The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today published the latest Independent Decision-making Body Annual Report for the year ending 31 March 2023. This is the fourth Annual Report of the Independent Decision-making Body (IDB).
The IDB is responsible for making decisions on behalf of the BSB where independent input is required. The remit of the IDB includes enforcement decisions in relation to breaches of the BSB Handbook and considering applications to review decisions taken on authorisations such as the issue, amendment or revocation of a practising certificate or applications for waivers in relation to compliance with the BSB Handbook. Tim Grey was appointed as the new IDB Chair from 1 May 2023, taking over from the previous IDB Chair Iain Christie, who stepped down as of 17 April 2023.
Key facts from the 2022-2023 report include:
- Under a Board agreed action plan to improve performance, nearly twice as many investigations were concluded in the second half of 2022/23 as in the first half (117 as opposed to 60).
- There was an overall reduction in the number of reviews of Authorisations decisions in 2022/23, compared to the previous year (from 22 to 17).
- 95 enforcement cases were considered in the period, versus 68 in the previous period. There were 17 authorisations applications in the period versus 22 in the previous period.
- Of the enforcement cases, 51 were referred to disciplinary action, 16 had administrative sanctions imposed, and 16 saw allegations dismissed: In the previous year, these figures were 29, seven and 27 respectively.
- Of the authorisations cases, seven culminated in previous decisions being upheld and eight resulted in decisions of the BSB Executive being overturned; In the previous year, these figures were seven and 11 respectively;
- There was only one review of an IDB decision carried out by the Independent Reviewer in the reporting period. In terms of appeals against administrative sanctions imposed by the IDB, there were two appeals, with one being successful. In the previous year no appeals were lodged against authorisations IDB decisions nor against administrative sanctions.
Commenting on the report, IDB Chair Tim Grey, said:
“This report spans a period during which the IDB has faced some significant challenges, including a serious cyber-attack in April 2022. Despite this, our productivity has improved over the year and we completed twice as many investigations in the second half of 2022/23 as in the first half. I should like to offer my thanks to all the members of the IDB and the Executive for their support during this period. I look forward to continuing to work with them all over the coming year.”
You can read the IDB Report 2022-2023 on the BSB website. The Bar Standards Board has also today published its Regulatory Decision-Making Annual Report 2022-23, which provides an overview of decisions taken by the BSB in relation to its regulatory operations, and legal and enforcement work in the year to 31 March 2023. You can read about that report here