The SRA has announced that the keeping of the roll process will commence on 3 September.   The exercise will be carried out by paper, not online as previously expected.  They have taken the decision to continue with a paper process for keeping of the roll this year as they are focusing efforts on delivering an improved online system for PC renewals. At present, given the current  infrastructure, the SRA cannot be sufficiently confident that putting keeping of the roll online would not cause difficulties for those completing the process, and they are determined to avoid this.  Carrying out further work to make the system stable for keeping of the roll could detract from the significant progress the SRA is making with suppliers on enhancements for PC renewals and they are not prepared to take this risk.

The SRA will be writing to all individuals eligible to stay on the roll during September, enclosing an application form that can be used to confirm that an individual wants to keep their name on the roll of solicitors, request removal of an individual’s name from the roll of solicitors and inform the SRA of any changes to personal details.

There will be a fee of £20, which for this year only, will cover both 2011 and 2012.  Completed forms and payment have to be made by November otherwise individuals’ names will be removed from the roll of solicitors.  No fee is payable under regulation 6 of the Keeping of the Roll Regulations (2011) by a solicitor whose name has been on the roll for 50 years or more.