Thousands of solicitors appear to have failed to apply in time for practising certificates this year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed.

The deadline for applications, extended because of difficulties with the mySRA online application system, passed last Friday.

As the Gazette went to press on Tuesday, the SRA said 92% of anticipated applications had been submitted. Some 72,000 PCs had been issued from a potential field of 125,000. Thousands of submitted applications are still being processed. A spokesman said: ‘We are confident these outstanding applications will soon be completed.’ He said that the SRA would make contact early next week with individuals and firms which have failed to complete the process ‘to establish their individual circumstances’.

The SRA also announced it will carry out a ‘comprehensive review’ of the process to avoid similar frustrations next year. The review begins with an online survey followed by a series of workshops.