The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced the deadlines for its mandatory diversity survey. Firms need to report their diversity data to the SRA between 9 June and 4 July 2024.
VinciWorks is offering all law firms free use of our Omnitrack software to collect their diversity data across your firm. Updated and categorised to meet the SRA’s requirements, using Omnitrack will mean your survey data is ready to be uploaded in minutes.
Listen again to our LinkedIn Live session on best practices for collecting, reporting and publishing your 2025 diversity survey data.
Which size firms are required to report diversity data?
All firms, of any size, even sole practitioners will have to collect and report the data to the SRA. However, in-house lawyers will not need to report.
How do firms collect the SRA’s diversity data?
In order to make this mandatory report to the SRA, firms will need to collect diversity data, based on a questionnaire, from all staff. The firms will then have to collate the data and organise it by specific job roles before submitting it to the SRA.
You can use the SRA’s Word version of the questionnaire or VinciWork’s SRA diversity survey data collection tool.
Have the questions changed?
Yes. In light of the Supreme Court judgement in For Women Scotland, the SRA have amended their questions. The survey question will now ask: ‘What is your sex?’ and provide options to answer ‘male’, ‘female’, and ‘prefer not to say’. The gender identity question will now ask: ‘Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?’. And provide options to answer ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘prefer not to say’.
If you have already begun surveying staff using the old wording of the question which had the option ‘other preferred description,’ the SRA advised to add the ‘other’ responses to the default category in the reporting form, which is labelled ‘invalid/no response to this question.
Alternatively, the SRA suggests firms can collect the data again, however they make clear they do not think it is proportionate to ask firms to repeat the survey. So either approach is valid.
Who is responsible for collecting diversity survey data?
The entity responsible for collecting diversity survey data within your organisation is the Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP), who is responsible for ensuring compliance with all SRA diversity requirements. It is possible to delegate or outsource this responsibility if necessary.
Who needs to complete the SRA Diversity Survey?
The individuals who are required to complete the Diversity Survey include all members of your firm, with an opportunity provided to each individual to participate in the survey. While you may encourage them to complete the survey, it is not possible to compel them to do so.
This encompasses all full-time and part-time staff, including those on extended leaves, such as maternity or long-term sick leave, and all temporary employees, such as consultants who have been contracted to the firm for over three months.
However, it is not necessary to include any third-party entities or individuals who have been outsourced work, other external experts who have been engaged by the firm, or anyone who is typically located outside of the UK.
What information needs to be collected?
The SRA requires that firms report the following aggregate diversity data:
- Employee role
- Age
- Employee sex and whether their gender identity is the same as the sex registered at birth
- Information on any health issues or disabilities
- Ethnicity and religion
- Sexual orientation
- Socio-economic background
- Childcare and other caring responsibilities
- Whether someone has a disability and whether they have any conditions which limit their ability to carry out day to day activities
What are the role categories?
The data must be collated and reported by role categories. Each member of staff must be put into one of the following categories:
- Full equity solicitor partner
- Salaried or partial equity solicitor partners
- Solicitor (not partner)
- Other fee earning role
- Role directly supporting a fee earner
- Managerial role
- IT/HR/other corporate services role
- Barrister
- Chartered Legal Executive (Fellow)/CILEx Practitioner
- Licensed Conveyancer
- Patent or Trade Mark Attorney
- Costs Lawyer
- Notary
- Prefer not to say
What are the data protection requirements for the SRA diversity survey?
This collection process must be done in compliance with data protection law, to ensure that it is collected, stored and processed safely.
You can opt to collect the data anonymously, but the SRA recommends that you link the data to an individual by reference to a confidential ID number.
How does the SRA use the data from the diversity survey?
The SRA uses the data primarily to update its law firm diversity tool, to inform policy and promote diversity in the profession. It also has reporting requirements to the Legal Services Board and the Ministry of Justice.
Who should you collect data from for the SRA diversity survey?
Everyone that works at the firm (not just solicitors). This includes:
- Full-time and part-time staff
- Staff on maternity leave or sick leave
- Temporary staff and consultants working at the firm for more than three months
You do not need to collect data from contractors, barristers, experts engaged on individual matters or staff that are based outside of England and Wales.
Is it required to publish your firm’s diversity data on your website?
Yes, you must publish your firm’s diversity data, but only in a way that does not identify anyone. The SRA has more information on how to publish this data, particularly if you are concerned about identifying individuals. With Omnitrack, you can use the dashboard and reporting functions to create visually descriptive reports, graphs and outlines to publish and share with stakeholders.
SRA diversity survey collection tool
Although you can use the Word document provided by the SRA, this will require considerable administrative work.
You will need to:
- Send the survey out to all staff
- Collect responses in a confidential manner that encourages staff that their data is secure
- Maintain compliance with data protection laws when processing the data
- Collate the data by job role
- Track response rate
- Submit data to the SRA
VinciWorks’ SRA diversity survey collection tool can help streamline this process and enable you to collect, process, collate and submit the data in a straightforward and secure manner. Secure your complimentary Omnitrack reporting tool today.
