to have more vulnerable consumers;

• practice areas with less bespoke services, where price transparency is particularly useful for consumers; and

• Public Access services which are subject to additional price transparency requirements.

Our primary objective is to promote compliance, so where we identify chambers who are not complying, we will work with them to put things right in the first instance, rather than taking enforcement action.

For information and help in complying with the new transparency rules, please refer to our Transparency Standards Guidance.

Earlier this month, we published a report on the impact of our revised approach to regulating barristers’ Continuing Professional Development (CPD). It finds that most barristers welcome the revised scheme’s greater flexibility but lack understanding about the role of reflection in maintaining professional standards.

In January 2017, we introduced a more outcomes-focussed approach to CPD for barristers with at least three years of experience, replacing the requirement to complete a certain number of hours of CPD each year.  This was followed by an assessment in 2018, which found that just under 90% of those who were spot checked by us were considered compliant, or compliant with some feedback from us, after they were asked to submit their CPD records for 2017 – the first year of the revised scheme’s operation - for assessment.

Today’s report indicates that:

• a majority of barristers found that CPD activities are effective in developing knowledge, keeping up to date with developments in a practice area, and addressing any knowledge or skills gap;
• the new scheme has expanded the range of activities that can now count as CPD and this flexibility of CPD choices is welcomed by many barristers;
• increasingly, barristers are undertaking CPD in areas such as stress management and wellbeing training, diversity and equality, ethics, and practice management issues - areas that were not covered in the old CPD scheme; and
• use of the guidance and information about the new scheme on our website has been high and considered useful by most barristers.

The report also highlighted several areas for us to consider further. In particular:

• barristers found it difficult to understand what we mean by the concept of “reflection” and the role it plays in their learning and development; and
• the need to make the administration of CPD by barristers as easy as possible and to signpost guidance, templates and CPD record card examples on our website.

We welcome the findings of this report and are pleased to see that many of you value the greater flexibility of the revised CPD scheme. There are a number of aspects of our approach to CPD that require further review, and we are keen to help the Bar to understand the value of reflection and its role in professional development. It is a fundamental element of CPD in other sectors and provides an excellent opportunity to take stock, assess how you are performing and identify areas for further development.

We will work with the profession to make sure that our guidance on reflection supports the nature of practice at the Bar whilst also providing a framework for you to take an informed view on your future training needs.

A copy of our 2019 CPD evaluation report is available online.

Conducting a Regulatory Return with those whom we regulate is part of our risk-based approach to regulation which you can read more about on our website. The focus of the 2020 Regulatory Return will be on the aspects of our regulation which are likely to have the biggest impact on consumers if things were to go wrong in any particular barrister’s practice.

The information we receive from you will help us direct our regulatory attention in the future to where it is most needed. The Return is not about looking to catch anyone out.

If we do identify anything specific within a practice which gives us cause for concern as a result of the Returns we receive, then we will, wherever possible, work collaboratively with that practice to make sure things are put right. The action we take will vary depending on the results of our assessment of your Return. We may make recommendations, set actions to be completed within a certain timeframe, or, in some cases, conduct a visit to your practice.  

The feedback we received from the 2015 Return was positive and many of those selected told us that they found the whole process very helpful, because it helped them to manage risks within the practice more effectively.

If you are selected this time, then we hope that you will take your time to provide comprehensive answers to the questions we ask as this will be of benefit both to you and to us. Details of how to complete the 2020 Regulatory Return and how we will make ourselves available to help you, will be communicated to the selected practices when we issue the Return questionnaire next year. 

This summer we appointed AlphaPlus, an independent research company, to carry out an evaluation of the Future Bar Training reforms. This evaluation will run for at least four years and will involve evaluating both the implementation of the reforms, as well as the extent to which the reforms have succeeded in meeting their objectives.

As part of the data collection for this project we will shortly be sending out online surveys on behalf of AlphaPlus aimed at both training organisations and trainees. Collecting information at this stage of the implementation of the reforms is vital for the evaluation process – it enables the evaluation to gather baseline information from the period before the reforms are fully implemented, as well as collect valuable information on the views of those affected on how the reforms are being implemented. Any information you provide to AlphaPlus will be used confidentially and reported anonymously and will be used only for the purposes of this evaluation.