CONTINUING COMPETENCE
Competence, on the record.
Solicitors must keep their knowledge and skills up to date. Astute gives each person one place to record how they do it. Your firm gets the evidence in the same place.
Key Capabilities
A clear record, all year
THE LEARNER RECORD
One form for the full cycle
Each person starts with the competence statement. They write down what they need to work on, and they come back to it during the year. For each learning need, they say why they chose it. They then link the training that addresses it. When the work is done, they write a reflection. A reflection can be about one activity or about the need in general. Each reflection has a date. At the end of the year, they make their annual declaration.
FIRM SETTINGS
Set it up the way your firm works
The SRA Competence Statement is there by default. You can also link or upload your own competence framework. You can add learning needs for a department or role. You can set the help links and add a message that points people to your own contact. You choose the declaration window. You can hide the module from departments or job titles that do not need it. A preview shows you the form as your people will see it.
REPORTING
Evidence ready when someone asks
The overview shows who has reviewed the statement and who has made their declaration. You can filter by department, job title and other fields. You can add the columns you need. A needs report shows one row for each need, with its status and reflection. You can also export the full record of one person. Planned and completed activities show as separate counts.
key features
Built around the SRA approach
Each part of the form follows a step in the SRA approach. Your people know what to do next. Your compliance team can see it.
Competence statements
The SRA Competence Statement is there by default. Add your own framework by link or upload. People can then map their needs to the language your firm uses.
Needs for each role
Add learning needs for a department or role. Make each one mandatory or optional. You can put a need on a person’s plan or only suggest it.
Plan against your training
Link a need to courses that a person is on or has completed. They can also choose a course on your platform that they are not on yet. Astute then tells them to ask an admin to enrol them.
Dated reflections
Write a reflection for one activity or for the need in general. Each reflection has a date, so the record shows when the person did the thinking.
Carry needs forward
Some needs take more than one year. Mark a need as deferred and it moves to the next compliance year.
Annual declaration
Each person makes their declaration in the form. The window is 1–31 October by default. You can change it to suit your firm.
Frequently Asked Questions
