Probate News: Issue 16 2021
Issue 16 of Probate news covers Probate accreditation, 2021 diversity survey, Best Practice Guide and more information on the HMCTS update.
In this issue
Probate accreditation: What your fee pays for
ICAEW consulted with firms on 2021 probate fee levels. After considering those responses and current economic circumstances together with discussion and approval from the ICAEW Regulatory Board (IRB), we decided there would be no increase in authorisation or licensing registration fees for 2021. ICAEW supports the Legal Services Board (LSB)’s initiative to be transparent around professional fees. In this new document, we have summarised what your annual probate fee pays for and highlighted the value and benefits of being an ICAEW accredited probate firm.
HMCTS update
- Probate practitioners submitting applications on MyHMCTS now need to confirm that 20 working days have elapsed since they submitted form IHT400 to HMRC. This will align the HMCTS and HMRC processes allowing us to process applications with fewer delays and stops.
- A new and improved dashboard is due to be released. This improvement will make it easier for professional users to see the progress of their application and will make the process of amending an application clearer and more intuitive.
- HMCTS requested we highlight these FAQs and online guidance for professional users. These documents will be updated as soon as any changes are made. This will include removing all references to ‘solicitors’ and replacing these with ‘probate professionals’.
Final opportunity to incorporate our Best Practice Guide
A final reminder to ensure you have updated your communications and website in line with our Best Practice Guide to Price and Service Transparency by the end of the month.
The outcome of our last review will then be published and we will also confirm if changes to the Probate Regulations will need to take effect.
We have published a number of resources to help your firm review your communications, including this webinar which discusses the benefits of greater transparency and the areas your firm should look to review.
Are you ready for the 2021 diversity survey?
Your data should be collected on or close to 31 March 2021. If you haven’t yet created your survey via the Riliance software, please do so as soon as possible. Creation of the survey will generate a survey link that you can email to your staff and then please download the overall survey report from the Riliance website and submit it to regulatorysupport@icaew.com.
Sole practitioners with no staff should return their survey via this excel template. (The ‘prefer not to say’ option is available for all questions if there are any responses you do not wish to share.)
A reminder that we should receive your data by 30 April 2021 along with a short interpretation of the results.
If you have any questions regarding the survey, you may find it useful to watch this recording of our 2021 diversity webinar.