The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is investing £20m in IT systems as it prepares for the introduction of outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) later this year.

The £20m figure includes the cost of upgrading the SRA's existing IT platform as well as the launch of a new project – dubbed Smartview – which allows the regulator to monitor law firms, alternative business structures (ABSs) and individuals on a case-by-case basis and track all regulatory breaches as part of the move to OFR.

Speaking to Legal Week at a lunch with the press last week (10 March), SRA chief executive Antony Townsend said that increased efficiency and reducing headcount across the organisation meant the regulator expected the IT investment would "pay itself back" within a five-year time period.

The SRA will reduce staff from the present level of 640 by 79 full-time equivalents by the end of 2011.

Townsend (pictured) said: "The new IT system has a number of benefits. One main benefit is to the profession itself as solicitors and firms will now be able to make online applications. For us it will mean that our processes will be cheaper to run and be more effective and it will also enable us to better monitor emerging risks.

"The move to Birmingham is in large part a question of efficiency. Having half of the staff in one location and the other half elsewhere is not very effiective, and also the locations are not very accessible by public transport. The leases are running out next year so this is the time to make the move."

News of the IT spend comes as the regulator gears up for a restructuring that will see the closure of its offices in Redditch and Leamington and the opening of a new base in Birmingham in 2012.

The SRA announced earlier this year that staff numbers are set to reduce from 640 to 560 before the end of 2011, but has now confirmed the closure of the Redditch and Leamington centres, which currently each employ more than 300 staff. The SRA declined to provide a figure for the overall restructuring costs, but has set aside a £3m fund for redundancies.

The Law Society will also use Smartview, which is being designed in partnership with Tata Consultancy Services. The Law Society is set to spend £900,000 on Smartview and wider upgrade of its IT systems.