Sole practitioners in England and Wales have been removed from the conveyancing panel of the merged Britannia Building Society and Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) after negotiations with the Law Society failed to reach agreement.

However, their colleagues in Scotland and Northern Ireland have been granted an extension to 21 October while the Scottish and Northern Irish law societies explore options to provide insurance cover using their respective compensation funds.

Mike Fairbairn, CFS director of risk, said that he did not expect such assurances to be forth­coming from Chancery Lane.

Law Society president Robert Heslett said the reassurances sought by CFS about the compensation fund were ‘completely unrealistic’. He added: ‘In effect, they want the compensation fund to offer the same coverage as professional indemnity insurance. This ignores the fact that the compensation fund is a limited fund of last resort, which must be operated in accordance with statutory discretions and policies.’ He said the societies of Scotland and Northern Ireland were likely to face the same constraints.