Probate Diversity Survey 2023

On 31 March 2023, firms accredited to carry out probate services are required to complete the 2023 Probate Diversity Survey. This is a statutory obligation relating specifically to probate firms arising from Section 1 of the Legal Services Act 2007.

Completing the Probate Diversity Survey

All staff should be asked to complete the questionnaire as close to 31 March 2023 as possible. This includes those that do not work with probate clients.

The survey questions cover areas such as role, age, gender and ethnic group.

There is a ‘prefer not to say’ option which will still provide useful data to the ICAEW.

The ICAEW have partnered with Riliance (an Access Group company) who will give firms free access to an online survey tool which will automatically create the firm’s survey with the ICAEW survey questions. Riliance will also generate a summary of the firm’s data once the survey is completed.

Submission to the ICAEW

An anonymised summary of the survey results must be submitted to ICAEW with an interpretation of the results by 30 April 2023.

Results should be submitted to ICAEW via email and should include the firm’s registration number.

Although it is optional for staff to complete the questionnaire, it is mandatory for the firm to returns its results.

Late submissions or failure to submit data may result in a regulatory penalty.

Publishing the 2023 Probate Diversity Survey Results

The aggregated results, together with a summary paragraph about the results, should be published on the firm’s website by 31 May 2023.

The information can be adapted if anonymity could be compromised in smaller firms.

Where a firm does not have a website, the information should be published on documentation such as a paragraph in advertising material or the letter of engagement.

2023 reporting

The ICAEW will publish a full report which firms can use for benchmarking.

This will help firms to understand the profile of their current teams and to plan for future recruitment. The report will be available on the ICAEW website and via Probate News.

Key Dates

• 31 March 2023 – All staff to complete the survey as close to this date as possible.
• 30 April 2023 – Deadline to send aggregated, anonymised results via email to ICAEW.
• 31 May 2023 – Deadline to publish the firm’s aggregated, anonymised results on their website or in communication material.
• Summer 2023 – ICAEW will publish their 2023 diversity data report.