The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) is introducing new requirements for individuals and firms to undertake and report on ongoing competence, as part of a new Ongoing Competence Code.
The code, effective from 1st November, includes the assessment of training by senior colleagues. Individuals will be required to complete and report on a minimum of eight ongoing competence activities each year.
Four of the activities must be assessed and may include written scores or feedback on work verified by a senior colleague, to ensure “learning has been properly understood, reflected upon, and embedded, and that lawyers are able to apply their knowledge and skills effectively in their day-to-day practice”.
A new requirement for practice-wide reporting will also be introduced, and is intended to bring together learning and development across supervision, compliance and management leads, with ongoing competence treated and recorded as part of day-to-day governance and risk management.
There is no minimum number of activities for practices to complete, the CLC said. Instead, firms will record and report relevant activity to their key compliance personnel, which includes CLC-registered managers, heads of legal practice (HoLPs), heads of finance and administration (HoFAs) and money laundering reporting officers (MLROs).
The review of ongoing competence requirements was undertaken last year as part of revisions to the CLC’s Code of Conduct, which was reviewed at the same time.
A newly created role in each firm will be responsible for reporting ongoing competence activity to the CLC and must be in situ by 31 October 2027. The CLC said it will take a “supportive approach during the first cycle… while practices build confidence in the new reporting regime”.
Claire Richardson, director of authorisations at the CLC, said: “By introducing a formal reporting requirement for practices, the CLC is the first legal services regulator to require firms to account annually for how ongoing competence is being used in a strategic and structured way to support, improve and assure the delivery of legal services.
“We already know from our close monitoring and inspection work that most practices are committed to maintaining high standards and take ongoing competence extremely seriously.
“This new approach is designed to support that and encourage planning. At the same time, it will shine a light on practices that aren’t implementing ongoing competence strategically within their compliance function and management teams.
“Our focus, as always, is on improving competence but also supporting better outcomes for consumers and practices through clear expectations, proportionate evidence requirements and a framework that promotes continuous improvement.”
