In Industry Insights

It seems like only last month, but the SRA renewals are coming around again. Has it really been a year?

Submissions open 1/10/21 and close 31/10/21.

What’s new

The SRA are emailing firms now about some significant changes. They say that the system has been upgraded and has new features. These upgrades mean you should be able to:

  • find the bulk renewal form at the top of the list in your ‘Organisation applications’ (no longer buried!)
  • control the order you complete the form including partially completing and saving sections (removing one of the biggest headaches!)
  • have more options to search and filter your employee details
  • export your employee details from mySRA and your form and export the fee and full summary pages (reducing some of the duplication)
  • certificate generation will be automatic

This all sounds great. But regulatory IT upgrades do not have the best track record. They often fall over at the crucial time (remember when nobody had valid practising certificates for a couple of months?).

So our advice to firms is to be ready to submit as soon as the system opens or soon after. That way, you’ll have time for any bugs to be fixed, saving that sinking feeling when submitting on 29th and the system crashes!

To prepare your submission in advance, the questions can be found here.

There are three new work categories this year (Youth Court, Payment Protection Insurance and Claims Management) and a new AML question (which last year you were asked separately).

Remember, before October 1st you need to ensure:

  • that all staff with mySRA accounts have checked their details are correct
  • the person who will be submitting can remember their details to access the account (or go through the forgotten password!), and
  • that the firm’s details are up to date including all applications and notifications (such as carrying out tax advice, new managers and owners) have been completed.
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