News from the Board

Reflections on our March Board meeting – Anna Bradley, SRA Chair

11 May 2026

Delivering change continues to be the key theme in our discussions. At March's board meeting we covered two significant topics: our strategic priorities and next steps on the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE).

Delivering strategic change

Chief Executive Sarah Rapson has announced the priorities for change that will drive our work for the rest of 2026. These priorities are informed by the many conversations Sarah has been having with legal services professionals and the wider public in recent months, to understand better what they need from us.

Acting on these four priority areas will make sure we deliver on our current strategy. It will also help us to build the foundations for where we need to be as a regulator in the longer term.

There has already been good work done by the organisation on making sure we are getting the basics right – such as improving how we use our data and intelligence to spot and respond to risks in the market. But this remains foundational and there is still far more to do.

Looking further ahead, the legal services market, and the risks within it, are shifting rapidly, which makes it even more important that we ask ourselves fundamental questions about how we regulate. And we also need to make sure we have the right capacity and capability to regulate effectively.  

We are clear on the direction of travel. For instance, we recognise we need to become more agile, use a wider range of tools, so we can step in sooner on high-risk issues to protect the public and prevent damage being done.

We want to develop our thinking through discussion with our stakeholders and plan to  start of conversations about our 2027 to 2030 strategy over the coming months. We will formally consult on the new strategy toward the end of this year, with a view to it coming into effect from the end of 2027.

Four years of the SQE

We took the opportunity to focus on reflections of  the first four years of the SQE.

We have published the most recent annual report and analysis from the independent reviewer, which shows we have made good progress on the SQE. There are signs that it is starting to have a positive impact on further opening up the profession to talented people from all backgrounds. The evidence also shows the assessment is valid, reliable and fair.

While Kaplan, the SQE assessment provider, has done much to address earlier operational problems, there is still work to be done to make sure the SQE is running as effectively as possible, and has the full confidence of all stakeholders, including candidates. We are keen to understand the full range of concerns and make any appropriate changes.

Some improvements are already in train, and we discussed what more we could do, based on the feedback and suggestions we have already received. We will update on this work in the summer.

Alongside, we will gather more evidence and views on the SQE. For instance, we have launched a new employer-focused SQE stakeholder forum. International assessment experts, ETS, are beginning the planned technical evaluation of the SQE assessment. We are also speaking to stakeholders to gather their views on possible changes to the Statement of Solicitor Competence and Functioning Legal Knowledge, which form the basis for the SQE.

All of this will help test what is working well and what needs changing so we can fulfil our commitment to make improvements.