A bold programme for 2025

Following publication of CILEx Regulation’s 2025 Corporate Plan, chair Jonathan Rees discusses the regulator’s progressive programme for the year

CILEX members perform a hugely important role in providing specialist legal services, championing alternative routes into the profession, and creating a more inclusive legal sector.

At CILEx Regulation Ltd (CRL), we have a key role in supporting this through the provision of targeted and responsive independent regulation, promoting high education standards, and improving information to consumers.

In January, we published our 2025 Corporate Plan which sets out a bold programme of action to strengthen the regulation of legal executives and improve accessibility to legal services information so that consumers can make informed choices

The corporate plan sets out CRL’s priorities for delivering the first year of its new three-year strategy covering 2025-2027, which was published in November 2024 and developed in collaboration with the profession and other key stakeholders.

Over 20,000 people have seen the webinars in which we set out our plans, and we welcome the strong support for our work in successive consultations during the past 12 months. We will continue to engage widely and openly as we deliver our programme for 2025, regularly reporting on progress and publishing our board papers in advance so that those who want to, can help shape the agenda.

Strategic objectives

The Corporate Plan builds on the considerable progress CRL has made during 2024, and sets out our priorities for 2025 against each of CRL’s new strategic objectives:

• Standards and public trust
• Access to justice and consumer empowerment
• Independence and sustainability
• Be an authoritative and capable organisation

In 2025 we will remain focused on delivering a high standard of specialist regulation for CILEX members that is risk-based, proportionate and in the public and consumer interest.

Over the coming year, we will focus on contributing to the growing debate on the future shape of legal regulation. In February 2025, we convened a roundtable of key stakeholders including the Legal Services Board (LSB), Legal Services Consumer Panel, the Ministry of Justice and academics, to discuss the outcomes of the literature review we published last year on the impact of non-authorised legal services providers. We will also continue to engage with CILEX’s proposals to redelegate our responsibilities to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Education standards

We will be reviewing our new education standards to ensure they are accessible and remain rigorous, reviewing our authorisation process to minimise regulatory burden. We will also continue to champion fair access to justice, by enhancing the information available to consumers through our engagement in the development of the Regulatory Information Service and implementation of the revised transparency rules for ACCA-Probate and CILEX entities.

“We will be reviewing our new education standards to ensure they are accessible and remain rigorous, reviewing our authorisation process to minimise regulatory burden.” 

Our active contribution to the LSB’s work will continue, taking forward actions resulting from its statements of policy on empowering consumers and first-tier complaints handling, as well as engaging in the policy outputs from its work on Professionalism, Ethics and the Rule of law (PERL), and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

On EDI, we will be refreshing our EDI strategy, reflecting on the Beyond Buzzwords research from the Young Foundation published last year, as well as publishing CRL’s biennial diversity data report, which provides a rich source of data on the CILEX profession.

This progressive programme for 2025 and beyond supports CRL’s mission and purpose to ensure high standards of professional conduct and competence, protect and promote the public and consumer interests, enhance respect and understanding for CRL approved qualifications and to maintain the integrity and trust of the legal profession. We look forward to working together with you to achieve our goals.