The move follows concerns over the SRA’s handling of three law firm failures
The LSB SRA enforcement action is being stepped up after the Legal Services Board (LSB) announced further measures against the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) following its handling of the failures of Axiom Ince, SSB Law and PM Law.
The LSB announced the decision on 3 September 2026. It said the proposed action is intended to secure urgent and measurable improvements in the SRA’s performance.
The development follows the publication of an independent review into the SRA’s handling of events before its intervention into PM Law. The review, conducted by Jenner & Block LLP, found that the SRA missed opportunities to identify problems earlier because information held about PM Law was not brought together effectively. It also found that decisions were taken with incomplete information and that capacity constraints limited the SRA’s ability to respond to emerging risks as quickly as it should have.
The SRA has accepted that it missed opportunities to act sooner. Its chair, Anna Bradley, said the findings showed that the regulator had further work to do despite reforms already under way.
The SRA has identified client money, data and risk management, supervision, and organisational capacity as areas requiring further attention. It is developing a more intelligence-led approach intended to bring together information about firms and individuals so that risks can be identified earlier.
The LSB’s latest action also follows earlier enforcement measures concerning Axiom Ince and SSB Law. In May 2025, the LSB issued directions requiring improvements to the SRA’s approach following the Axiom Ince review. In March 2026, it issued a public censure and mandatory performance targets following its review of the SRA’s handling of SSB Group.
Alongside the PM Law review, the SRA published an independent assurance review by the Berkeley Partnership examining its progress against the LSB’s section 32 directions following Axiom Ince.
The review found that 80% of the 60 implementation steps in the SRA’s action plan had been fully met. The remaining 20% were either future actions or partially met. However, further work was identified as necessary to ensure the reforms achieve the outcomes required by the directions.
The Law Society said the LSB was right to take further enforcement action and strengthen its oversight of the SRA. Its president, Mark Evans, said the profession needed confidence that changes and increased regulatory funding would deliver improvements for both solicitors and consumers.
The LSB said it was not satisfied that the changes introduced by the SRA had consistently delivered improved outcomes for the public and consumers. It identified continuing challenges involving the pace of regulatory action, organisational focus, specialist capability, systems and governance. The LSB is therefore maintaining existing measures while introducing additional targets and more frequent independent assurance.
The development places continued regulatory improvement at the centre of the SRA’s response to the failures examined by the independent reviews.