A seventh version of the Handbook was published on 1st April 2013.
There are three groups of changes contained in Version 7:
- The SRA Code of Conduct and the SRA Glossary have been amended to implement the ban on referral fees in personal injury cases set out in sections 56-60 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) (which came into force on 1 April 2013).
- As part of the SRA’s “Red Tape Initiative” to remove unnecessary regulations and simplify regulatory processes, a number of changes have been made to the SRA Authorisation Rules, SRA Practice Framework Rules, SRA Practising Regulations, SRA Training Regulations and the SRA Glossary.
- A number of other amendments have been made to update references and correct errors. In particular, from 1 April 2013 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) became the statutory regulators of financial services business, replacing the Financial Services Authority (FSA). References to the latter throughout the Handbook have been amended accordingly.
