The SRA has replaced its misconduct reporting process.

A new online form – available here as a Word document download – is now in use for all reports, whether that’s self-reports from firms, concerns raised by members of the public, or reports from other regulated individuals. The old form has been retired and will no longer be accepted. The change was confirmed in the SRA’s Compliance News update (Issue 147, February 2026), which warned that firms who had saved the old form – a common practice among COLPs preparing for rapid self-reporting and it’s downloadable nature – would no longer be able to use it to submit concerns.

Why have the SRA replaced their misconduct reporting form?

The new form has been designed to guide reporters through the process more clearly, helping users determine upfront whether the SRA is the correct organisation to approach. For example, it distinguishes between conduct complaints (SRA), service complaints (Legal Ombudsman), and billing disputes (court assessment). This is intended to reduce misdirected reports and allow firms to self-report issues more easily. The SRA’s decision to build this triage function into the form itself reflects a longstanding challenge: a significant proportion of reports received by the regulator have historically concerned matters outside its jurisdiction, diverting investigative resource. By directing complainants towards the Legal Ombudsman or the courts at the point of submission, the new form aims to ensure the SRA’s intake is better targeted from the outset.

If your firm has the old form saved – as many compliance officers do for rapid self-reporting – it needs to be replaced. We haven’t been able to find any control data within the form itself that states it’s the latest version, so we’d recommend you give it a very clear file name to this effect, or better still, only access it via the link above each time it’s needed.

Are misconduct reports in UK law firms going up or down?

Concerns about the increase in overall reports to the SRA are notable: the regulator received a monthly average of 1,375 reports in the year to October 2025, up 34% year-on-year, and opened 40% more investigations per month as a result. The SRA’s own enforcement strategy makes clear that failure to self-report promptly is itself treated as potential misconduct – and can be used as evidence of dishonest behaviour. Ensuring your firm’s self-reporting process is operationally ready at all times, with the correct form immediately accessible to the COLP and COFA, is therefore a compliance requirement in its own right, not simply an administrative convenience.

It is also worth reminding fee earners and managers of what the self-reporting obligation covers. Firms and individuals regulated by the SRA are required to report all serious misconduct – including criminal convictions and cautions, serious financial difficulty, and conduct that amounts to a breach of the SRA Standards and Regulations. This duty extends beyond client matters to personal conduct. The SRA’s guidance on reporting and notification obligations sets out detailed examples of when the reporting threshold is met, including patterns of misconduct and situations involving dishonesty, abuse of trust, or misuse of client money.

Actions for you

• Update your firm’s breach log and self-reporting protocols to reference the new SRA report form. The new form is accessible here. Do not rely on any previously saved version of the old form, which will be rejected.
  
  
• Ensure your COLP knows where to access it. Consider bookmarking the live form URL directly on your compliance officer’s browser, rather than saving a static copy, so that the most current version is always used.
  
  
• Confirm internal policies cite the current process, not the retired form. This includes your firm’s breach register procedures, COLP reporting workflows, and any training materials that reference the self-reporting process. Given the volume of reports now being received – and the 40% increase in investigations opened – the SRA’s capacity to identify firms that are not reporting when they should is increasing, making prompt and accurate reporting more important than ever.