In the light of the decision of the Civil Appeals Office to list the appellants’ renewed application for permission to appeal the original decision of the Divisional Court for the 9 May 2014, the Joint Advocacy Group has issued a statement relating to the QASA registration timetable. Whilst all members have stated that they remain committed to ensuring that all advocates wishing to undertake criminal advocacy are QASA registered by 31 December 2014, nevertheless each has decided to adopt a slightly different approach to the phasing of registration. These approaches are:

BSB – The BSB has suspended the phasing of QASA registration pending the outcome of the hearing on 9 May 2014, after which the phasing timetable will be reviewed. All barristers who wish to undertake criminal advocacy remain required to register by 31 December 2014.

SRA – The SRA will review the current registration timetable for Solicitors once the Court has made a decision on the renewal application. The SRA will issue further information on registration requirements at this stage.

IPS – The closing date for CILEx advocates to register with IPS under the QASA scheme remains 30 May 2014, as previously notified to advocates. IPS will review the date after 9 May and will let advocates know whether it needs to change then.