From December 2012 to March 2013 the CLC consulted on their referral arrangement provisions.
The majority of the 65 stakeholders who responded to the consultation felt that the CLC should continue to permit referral arrangements.
The 65 respondents were comprised of 36 managers of CLC Practices, 20 were licensed conveyancers employed in SRA practices, 3 were managers of SRA practices, 2 were licensed conveyancers employed in industry, 2 were licensed conveyancers who act as locums, 1 was a former licensed conveyancer and 1 was the Law Society.
55.4% of respondents were responding on behalf of their firm, and the majority of those (59.5%) did not have referral arrangements in place.
The CLC have said that the findings of the consultation will help inform their future direction.
They asked whether respondents agreed with the CLC’s current policy position that a ban on referral fees is not justifiable. This position will stand as a slight majority supported the current policy.
When the results are broken down, the larger practices by turnover favoured retention of referral arrangements whilst the smaller practices by turnover were divided on the issue.
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