Our Practice Advice Service answers a commonly asked question from compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs)
The firm’s compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) has just been signed off sick for two months. We are a small firm and do not have a deputy COLP. Should I appoint a temporary person to cover the position, and if so, how do I go about this?
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) guidance highlights the need to have arrangements in place to ensure any duties to clients and others are fully met, even when staff are absent.
As with all areas of the business, practices should consider how they will manage the absence of a compliance officer (for example, due to holiday or illness).
If the practice ceases to have a compliance officer, it will need to:
- inform the SRA
- designate another manager or employee to replace its previous compliance officer
- make an application to the SRA for temporary approval of the new COLP or COFA if the practice is without their compliance officer(s) for a period in excess of four weeks.
Save for the last point above, this should be done immediately or, otherwise, within seven days.
Where a compliance officer is likely to be absent for a significant length of time, they may need to be replaced. Practices should err on the side of caution and, where they think this could be the case, should take prompt steps to appoint a replacement.
An application for temporary approval of a compliance officer can be made via mySRA, here.
For further information, please see the Law Society’s practice note on compliance officers.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this article, it does not constitute legal advice and cannot be relied upon as such. The Law Society does not accept any responsibility for liabilities arising as a result of reliance upon the information given.
This FAQ is compiled by the Law Society’s Practice Advice Service. Comments relating to the question should be sent to practiceadvice@lawsociety.org.
