The SRA Compliance Officer Thematic review

Description

On 11 December 2025, the SRA released the report on the thematic review into the roles of the Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP) and the Compliance Officer for Finance and Administration (COFA). It looked at how the people in these roles were carrying out their regulatory duties.

The roles of the COLP and COFA were introduced in the SRA Handbook in 2011 with them taking up these roles from 1 January 2013. All law firms must have a COLP and a COFA.

This thematic review looked at 25 law firms and 36 individuals were spoken to on key areas surrounding these roles. The SRA looked at compliance reviews, internal breach logs and learning and development records during the review.

There were four key areas that the SRA wanted to look at during this review. They were:

· How and when law firms choose their compliance officers

· Whether compliance officers understand and are meeting their regulatory obligations, including ensuring their ongoing competency

· Compliance systems, controls, and processes in law firms, and how compliance officers oversee and manage them

· Risks and challenges for compliance officers.

So what did the SRA find out in this review?

In this one hour webinar we will look at the findings of the review and the answers to the above points. Some of the answers may surprise you!

To attend, please email Alice.wylie@sussex-law.co.uk