February 2017 Newsletter

HSBC RAISES MAXIMUM LOAN THRESHOLD FOR DUAL REPRESENTATION

Good news for sole practitioners as HSBC raises loan threshold to £350,000. Sheila Kumar, Chief Executive of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers said: ‘The CLC is very pleased that HSBC treats Licensed Conveyancer firms on an equal footing with Solicitor firms that are part of the CQS.  Licensed Conveyancers do not need a CQS-style accreditation scheme because they are by their nature specialists, benefiting from specialist training in Conveyancing and operating within a system of tailored regulation.’

Find out more

HAVE YOUR SAY ON CHANGES TO CLC REGULATION

We are reviewing the CLC Handbook to make sure it takes account of changes in the market place, especially changing risks, and in regulation since the last major review. Our aim is to ensure the best possible consumer protection and to foster innovation and the development of thriving legal businesses.

We are able to tailor our Handbook very closely to the conveyancing and probate services that we regulate and that is one reason why so many CLC Lawyers tell us that regulation by the CLC is value for money and supports innovation and growth in their businesses.

In 2016 we made changes to PII arrangements and to regulatory fees. Now we are consulting on proposed changes to our approach to Continuing Professional Development and seeking your views in a survey on increasing price and quality transparency to improve consumer information.

Find you more and have your say at the links.

Continuing Professional Development

Transparency of price and service quality

CLC IS COMING TO A CITY NEAR YOU

We’re running a series of events around the country to give you a chance to find out more about our work and to get your views on changes to regulation, helping consumers make more informed choices of legal service provider and to answer any questions you might have. Participants will be awarded two hours CPD.

We’ll be in Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Plymouth, Bristol and Cardiff in February.

The events will be especially useful for managers who were not able to attend the conference on 25^th January, but all are welcome!

Click on your nearest venue to find out more and look out for the announcement of more cities soon.

QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING

Continuing recognition of prior Educational Achievements and resuming CLC studies

Past CLC students thinking about picking up their studies may be interested to know that we have changed the rules around recognising past study. We hope the changes will encourage past students to complete their qualification.  If you completed CLC study units six or more years ago, the changes will be especially helpful.

The revised guidance on the CLC website sets out our new requirements for continuing study at level 4 (previously foundation level) and at Level 6 (previously Finals level).

Anyone wishing to resume their studies should email traineelawyer@clc-uk.org – we’ll be very happy to help you get back on track.

New CLC education providers

Find out more about the new providers of education to CLC qualifications

You can watch webinars about the courses offered by MOL and Damar Training.

TACKLING FRAUD AND CYBERCRIME

Secure badge scheme

Our new secure badge scheme for CLC-regulated firms is taking off!  Over 155 firms have already registered and many are already using the new secure badge on their websites.

Find out more

Other resources

Our dedicated webpage brings together a lot of useful resources to help you tackle fraud and cybercrime.

Here are some quick links.

• Cyber Essentials: www.cyberstreetwise.com/cyberessentials/
• IASME: www.iasme.co.uk/index.php
• Action Fraud: www.actionfraud.police.uk/
• CLC: www.clc-uk.org/CLC-Lawyer/Tackling-Cybercrime.aspx
• Take Five Stop Fraud: https://takefive-stopfraud.org.uk/

Suspicious Activity Reports

The National Crime Agency (NCA) introduced improved Glossary Codes and Reporting Routes for Suspicious Activity Reports in September.

Please familiarise yourself with the new Codes set out in this new booklet, which has recently been updated: Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) Glossary Codes and Reporting Routes

The NCA has also published this briefing note on the changes and this useful guidance (also recently updated).