With less than six months to go until the old CPD requirements no longer apply, the SRA is reminding solicitors and law firms to get ready for the new approach to continuing competence.

All solicitors must move to the new approach on 1 November 2016. The counting of CPD hours will no longer be needed and the requirement to do particular types of training, whether accredited or not, has also gone. Instead solicitors should reflect on their practice and the quality of their work, then undertake meaningful training to make sure they stay up to date and competent.

A recent SRA survey shows almost half of the law firms and solicitors who responded have already moved to the new approach. Of these, 60 percent said they did this at no extra cost to their business and were able to align it with their firm’s existing systems. Three quarters said adopting the new approach took just three months or less.

The SRA have produced a toolkit to help both solicitors and law firms make the move, including advice on planning and recording learning, downloadable templates and real-life examples.

The new approach to continuing competence is linked to the SRA’s Competence Statement published in April 2015, which defines the standards required of all solicitors.

The toolkit can be found at www.sra.org.uk/toolkit/