General Scheme Questions and Answers
The questions and answers in this section provide an overview of QASA. This section will
be regularly updated as the scheme moves closer to launch.
If your question isn’t answered here, each Regulator has also developed detailed questions
and answers for their regulated communities on the impact of the Scheme; these can be
found by visiting:
Bar Standards Board
http://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/
Solicitors Regulation Authority
www.sra.org.uk/qasa
ILEX Professional Standards http://www.ilex.org.uk/
What is the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates?
QASA/the Scheme will systematically assess and assure the quality of criminal advocacy in
Magistrates and Crown Courts in England and Wales. The scheme will ensure that the
performance of criminal advocates meets minimum standards and that each criminal
advocate is measured against the same set of standards, regardless of their previous
education and training.
Who is responsible for developing QASA?
The Joint Advocacy Group (JAG) is formed of the three main regulators of advocacy; the Bar
Standards Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and ILEX Professional Standards. JAG
has responsibility for the strategic development and delivery of the scheme and to ensure it
is proportionate, consistent and in the public interest.
How will the scheme work?
The scheme will assess all advocates undertaking criminal advocacy against a set of
common standards, irrespective of their previous education, training, qualifications and
experience. The standards will apply to four levels of criminal advocacy work; Level 1
involving work in the Magistrates Court and Level 4 involving the most serious cases in the
Crown Court.
Advocates will obtain QASA accreditation by successfully meeting the required standards for
the level at which they have been assessed. An advocate will be assessed against the
standards at their level by either judicial evaluation or by an approved assessment
organisation
Advocates may progress through the levels by demonstrating, through one of the methods of
formal assessment, their competence to act at a particular level. Advocates who remain at a
particular level will be required to re-accredit every five years.
Further details on how the proposed operation of the scheme can be found by reading the
fourth consultation and Scheme Handbook.
When will it be implemented
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Following a judicial review of QASA in January 2014 the registration timetable has changed
as follows: The BSB has decided to suspend phased geographical QASA registration. All
barristers who wish to undertake criminal advocacy remain required to register by 31
December 2014. The SRA will review the current registration timetable for Solicitors once
the Court has made a decision on the renewal application. The SRA will issue further
information on registration requirements at this stage. Solicitors can find more information on
the scheme at www.sra.org.uk/qasa or by emailing qasa@sra.org.uk. The closing date for
CILEx advocates to register with IPS under the QASA scheme remains 30 May 2014, as
previously notified to advocates. IPS will review the date after 9 May and will let advocates
know whether it needs to change then.
Will I need to be QASA accredited to undertake criminal advocacy?
Yes. Once the scheme is formally launched, any advocate wishing to undertake criminal
advocacy will require QASA accreditation.
Who does QASA apply too?
The scheme will apply to all advocates undertaking criminal advocacy in England and
Wales; whether they are barristers, solicitors, or legal executives, whether they are selfemployed or employed, and whether they are acting for the prosecution or defence.
If the work that you carry out falls within the definition of criminal advocacy, you will need to
enter the scheme once it is launched in September 2013. JAG is currently using the
following definition for criminal advocacy:
"Criminal advocacy" means advocacy in all hearings arising out of a police or Serious Fraud
Office investigation, prosecuted in the criminal courts by the Crown Prosecution Service or
Serious Fraud Office.
Please note that this definition is provisional and subject to the outcome of the forthcoming
consultation exercise. Further details on the consultation exercise can be found at
www.qasa.org.uk/consultation.
Why has QASA been developed?
The Scheme has been developed to respond to concerns about the standards of advocacy
in criminal courts. Lord Carter made it clear in his report in 2006 that market forces alone
can no longer be relied upon to eliminate under-performing advocates. Developments in the
delivery of legal services, a widening of potential training routes, and economic pressures
are contributing to inconsistencies in the quality of advocacy.
The public interest and consumer protection require a proactive approach to assuring the
competence of advocacy in the criminal courts. Under the Legal Services Act 2007, the
regulators are responsible for setting and maintaining standards within their respective
professions. This includes a requirement upon them to have in place effective quality
assurance arrangements.
What is the role of the Judiciary in the Scheme?
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The role of judicial evaluation is an important part of the scheme. All advocates accredited at
levels 2, 3 and 4 who under take full trials will be assessed against the standards at that
level by judicial evaluation in a number of live trials. It is important to note that no one
judicial evaluation is determinative of an advocate’s competency.
Further details on the proposed operation of the scheme can be found by reading the fourth
consultation and Scheme Handbook.
How will Judges be trained?
City Law School has been appointed to deliver a comprehensive training programme for
Judges evaluating advocates within the scheme. This training will involve intensive sessions
on the scheme’s standards, completing the Criminal Advocacy Evaluation Form, equality
and diversity training and support to make competency based evaluations. Only those
Judges that have completed the training will be allowed to evaluate within the scheme.
I hear that Judges are not supporting QASA. Is this true?
This is not the experience of JAG. The scheme has the support of the Lord Chief Justice and
other senior members of the judiciary. At a meeting on 18 May 2012, the Council of Circuit
Judges gave their continued support for the scheme and judicial participation within it.
Members of JAG have also visited a significant number of Courts and the feedback from
individual Judges towards the scheme has been positive.
Who decides whether I am competent or not?
The proposed approach to assessing the competency of an advocates is outlined in the
fourth consultation document and the Scheme Handbook. Under this approach, the
advocate’s regulator will be responsible for determining the competency of advocates based
on all of the available evidence that has been received in support of the advocate’s
application. Please refer to the fourth consultation document and Scheme Handbook for
further details.
What happens if I don’t meet the standards?
All advocates are under a duty to act within their competence and this duty is enshrined in
the professions' respective rules and regulations. The Scheme will provide a framework to
assist advocates to identify their existing level of competence, as well as a structure in which
to develop and prove their competence at a higher level.
Based on an advocate’s assessment application, your regulator will determine whether you
have met the required standards for your chosen level or not. If you do not meet the required
standard, your regulator will work with you to determine if and how you can do so, through
for example, additional advocacy training.
What will QASA accreditation cost me?
There will be costs associated with QASA accreditation, progression and re accreditation. It
is the responsibility of each individual regulator to determine the cost structure for their
regulated community. For further details, please contact your regulator.
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What happens if I can’t meet the accreditation / progression requirements
within the prescribed timeframe?
The scheme handbook has a clear policy for requesting time extensions.
Does QASA apply to Local Authority Solcitors?
Whether you need to join the scheme depends not on where you work but on what you do.
If, as part of your work, you are undertaking criminal advocacy, then you will need to enter
the scheme. JAG is seeking views on the following definition of criminal advocacy within the
fourth consultation (due to be published on 9 July 2012):
"Criminal advocacy" means advocacy in all hearings arising out of a police or Serious Fraud
Office investigation, prosecuted in the criminal courts by the Crown Prosecution Service or
the Serious Fraud Office.
As part of this consultation, we will be seeking views on proposals within the scheme that
outline certain situations in which specialist practitioners would be permitted to undertake
criminal advocacy within the above definition without being QASA accredited. The
circumstances are broken down into two categories: firstly, where an advocate is appearing
in a case with a hybrid indictment where the primary offences are not within the definition of
criminal advocacy (i.e. financial regulation matters that include an element of fraud);
secondly, where the advocate has been instructed to appear in a case in the criminal court
within the definition of "criminal advocacy" as a result of their specialism.
Does QASA apply to Crown Prosecution Service advocates?
The scheme covers defence and prosecuting advocates, and self-employed and in-house
advocates. Therefore, if you are an advocate for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), then
you will need to notify your regulator of your intention to join the scheme once it is launched
in September 2013.
The CPS has a quality assurance framework for its in-house prosecutors. It is in the interests
of those involved in advocacy that the regulatory scheme is compatible with the CPS
approach, does not lead to duplication or unnecessary burdens upon advocates, and
facilitates harmonisation. To that end, the advocacy standards and the categories of cases
used in the scheme are aligned to those of the CPS.
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