The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced an organisational restructuring which will see total staff numbers cut by 13%.

Under the proposals, the SRA will have around 560 staff in post by the end of the year, compared with the current workforce of 640, with staff informed of the news at briefings given by the regulator's senior management team yesterday (14 February). The numbers refer to full-time equivalent roles.

The body said the overhaul comes in preparation for the introduction of outcomes-focused regulation and the licensing of Alternative Business Structures, due to come into effect from 6 October this year.

The SRA said that the new structure is designed around three key regulatory activities: authorisation, supervision, and enforcement. The senior team for this structure is already in place, and the remainder of the structure will be filled in phases during the spring and summer.

SRA chief executive Antony Townsend (pictured) commented: "This is the final stage of our programme to equip the SRA to be a modern, risk-based regulator, capable of meeting the needs of consumers of legal services in a radically changing legal sector.

"A combination of retrained staff, the targeted appointment of new staff members with new skills, and the replacement of our old and inefficient IT systems, will enable us to deliver effective and efficient regulation with a lower cost base than before, to the timetable to which we are committed.

"The new structure will not only improve internal clarity and accountabilities, but also make it easier for those who deal with us to understand responsibilities in the organisation.

"There will be some redundancies where we cannot redeploy existing staff, and I am grateful to all my colleagues for their professional approach during what is inevitably a difficult period."

An SRA spokesperson said some of the positions would be lost through "natural wastage" as they would affect staff in temporary rather than permanent positions.

Pinsent Masons corporate partner and City of London Law Society committee member Antoinette Jucker commented: "This restructuring is all part of the SRA positioning itself to jump into action in October when ABSs are introduced.

"The SRA has also been talking to a lot of the large corporate firms recently to get feedback on its approach, so this move to become more efficient I suspect reflects that.

"The SRA has been assuring those firms that it is carrying out a lot of staff retraining in recent months in anticipation of the upcoming changes. This restructuring probably just marks the next step in its preparation to become a regulator of ABSs as well as traditional law firms."

For more, see Legal regulators launch joint review of education and training.