The Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided not to alter the current rule regarding work referrals. In a conclusive vote, it was decided 13 votes to 2, not to re-impose a ban on paying for work. The SRA remained concerned however that their practice visits had revealed a persistent level of non-compliance, in particular with regard to client disclosure.

Despite these concerns, the strong vote in favour of the ban appears to indicate that the SRA believes it is better for a percentage of firms to comply with the rules and to deal with the non-compliant firms through visits than to open the floodgates with referrals going 'underground'.

The SRA's stance may be their only option on this subject although the position is not helped by their refusal to publish any draft wording of disclosure for solicitors to use. This failure leaves some practices in the unenviable position where they disclose a referral to a client but are then later criticised or even prosecuted by the SRA following a visit, because they did not like the wording used for the client disclosure.