The Law Society recorded an operating loss of £5.5m on its representative work for solicitors in the last financial year, its annual report has shown.
It was part of an overall deficit of £9.3m across the whole Law Society Group, including the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), although the regulator itself made an operating profit of £2.1m.
In all, the operating costs of the group were £134m for the year to 31 October 2019, up from £128m the year before.
The deficit was down from £11.5m in 2018, with 2019 benefiting from “a stronger than expected return on investments” – some £7m, compared to just £1.5m in the previous 12 months.
The annual report said the deficit had been budgeted for, as it was primarily driven by the £61m IT transformation project that began in 2017 and is set to last until 2022. This is two years longer than has previously been stated.
To smooth out the cost and not cause a spike in practising fees in any year, part of the project was initially funded out of reserves – which stood at £62m last October, down from £73m the year before.
Subsequent to the year-end, the Law Society announced that the SRA would become a distinct legal entity within the group, potentially triggering a difficult debate over the division of the reserves.
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