Law Society Council sets PC fee 23% lower at £328

The Law Society Council has approved plans to reduce the cost of an individual practising certificate fee next year by more than 23%.

Chancery Lane said the decision to reduce the individual PC fee from £428 to £328 reflected a reduced funding requirement for the Law Society Group. The group has a net funding requirement for 2012 of £94.8m, down from £121.7m. Fees paid by solicitors firms will fall also by 23%.

The Law Society Council also approved the SRA Board’s recommendation to raise contributions to the Compensation Fund by £13.5m for 2011/12. This means individual Compensation Fund contributions will be £60 in 2012, while firms will pay £770.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson says: “The closure of our defined benefit pension scheme, together with the benefits of the investments made over the last few years in systems and a major cost reduction and efficiency programme, has enabled the Society to make a significant reduction in the PC fee for next year.

“It is our intention to continue to contain the costs of the Law Society in the coming years.”

Practising fees go towards:

• The costs of regulation, carried out by the Solicitors Regulation Authority
• Much of the Law Society's work as a professional body, and
• The levies the Law Society has to pay towards the costs of the Legal Services Board, the Legal Ombudsman and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.