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LSB to take on £110,000 cost of supervising immigration advisers

Immigration work: other regulators can apply for designation

The Legal Services Board is expected take over responsibility for overseeing the regulation of immigration advisers by the legal professional bodies from the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC), starting in April 2011.

In a letter to the Lord Chancellor asking that the transitional period under schedule 18 of the Legal Services Act be ended on 31 March, the LSB agreed to take over the OISC’s oversight of the regulation activities of the Law Society, Bar Council and Institute of Legal Executives.

Under schedule 18, the LSB will also be able to provide for other approved regulators to apply to become designated qualifying regulators of immigration advice.

At the moment the three regulators pay the OISC a levy for its oversight regulation role. In 2009-10 the bill was around £110,000. But in a summary of the risks and mitigations involved in the transfer of powers, presented to the LSB’s board in September, it was made clear that the LSB would have to budget for the extra burden.

The document said: “The OSIC currently charges… for each regulatory activity that it does. The LSB does not consider that this arrangement would practically fit with its regulatory approach.”

Legal Futures Blog

Run that past me one more time

If ever there was a “what the…?” moment since setting up Legal Futures, it was the news that the Stobart Group is entering the legal services market. The story launched many an attempt at humour on Twitter, but I will gladly put them to one side. One can see some challenges for this venture, not least that while Eddie Stobart is a well-known brand, especially among motorway travellers, it is not known for delivering any services, let alone professional ones, to consumers.

May 18th, 2012

LSB to take on £110,000 cost of supervising immigration advisers