BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS
OF ENGLAND AND WALES
CHANCERY DIVISION
Rolls Building
London, EC4A 1NL |
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B e f o r e :
(Sitting as a Judge of the High Court)
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IN THE MATTER OF SOLICITORS REGULATION AUTHORITY LIMITED |
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Crown Copyright ©
Sir Anthony Mann:
"In June 2021, 346,572 boxes were in storage. Storage costs are currently 28p per box per month. So the cost of storing all those boxes is, in round terms, £1.194 million per year. According to the SRA's records, 215 interventions took place between 2015 and the end of 2020 [the significance of the 2015 date will become apparently shortly], 1.4 million files were collected in relation to those 216 interventions of which 94 per cent were client files, 3 per cent were account files, and 3 per cent were administrative files. The cost of storing those 1.4 million files is £334,000 per year."
An updating witness statement puts the annual cost t £1.15m per year, but the difference is immaterial for present purposes.
"The Solicitors Regulation Authority (the SRA) may destroy any non-original documents which are in its possession as at the date of this order by virtue of [various statutory provisions] in accordance with the terms of the requirements of the SRA's file and retention policy as amended from time to time ['the policy'] the current version of which is at Schedule A. For the avoidance of doubt, the documents may be destroyed on a 'rolling' basis as and when they become available for destruction in accordance with the policy."