The Law Society’s Council yesterday ‘reluctantly’ voted to increase the practising certificate (PC) by nearly 20%, though it was stressed that ‘not one penny’ of the rise was attributable to increased spending by Chancery Lane.

The PC fee for 2010 will be £1,180, up from £995. The full contribution to the Compensation Fund, agreed at the same meeting, will rise to £390 from £150.

The main factors leading the increase are capital spending on the Solicitors Regulation Authority IT project, a likely fall in numbers of PC holders, and the implementation costs of the Legal Services Board and the Office for Legal Complaints, the Society said in a statement.

The Law Society professional body has frozen its budget for 2010 at the 2009 level. The Law Society’s share of income from each PC fee will be £256, Legal Complaints Service £281 and SRA £492. The remainder of the costs were attributed to the OLC levy.

Speaking at the council meeting, Law Society chief executive, Des Hudson, said: ‘The Law Society has been working hard to keep the PC fee as low as possible. All of the support from the Society to individual solicitors is provided for a little less than the cost of a daily quality newspaper. We are freezing the Law Society budget for representative work in 2009/2010 and we hope the SRA and LCS will follow suit with their budgets. We are also reducing the costs of the support services that we share with the SRA and LCS.

‘The increase in the 2009/10 PC fee has been driven by external pressures alone and the set-up costs and overheads at the OLC and LSB, both established by the Legal Services Act, as well as the fall in numbers of PC fee-holders . It is our intention to drive down the costs of the PC fee once the initial cost of setting up the OLC and LSB are out of the way - with the aim of bringing it down gradually to last year's level within the medium term. That ambition is dependent on the SRA and the LCS sharing the burden.’

Hudson expressed his determination to continue to reshape the Law Society to secure even better value for money for all members, while achieving effective representation of their interests and the provision of relevant services. He emphasised that the Society will continue to evolve into a more effective representative body and will be quick to respond to member demand.

‘Change and innovation will be delivered from operational savings and the ongoing effort to refocus our work. Cost saving reviews are an established part of our operations and we have within the Law Society achieved much in recent years recognising the autonomy of SRA and LCS for these purposes.’

Commenting on the LCS and SRA budgets he reiterated that the Society is asking that the SRA and the LCS take the same approach to budgeting for 2010 as the Law Society.

‘Regulation, complaints-handling and support services account for by far the majority of the PC fee. We are taking every step that is available to us to minimise the costs for the Society and in turn the burden on the profession.’