Land Registry embarks on recruitment drive

What appears to be a major recruitment drive at HM Land Registry is simply a ‘routine exercise’ to ensure the department has sufficient resources to meet customer need, the Gazette has been told.

Land Registry is looking to hire 12 assistant land registrars on a salary of £56,192 outside London and £60,299 in Croydon. Responsibilities include disposing of complex, sensitive and contentious cases and complaints ‘in an efficient and timely manner’, acting as ‘technical referee’ for caseworkers to required standards of speed, accuracy and cost, and settling indemnity claims up to the £50,000 limit. Initial training will take nine months.

The organisation's latest blog post features interviews with three land registration lawyers, who discuss why they joined Land Registry, their day-to-day role and advice for potential applicants. 

The Gazette asked Land Registry if the latest recruitment exercise was to replace staff departures or if the organisation was being grown to help tackle the backlog of applications mentioned in the 2022-2025 business plan.

A spokesperson said the 12 new lawyers would replace colleagues who have left. ‘This is a routine exercise as part of our continual drive to ensure Land Registry maintains sufficient resource to meet customer need.’

The spokesperson added that Land Registry employs 102 full-time equivalent assistant land registration lawyers in the land registration lawyers team. Since April 2020, the organisation has increased its overall casework function by around 20%. In 2021, the ‘Land Registration Academy’ was established to improve training for new and existing caseworkers.

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