Citation and commencement

1. These Rules may be cited as the Legal Services Act 2007 (Levy) (No. 2) (Amendment) Rules 2014 and come into force on 2nd July 2014.

Amendments to the Legal Services Act 2007 (Levy) (No.2) Rules 2010

2.The Legal Services Act 2007 (Levy) (No. 2) Rules 2010( 2 ) are amended in accordance with rules 3 to 8 below.

3. In rule 2 (Levy imposed under these Rules)—

(a) in paragraph (1), for “A” substitute “Subject to paragraph (6), a”;

(b) in paragraph (3)(a), after “estimated expenditure” insert “in so far as actual expenditure figures are not available to the Board”;

(c) after paragraph (5), insert—

“ (6) The levy is not to be imposed on a leviable body to whom this paragraph applies until its regulatory arrangements in respect of reserved legal activities are approved by the Board under Part 3 of Schedule 4 to the 2007 Act.

(7) Paragraph (6) applies to—

(a) the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland; and

(b) the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. ” .

4. In rule 3 (Determining the amount of the levy for each leviable body)—

(a) in paragraph (2), after “becomes a leviable body” insert “or a leviable body to whom rule 2(6) applies has its regulatory arrangements in respect of reserved legal activities approved by the Board under Part 3 of Schedule 4 to the 2007 Act”;

(b) in paragraph (2)(a), for “no amount” substitute “£3000”.

5. In rule 4 (Apportionment of leviable Board expenditure)—

(a) in paragraph (1), for “(5)” substitute “(6)”;

(b) after paragraph (5), insert—

“ (6) The total amount of leviable Board expenditure to be used in applying the calculation under paragraph (1) is to be reduced by any amount payable by a leviable body under rule 3(2)(a). ” .

6. In rule 5 (Apportionment of leviable OLC expenditure)—

(a) in paragraph (1), after “is” insert “£5000 plus”;

(b) for paragraph (2), substitute—

“ (2) For these purposes—

(a) subject to paragraph (2A), “ the relevant proportion ” in relation to a leviable body is the number of service complaints in respect of that leviable body accepted in the course of the reference period by the OLC, as a proportion of the total number of service complaints in respect of all leviable bodies accepted in the course of that period by the OLC; and

(b) “the reference period” is the three year period ending on 31st March prior to the 12 month period in respect of which the levy is imposed.

(2A) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a), the number of service complaints in respect of the leviable body accepted in the course of the reference period by the OLC shall be reduced by three. ” ;

(c) for paragraph (6), substitute—

“ (6) In this rule, “ service complaint ” means a complaint which is within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman scheme as provided for in Part 6 of the 2007 Act. ” .

7. In rule 6 (Duty to provide information required to calculate the levy)—

(a) for paragraph (2)(b), substitute—

“ (b) for the purposes of rule 5, a statement of the number of service complaints accepted in the course of the reference period by the OLC (and for this purpose “ reference period ” has the meaning given in rule 5). ” ;

(b) omit paragraph (5).

8. In rule 8 (Interest payable on late payment), for “the Board is entitled to charge interest on any amount unpaid”, substitute “the unpaid balance from time to time carries interest”.