Probate Services (Approved Bodies) Order 2008

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Probate Services (Approved Bodies) Order 2008. The noble Lord said: This order is presented under Section 55 of, and Schedule 9 to, the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. It will enable the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers to become approved bodies which can authorise their members to provide probate services for a fee, gain or reward. By probate services, I mean the preparation of any papers on which to found or oppose a grant of probate or a grant of letters of administration. At the moment, Section 23 of the Solicitors Act 1974 restricts the provision of probate services for a fee, gain or reward to specified legal practitioners; namely, solicitors, barristers and notaries. However, Section 55 of the Courts and Legal Services Act provides an exception for members of an approved body. The ICAS and the CLC are the first applicants seeking to provide probate services under the Courts and Legal Services Act approval mechanism since the provision was commenced in December 2004. The applications have passed through the required statutory approval procedure set out in Schedule 9 to the Courts and Legal Services Act. In doing so, they have been considered and approved by the legal services consultative panel and the president of the Family Division and, as a result, have our full support. Briefly, the ICAS is a professional body of accountants which received its royal charter in 1854 and has more than 17,000 individual members and 200 member firms. Members are required to meet the academic and post-qualification requirements of the ICAS before being eligible for membership and obtaining accountancy-practising certificates. Its members routinely have long-standing relationships with clients, giving them tax and financial planning advice. Under the terms of the application, probate practising rights will be granted only to members who currently hold practising certificates in accountancy and who wish to provide probate services in England and Wales only. Before members of the ICAS are granted practising rights, they will need to show that they can satisfy the requirements set out in Section 55 if they wish to provide probate services. These include being suitably trained and ensuring that their employees are suitably trained, including meeting the continuing professional development requirements set by the ICAS; having satisfactory insurance and compensation arrangements in place to cover adequately the risk of any claim made against them and to protect the client in the event of them ceasing to provide probate services; and having a complaints scheme in place, including a route of appeal to the Legal Services Ombudsman. As with members of the ICAS, members of the CLC will need to demonstrate they have the similar arrangements in place before being granted probate rights. The CLC was established in 1987 by the Administration of Justice Act 1985 to regulate licensed conveyancers in the provision of conveyancing services. It currently has around 1,043 licence holders and 42 recognised bodies. Members are required to have undertaken the qualification and practical training requirements set by the CLC before being granted a licence to practise. Only those members who hold licences will be eligible to apply for a probate-practising certificate. In order to meet the full requirements set out in Section 55 of the Courts and Legal Services Act, the CLC requested approval to extend its existing compensation fund to cover probate matters. An order to this effect came into force earlier this year. This will ensure that clients of licensed conveyancers will be protected against fraud, negligence or dishonesty on the part of the licensed conveyancer. Consumer protection is something that both the ICAS and the CLC have demonstrated they take seriously in their applications. As established professional bodies in their fields of expertise, they already have in place effective systems of monitoring and enforcement. They have made sure that they and their members have, or will have, in place suitable arrangements for the provision of probate services. The potential benefits to the consumer of these bodies being approved include: more choice of provider; more competitive prices; and, in the case of organisations such as the ICAS which have an existing customer base, the opportunity to provide them with a more cost-effective and efficient service. This is precisely what Section 55 is intended to do and is in keeping with the principle, which is central to our policy, of providing new or better ways of providing legal services and a wider choice of persons providing them at more competitive prices. If consumers are unhappy about the way in which the ICAS or the CLC has dealt with a complaint about one of its members providing probate services, they can refer the case to the Legal Services Ombudsman. The ombudsman’s jurisdiction was extended to cover bodies authorised under Section 55 in October 2004, shortly before the Section 55 provisions were commenced. She has been approached by both organisations and has agreed to accept complaints from both bodies relating to the probate services provided by their members. It is not anticipated that the LSO will receive a high number of additional complaints per year if this order is approved. In the longer term, complaints about these two bodies’ members will be dealt with by the new Office of Legal Complaints in line with complaints about members of other legal professional bodies. If this order is approved, a subsequent order will need to be laid. This will amend the Legal Services Act to bring both bodies under the jurisdiction of the Legal Services Board and ensure that they retain their probate rights in the future regulatory regime. I commend the order to the Committee. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Probate Services (Approved Bodies) Order 2008. 22nd report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(Lord Bach.)