The Law Society’s Relationship Management Team North have provided the following update for November 2019:

Release under Investigation – Research

The Law Society has published new research showing that tens of thousands of suspects are being released without bail conditions for unlimited periods – leaving suspects and victims in limbo, and presenting a risk to the public.

For more details: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/policy-campaigns/campaigns/c rimin al-justice/release-under-investigation/

Probate Fee Hike – Scrapped following successful Law Society Campaign

The lord chancellor has confirmed that the government’s proposals to raise fees charged for a grant of probate have been officially scrapped.

For more details and our press release, see:

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/stories/probate-fee-hike-scrapped/

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/press-releases/u-turn-on-probate-fees-hike-welcomed/

Probate Delays Update – Backlogs are reducing

The Law Society’s Policy Team recently met with HMCTS at their new Courts and Tribunals Service Centre in Birmingham to review delays to the probate service. HMCTS are now issuing just short of 7000 grants per week. There is still a backlog, however HMCTS state they are quickly reducing this with the bulk of applications being processed within 28 days where IHT forms are present. They hope they the service will return to normal levels very shortly.

Read a full summary of the meeting here: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/stories/probate-backlogs-reducing/

VAT Treatment of Disbursements and Expenses – New Guidance

The Law Society has published new guidance for law firms that frequently make decisions about whether items such as property search fees may be treated as disbursements for VAT purposes.

You can see the guidance here: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/advice/articles/vat-treatment-of-disbursements-and-expenses/

Annual Statistics Report 2018 – Available now

The Law Society Annual Statistics Report 2018 describes the size and composition of the solicitors’ profession and trends in entry to the profession.

See summary in their press release: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/press-releases/increasingly-diverse-solicitor-profession-more-closely-reflects-society/

You can read the full report here: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/research-trends/annual-statistics-report-2018/