The Legal Services Board (LSB) should continue to strengthen its oversight of regulators’ performance to avoid consumer harm and prevent collapses such as Axiom Ince and SSB Group from happening again, the Law Society of England and Wales says.
The comments were made in the Law Society’s response to the LSB’s 2026/2027 business plan consultation, which sets out its objectives and policy priorities for the coming year.
“The LSB continues to acknowledge calls from stakeholders to focus on its core functions under the Legal Services Act 2007, Law Society president Mark Evans said.
“Strengthening regulatory oversight by monitoring regulators’ performance and identifying key concerns will directly benefit consumers of legal services.
“This is particularly important given the LSB’s identification of the legal market’s continuous and rapid change, to avoid repeats of firms collapsing and consumer harm such as Axiom Ince and SSB.
“Robustly holding regulators, such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), to account via close monitoring of the enforcement actions initiated against them will ensure the public can have confidence that regulators are working effectively and in the public interest.
“This is particularly important to prevent or mitigate the risks of Axiom Ince and SSB-type scenarios happening again.”
Following the Law Society’s comments on Friday, the SRA confirmed on Monday that it is investigating a scenario of potential fraud and misappropriation of client money at PM Law, which closed suddenly earlier this month.
Law Society chief executive Ian Jeffery urged the SRA to “move quickly” in its investigation, to give consumers and the profession confidence that swift action is being taken.
“It is important that the SRA applies the lessons it learned from the Axiom Ince and SSB Group cases, in understanding and managing key risks effectively, as well as ensuring that clients are not left in legal limbo and out of pocket,” Jeffery said.
Legal Services Board draft business plan 2026/27 – Law Society response
