All legal services should come under a regulatory umbrella, the Solicitors Regulation Authority says today. In a response to the Legal Services Board’s consultation on reserved activities it calls for a fundamental review of regulation in England and Wales.

The response says the LSB’s current approach of addressing reserved activities on a case-by-case basis is not working quickly enough to protect consumers adequately.

The SRA highlights a lack of clarity for consumers about which services are regulated, a lack of consistency in consumer protection and a lack of focus on quality, standards and ethical behaviour.

SRA chief executive Antony Townsend said: ‘We welcome the Legal Services Board's consultation paper as an important opening contribution to the debate. We are keen to contribute to and take the debate forward.

‘We believe the starting point for this review should be that all legal services should be regulated in the public interest and in the interests of consumers, rather than starting from a more narrowly based review of individual activities as proposed by the LSB.

‘However, we accept that there is a case in the short term for the extension of reserved legal activities to specific activities such as will writing, while a wider review is undertaken.’

The SRA response is published in full on its website.