9 September 2013
Have we gone compliance mad?
A new email last week from one of our many compliance bodies got me thinking hard about just how much compliance dictates my day. Whilst sat sipping on my first coffee of the day I pondered for a moment about just how ridiculous compliance had become, not just in my work life but in everyday life. What was the offending email I hear you shout, it was the SRA informing me about changes to the collection of Diversity data.
No longer will the SRA be offering a service to collect this "valuable" piece of information, solicitors have to make arrangements to do this themselves, submit it to the SRA and publish a summary of it on their website. Now I am sure this information must be relevant to somebody, but as far as I can see it has no relevance in everyday life, and surely can make no difference to whether we run a good practice or not. I can honestly say I have never trawled a website looking for a company's diversity data before deciding if I will use their services, and I am sure the vast majority of individuals in this country are the same. Surely it comes down to the service you receive and price?
However I am required to send a form out to every individual in the firm, analyse their responses, submit this to the SRA and work out just where it should go on the website, having paid the web company to change the site to accommodate it. Makes sense to me...
Well that's all for now, I am off for a second cup of coffee whilst ensuring the Office Manual, Business Plan, Compliance Folder, HR Manual, COLP/COFA requirements, file reviews, continuity plan (I think you get the picture) are all up to date. If you missed it, the link for the offending information is http://www.sra.org.uk/diversitydata
Paul Rollinson is the Practice Director at JWP Solicitors.
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