Policies and procedures for chambers

Under section 3 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, you must specify the information set out above in your written statement of particulars of employment (most commonly, your employment contracts). You should be aware that if you do not have a disciplinary policy for your employees that is drafted in accordance with the ACAS Code of Practice, an employment tribunal can award up to 25% more for a successful claim against you.

A separate or expanded disciplinary policy for pupil barristers and members can also be used:

• As evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 46.7 (dealing with misconduct by pupils) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process and to support compliance with Part 4D of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual (covering the documents that Authorised Education and Training Organisations are required to have in place with their pupil barristers upon commencement of pupillage).
• To support compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, rC65 (duty to report certain matters), rC66 (duty to report if you have reasonable grounds to believe that there has been serious misconduct by a barrister, as defined by gC96 and following the guidance set out under gC97), and gC102 (recording misconduct which falls short of serious misconduct).

Your disciplinary policy should set out:

• What you consider to be inappropriate behaviour that constitutes misconduct (often complemented by a dignity at work policy).
• The informal or formal procedure that you will follow if you have concerns about the conduct of an employee and, if applicable, member or pupil barrister.
• The possible outcomes of a formal disciplinary process (preferably linked to any written pupillage agreements and chambers’ constitution or articles of association, if your disciplinary policy is applicable to chambers’ pupil barristers and members respectively).

Helpful resources for creating and implementing, or reviewing, your disciplinary policy:

Bar Council - model disciplinary policy
Our model disciplinary policy helps chambers to write a policy dealing with issues of misconduct at work. The policy can be used for all employees and pupil barristers. 

Bar Council – Ethical Enquiries Service
Your disciplinary policy can signpost barristers to the Bar Council’s Ethical Enquiries Service, through which they can obtain confidential advice as to whether they may have breached the code of conduct, their conduct amounts to serious misconduct, and/or they should report to the Bar Standards Board.

Bar Council – Bar Complaints Advisory Scheme
Your disciplinary policy can signpost barristers to the Bar Complaints Advisory Scheme, which enables them to receive pro bono advice and representation where they are the subject of disciplinary or complaints proceedings by the Bar Standards Board.

ACAS – Disciplinary and grievance procedures resources library
The ACAS resources library includes advice and template policies relating to disciplinary and grievance procedures, including investigations, appeals and dismissals, and more general conduct and capability procedures when managing performance.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to introduce a dignity at work policy, you must have a written anti-harassment policy under rC110.3.j of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

A dignity at work policy can also be used:

• To support compliance with the ACAS Code of Practice.
• To support compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, Core Duty 3 (you must act with honesty, and with integrity), Core Duty 5 (you must not behave in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in your or in the profession), and Core Duty 8 (you must not discriminate unlawfully against any person).
• As evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 37.6 (supportive, safe, and accessible learning environment) and mandatory criteria 46.12 (a culture of high standards of performance and professionalism by pupils) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process and to support compliance with Part 4D of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual (covering the documents that Authorised Education and Training Organisations are required to have in place with their pupil barristers upon commencement of pupillage).

You can use a dignity at work policy (also known as a harassment, bullying and inappropriate behaviour policy, or an acceptable behaviour policy) to set out:

• How you expect your members, pupil barristers, employees, and other people in chambers to behave.
• What behaviours you define as unwanted, bullying, discrimination, harassment and/or victimisation.
• The steps that a member of your workforce can take if they find themselves having to deal with any unacceptable behaviour, from either a colleague in chambers or from an external party.
• What will happen when a member of your workforce is found to be behaving in a way that does not align with your expectations (complemented by your grievance and disciplinary policies). Note that, under gC96.2 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook, serious misconduct by barristers includes assault or harassment.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your dignity at work policy include:

Bar Council – Bullying and harassment resources library
Our resources library sets out what we are doing to tackle bullying and harassment at the Bar and includes links to helpful reports, guides and other Bar Council services, including our recording tool, Talk to Spot, and our confidential equality and diversity helpline.

Ethics and Practice Hub – Discrimination, harassment, bullying and inappropriate behaviours guidance

Ethics and Practice Hub – Tackling sexual harassment guidance and template policy

Ethics and Practice Hub – Guidance on conducting an investigation in chambers
This document sets out good practice in relation to investigations into bullying, discrimination, and harassment, but is particularly aimed at complaints about barristers.

Bar Council – Tackling harassment, bullying and inappropriate behaviour training

Bar Council – Bar Complaints Advisory Acheme
Your dignity at work policy can signpost barristers to the Bar Complaints Advisory Scheme, which enables them to receive pro bono advice and representation where they are the subject of disciplinary or complaints proceedings by the Bar Standards Board.

Bar Standards Board – Model harassment policy

ACAS – Discrimination, bullying and harassment resources library
The ACAS resources library includes advice relating to discrimination at work, bullying and harassment, including how you can prevent discrimination and the action you can take as a bystander.

Western Circuit - Barristers and pupil barristers harassment helpline
This helpline provides confidential advice and support to all barristers and pupil barristers on the Western Circuit who have experienced any form of harassment or unwanted behaviour.

Under section 3 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, you must specify the information set out below in your written statement of particulars of employment. You should also be aware that if you do not have a grievance policy for your employees that is drafted in accordance with the ACAS Code of Practice, an employment tribunal can award up to 25% more for a successful claim against you.

A separate or expanded grievance policy for pupil barristers can also be used as evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 46.8 (process for dealing with a pupil barrister’s grievance about the training that they have received) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process and to support compliance with Part 4D of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual (covering the documents that Authorised Education and Training Organisations are required to have a in place with their pupil barristers upon commencement of pupillage).

Your grievance policy should:

• Set out who your employees, pupil barristers and members can report work-related grievances or complaints to, and how.
• Advocate for informal resolution via. direct conversation in the first instance.
• Set out the formal procedure that you will follow if an employee, pupil barrister or member has raised a grievance that cannot be resolved informally. 
• Detail the possible outcomes of a formal grievance process (preferably linked to your disciplinary policy).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your grievance policy include:

Bar Council - model grievance policy
Our model grievance policy helps chambers to write a policy for raising a formal grievance at work. The policy can be used for all employees including pupil barristers.

Ethics and Practice Hub – Guidance on conducting an investigation in chambers
This document sets out good practice in relation to investigations into bullying, discrimination, and harassment, but is particularly aimed at complaints about barristers.

Wellbeing at the Bar – Assistance Programme
The assistance programme is a confidential service available 24/7 which provides mental health support to members of the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks and Legal Practice Management Association, pupil barristers and barristers, including those who are subject to formal grievance proceedings.

ACAS – Disciplinary and grievance procedures resources library
The ACAS resources library includes advice and template policies relating to disciplinary and grievance procedures, including investigations, appeals and dismissals, and more general conduct and capability procedures when managing performance.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to introduce a social media policy, the manner in which your pupil barristers and members choose to express themselves on social media may give rise to regulatory action by the Bar Standards Board if deemed to be in breach of Core Duty 3 (you must act with honesty, and with integrity), Core Duty 5 (you must not behave in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in your or in the profession), Core Duty 6 (you must keep the affairs of each client confidential), or Core Duty 8 (you must not discriminate unlawfully against any person).

A social media policy can also be used as evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 37.6 (supportive, safe, and accessible learning environment) and mandatory criteria 46.12 (a culture of high standards of performance and professionalism by pupils) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process.

You can use a social media policy to set out what you expect from your members, pupil barristers, and employees when using any social media accounts that belong to your chambers, and their own personal accounts. In your social media policy, you can set out:

• What you define as social media.
• How and when your employees are permitted to access and use their personal social media accounts during working hours (complemented by your acceptable use policy).
• How you will monitor any use of social media for purposes that you consider to be inappropriate (complemented by your privacy and data management and retention policies).
• Your expectations in relation to both what your pupil barristers, members, and employees post and, if using a device that you have issued to them, view using social media.
• How you will deal with those who are found to be in breach of your social media policy (complemented by your grievance and disciplinary policies).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your social media policy include:

Bar Council - model social media policy
Our model social media policy helps chambers write a policy about employees use of social media both inside and outside of work. 

Bar Council – Ethical Enquiries Service
Your social media policy can signpost barristers to the Bar Council’s Ethical Enquiries Service, through which they can obtain confidential advice as to whether they may have breached the code of conduct, their conduct amounts to serious misconduct, and/or they should report to the Bar Standards Board.

Bar Standards Board – Social Media Guidance
The Bar Standards Board’s Social Media Guidance has been produced to help barristers understand their regulatory duties in the context of their personal and professional use of social media.

Bar Standards Board – Guidance on the regulation of non-professional conduct
This guidance seeks to clarify where the regulatory boundaries lie in relation to conduct that occurs outside the scope of a barrister’s professional practice, including in relation to their personal use of social media.

There is no legal requirement for most, if not all, chambers to implement a whistleblowing policy. One will only be required if your organisation is a public company (including a public company limited by guarantee), a large proprietary company, or a proprietary company that is the trustee of a registrable superannuation entity.

You can use a whistleblowing policy to enable your members, pupil barristers, employees, and other people in chambers to raise concerns, both internally and externally, about fraud, malpractice, health and safety, criminal offences, miscarriages of justice, and failure to comply with legal obligations or unethical conduct.

You are required by the Bar Standards Board to provide a copy of your complaints policy to new clients and complainants. Furthermore, under rC103 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook, you must display on your website:

• on the homepage, the words “barristers regulated by the Bar Standards Board” (for chambers), or ”authorised and regulated by the Bar Standards Board” (for BSB entities);
• information about your complaints procedure, any right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, how to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, and any time limits for making a complaint
• links to the decision data on the Legal Ombudsman’s website and the Barristers’ Register on the Bar Standards Board’s website.

You can also use your complaints policy to evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 46.8 (provision of complaints policies and procedures) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process.

In your complaints policy, you should set out:

• What you define as constituting inadequate service and the matters that you can deal with under your complaints policy, including any limitations on your ability to investigate and resolve complaints brought by non-clients.
• The time limits for raising a complaint, as determined by the Legal Ombudsman.
• Who your clients can make a verbal complaint to. You can also use your complaints policy to advocate for informal resolution via. direct conversation in the first instance.
• How your clients can make a written complaint and the formal procedure that you will follow upon receipt of their correspondence.
• The possible outcomes of a formal complaints process, including how your clients can take their complaint up with the Legal Ombudsman where they are unhappy with the outcome of your investigation.
• How you deal with the monitoring of complaints, as prescribed under rC109 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your complaints policy:

Bar Standards Board – First Tier Complaints Handling Guidance

Legal Ombudsman – Good Complaints Handling Resource Library

There is no legal requirement to implement a confidentiality and conflicts of interest policy, but having one in place can support your compliance with rC89.5 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook, which states that chambers must make proper arrangements for managing conflicts of interest and ensuring the confidentiality of their clients’ affairs.

Your confidentiality and conflicts of interest policy can also support broader compliance with Core Duty 6 (duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential) and Core Duty 10 (duty to take reasonable steps to manage your practice competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations).

You can use a confidentiality and conflicts of interest policy to set out what you expect from your members, pupil barristers, and employees in circumstances where the former two are instructed on behalf of different parties in the same case. In your policy, you can set out:

• The regulatory rules that cover client confidentiality and conflicts of interest and any training that you provide to your members, pupil barristers and employees to ensure that they are compliant with them.  
• Details of the practical arrangements that you have implemented and will continue to maintain to identify and manage conflicts of interest in the workplace.
• Any processes that your members, pupil barristers, and employees should follow if they become aware of a breach of confidentiality (complemented by your complaints policy and information security policy suite).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your confidentiality and conflicts of interest policy:

Bar Council – Ethical Enquiries Service
Your confidentiality and conflicts of interest policy can signpost barristers to the Bar Council’s Ethical Enquiries Service, through which they can obtain confidential advice about the handling of related matters.

Bar Standards Board – Confidentiality Guidance

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to introduce an absence policy, having one in place is considered good practice and can help you and your employees to understand expectations and procedures related to both planned and unplanned time off work.

Regardless of whether you implement an absence policy, you do have duties under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and The Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982 to pay statutory sick pay to employees who meet the relevant criteria. Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999, The Employment Act 2002, The Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014, The Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002, and The Maternity and Adoption Leave (Curtailment of Statutory Rights to Leave) Regulations 2014, you must offer various forms of time off work for maternity, paternity, parental, and adoption leave where they meet the relevant criteria. You must also enable your employees to take a reasonable amount of time off to help a dependent with an emergency.

From 6 April 2024, the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 will enable employees who are unpaid carers of dependants who have long-term care needs to take up to one week of unpaid leave per year from their first of employment.

In your absence policy, you can set out:

• The procedure that you expect employees and their line managers to follow if they are unable to attend work or become sick whilst on annual leave, including record keeping (which, for the purposes of claiming statutory sick pay, is mandatory).
• Any processes that you have in place for self-certification and the production of medical certificates for long-term absence. Medical certificates are usually required after a period of absence lasting more than seven days and mandatory for the purposes of claiming occupational sick pay, where offered.
• Whether you offer occupational sick pay, including any eligibility criteria, allowances, and exemptions.
• Any processes that you have in place for keeping in touch with employees who are on long-term sickness absence.
• Your expectations of employees when booking medical, dental, and other appointments, and whether you will pay for their absence in these circumstances.
• Examples of when a line manager might refer an employee for an occupational health assessment, including any associated procedures.
• Any processes that you have in place for supporting phased returns to work, including whether you will pay your employees for the days that they are not working.
• The formal procedure that line managers should follow if they identify poor attendance, high levels of short-term sickness absence, or on-going long-term absence, including the possible outcomes of the process and any rights of appeal.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your absence policy:

ACAS – Holiday, Sickness and Leave Resources Library
The ACAS resources library includes advice and template policies relating to holiday entitlement and sick leave, obtaining occupational health reports, time off for dependants, bereavement, and parents, and unauthorised absence and lateness.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for chambers to implement an adoption leave policy, having one in place can help support compliance with legislation including the Employment Rights Act 1996, The Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002, The Maternity and Adoption Leave (Curtailment of Statutory Rights to Leave) Regulations 2014, and The Paternity and Adoption Leave (Adoption from Overseas) Regulations 2003; and The Paternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave (Parental Order Cases) Regulations 2014, The Shared Parental Leave and Paternity and Adoption Leave (Adoptions from Overseas) Regulations 2014 and, more broadly, with the Equality Act 2010.

Regardless of whether you implement an adoption leave policy, you should be aware that provided your employees meet the eligibility criteria and have provided you with the correct notification, they have the right to take up to 52 weeks’ adoption leave. They may also be eligible for statutory adoption pay if they have worked continuously for 26 weeks prior to the date of adoption.

In your adoption leave policy, you can outline:

• When your employees become eligible for adoption leave and their statutory responsibilities and entitlements.
• What will happen when an employee notifies you that they are adopting, including any requirements to produce evidence of the adoption.
• Your employees’ rights relating to time off for adoption appointments and the process that they should follow to take the required time off from work (complemented by your absence policy).
• How much pay your employees will receive whilst taking adoption leave, including any enhanced adoption pay that you offer.
• Any processes that you have in place for keeping in touch with your employees whilst they are on adoption leave and for facilitating their return to work, including details of how you will manage requests to adjust their working hours temporarily or permanently, if requested (complemented by your flexible working policy).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your adoption leave policy:

ACAS – Holiday, Sickness and Leave Resources Library
The ACAS resources library includes guidance relating to the rights of your employees during maternity, paternity, and parental leave, when adopting a child or having one through surrogacy, and advice relating to managing their absence and pay.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to carry out appraisals with your employees or introduce a policy to support the process, it is good practice to conduct them at least annually as part of your performance management processes.

You should use your appraisals process to:

• Discuss your employee’s performance during the period preceding the review and determine whether agreed targets have been achieved.
• Determine their objectives for the coming period, taking into consideration both the business requirements of your chambers and the development needs of your employee.
• Explore your employee’s future career plans and discuss any associated training needs.

You can use an appraisal policy to ensure a consistent approach is taken by those members of your workforce who are responsible for conducting appraisals. In your policy, you can set out:

• The timings and purpose of any informal catchups and formal mid-year reviews and/or annual appraisals that you expect to take place under the policy.
• Guidance for members of your workforce relating to the giving and receiving of feedback, including the details of any 360 feedback processes that you have implemented as part of your formal review procedures.
• Guidance for members of your workforce relating to the reviewing of competencies and setting of objectives, and the completion of any personal development plans.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your appraisal policy:

Bar Council - model appraisal policy and guidelines 
Our model disciplinary policy helps chambers to write an appraisals policy. The policy can be used for all employees.  

ACAS – Appraisal Templates

Chartered Institute of Professional Development – Performance Reviews
The CIPD resources library includes template performance review forms and guidance on assessing performance and providing feedback.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to introduce a capability policy (also known as a performance management policy), having one in place is considered good practice and can help you and your employees to understand expectations and procedures related to underperformance in the workplace. It can also support compliance with  the ACAS Code of Practice.

You can use a capability policy to ensure a consistent approach is taken by those members of your workforce who are responsible for the management, and overall performance, of other employees. In your policy, you can set out:

• How you define your expectations of your employees in terms of their performance at work and determine whether they can carry out their roles effectively.
• The informal or formal procedure that you expect your managers to follow if you they have concerns about the performance of an employee.
• The possible outcomes of a formal capability process.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your capability policy:

Bar Council - model capability policy
Our model capability policy helps chambers to write a policy dealing with performance related issues. The policy can be used for all employees.

Under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, you must provide your employees with a written statement of their particulars of employment within two months of their start date. Regardless of when you issue a contract of employment, it will begin when the employee starts work and might be formed earlier subject to certain conditions having been met.

Your contracts of employment should set out the:

• Names of the employer and employee.
• Address of the employer and the address of the location from which the employee will work.
• Commencement date of the employment and of the employee’s ‘continuous employment’.
• Term of any probationary and notice periods, and the term of the contract if the employee is recruited on a temporary or fixed term basis.
• Employee’s job title (complemented by a copy of their job description).
• Employee’s salary, the frequency of payment, the dates on which it will be paid, and details of any other benefits that the employee will be contractually entitled to. Note that you are obligated to offer a workplace pension scheme and should provide your employee with details of it.
• Working hours and holiday entitlement, including an explanation of how any outstanding entitlement will be calculated if the employee leaves (complemented by your absence policy).
• Details of any sick or other paid leave. This can alternatively be addressed through your absence, maternity, paternity, and parental leave policies, but you must ensure that you state in your contracts of employment where your employees can find the relevant information.
• Details of your disciplinary and grievance procedures (complemented disciplinary, grievance, and dignity at work policies).
• Terms that will apply if the employee will work abroad.
• Mandatory training that must be completed by the employee, including the details of any mandatory training that you will not reimburse them for.

You can also use your contracts of employment to set out what your expectations of your employees are, including that they must ensure that they comply at all times with your policies, their professional and regulatory obligations (where applicable), and any relevant legislation, such as the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your contracts of employment include:

ACAS – Employment Contracts Resource Library
The ACAS resources library includes advice and template policies relating to employment contracts and written statements, including the processes for changing and terminating them.

ACAS – Written Statement Template: Employees

ACAS – Job Description Templates

Whilst there is no legal requirement for chambers to implement a maternity policy, having one in place can help support compliance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 and, more broadly, with the Equality Act 2010.

Regardless of whether you implement a maternity policy, you should be aware that provided your employees notify you at least 15 weeks before their due date, they have the right to up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave and must take at least two weeks off after their baby is born. They may also be eligible for statutory maternity pay or a state maternity allowance if they meet the relevant criteria and have a right to reasonable time off with full pay for antenatal appointments.

From 6 April 2024, the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 will provide employees with redundancy protection during their pregnancy and for 18 months after the birth of their child.

In your maternity policy, you can outline:

• Your employees’ rights relating to time off for antenatal care and the process that they should follow to take the required time off from work (complemented by your absence policy).
• Any support that you offer for those undergoing fertility treatment and how you will treat periods of pregnancy-related sickness absence (complemented by your absence policy).
• Your employees’ statutory responsibilities and entitlements, including any requirements to produce medical evidence of their pregnancy and relating to their continuity of service whilst on maternity leave.
• What will happen when an employee notifies you that they are pregnant, including details of their statutory entitlements, any requirements to produce medical evidence of their pregnancy, and the arrangements that you will put in place to ensure they benefit from a maternity risk assessment.
• How much pay your employees will receive whilst taking maternity leave, including any enhanced maternity pay that you offer and details of the benefits to which they will remain entitled during their absence.
• Any processes that you have in place for keeping in touch with your employees whilst they are on maternity leave and for facilitating their return to work, including details of how you will manage requests to adjust their working hours temporarily or permanently, if requested (complemented by your flexible working policy).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your maternity policy:

ACAS – Holiday, Sickness and Leave Resources Library
The ACAS resources library includes guidance relating to the rights of your employees during maternity, paternity, and parental leave, when adopting a child or having one through surrogacy, and advice relating to managing their absence and pay.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for chambers to implement a parental leave policy for employees, having one in place can help support compliance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 and, more broadly, with the Equality Act 2010.

Regardless of whether you implement a parental leave policy, you should be aware that provided your employees meet the relevant criteria, they will be entitled to take up to 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave per child who is under the age of 18.

In your parental leave policy, you can outline:

• When your employees become eligible for parental leave and their statutory responsibilities and entitlements.

• The steps that your employees should take to request a period of parental leave and the procedure that you will follow in response to it.

• How your employees can appeal your decision if you decided to postpone their requested period of parental leave or are unable to agree an alternative date.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your parental leave policy:

ACAS – Holiday, Sickness and Leave Resources Library
The ACAS resources library includes guidance relating to the rights of your employees during maternity, paternity, and parental leave, when adopting a child or having one through surrogacy, and advice relating to managing their absence and pay.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for chambers to implement a paternity policy, having one in place can help support compliance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, The Employment Act 2002, The Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (General) Regulations 2002, The Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002, and, more broadly, with the Equality Act 2010.

Regardless of whether you implement a paternity policy, you should be aware that provided your employees meet the relevant criteria for statutory paternity leave, they can choose to be absent for either one or two weeks following the birth of their child. They may also be eligible for statutory paternity pay.

In your paternity policy, you can outline:

• When your employees become eligible for paternity leave and their statutory responsibilities and entitlements, including any enhanced paternity pay that you offer.
• Your employees’ right to take unpaid time off for the purposes of attending antenatal appointments with their partner, providing that they are in a qualifying relationship.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your paternity policy:

ACAS – Holiday, Sickness and Leave Resources Library
The ACAS resources library includes guidance relating to the rights of your employees during maternity, paternity, and parental leave, when adopting a child or having one through surrogacy, and advice relating to managing their absence and pay.

Shared parental leave enables two parents to share the main responsibility for the care of their child during the first year of its birth or adoption. Whilst there is no legal requirement for chambers to implement a shared parental leave policy, having one in place can help support compliance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, The Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014, The Maternity and Adoption Leave (Curtailment of Statutory Rights to Leave) Regulations 2014 and, more broadly, with the Equality Act 2010.

Regardless of whether you implement a shared parental leave policy, you should be aware that provided your employees meet the eligibility criteria and have provided you with the correct notification, they can choose to curtail their maternity or adoption leave two weeks after the birth or matching of their child, and instead take a combined period of up to 50 weeks as shared parental leave. They may also be eligible for up to 37 weeks of shared parental pay if they meet the relevant criteria.

In your shared parental leave policy, you can outline:

• When your employees become eligible for shared parental leave and their statutory responsibilities and entitlements.
• What you will require from your employees when providing you with curtailment, entitlement, and booking notices.
• Any processes that you have in place that enable your employees to change the dates of, or cancel, their shared parental leave.
• How much pay your employees will receive whilst taking shared parental leave, including any enhanced shared parental leave pay that you offer and details of the benefits to which they will remain entitled during their absence.
• Any processes that you have in place for keeping in touch with your employees whilst they are on shared parental leave and for facilitating their return to work, including details of how you will manage requests to adjust their working hours temporarily or permanently, if requested (complemented by your flexible working policy).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your shared parental leave policy:

ACAS – Holiday, Sickness and Leave Resources Library
The ACAS resources library includes guidance relating to the rights of your employees during maternity, paternity, and parental leave, when adopting a child or having one through surrogacy, and advice relating to managing their absence and pay.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to introduce an equality action plan, you must have one under rC110.2 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

An equality action plan can also be used:

• To support compliance with the Equality Act 2010.
• To support broader compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, Core Duty 8 (you must not discriminate unlawfully against any person).
• As evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 37.2 (strategy for enabling pupils to achieve the best outcomes they are capable of) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process.

You can use an equality action plan to set out the specific, measurable, affordable, realistic, and timely actions that your chambers will take to ensure that the principles of equality and diversity are embedded into the framework of its day-to-day work, including the prevention of unlawful discrimination. In your action plan, you should set out:

• The action that you plan to take.
• Any evidence base that supports the action.
• The job titles of those who will be responsible for ensuring that the relevant action is progressed and completed.
• The deadline by which the action must be completed.
• Any updates on the progress that chambers has made in respect of the action.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your equality action plan include:

Bar Council – Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Webpage
Our resources library sets out a range of information and services that the Bar Council’s offers to support its objective of creating a profession ‘representative of all and for all’, including our Race at the Bar Report 2021 and Race at the Bar Progress Report 2022.

Bar Council – Equality and Diversity Helpline
The Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Helpline is available to aspiring barristers, pupil barristers, members of the Bar, and chambers professionals. Chambers can use it to seek advice on implementing the equality and diversity rules in the Bar Standards Board Handbook, making reasonable adjustments, and handling related complaints.

Bar Council – Framework for Taking Action on Race Equality

Bar Council – Guide to Simple Programme Planning and Evaluation
This guide introduces a simple logic model that can be used to support the development of effective equality, diversity, and inclusion programmes. It applies for both programme planning and evaluation.

Bar Council – Target Setting Guide
This guide has been prepared to support chambers and other organisations at the Bar with target setting to support progress in equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives.

Bar Council – Introduction to Equality and Diversity Training

Bar Council – Advanced Equality and Diversity Training

Bar Council – Introduction to Race Training

Bar Standards Board – Supporting Information: BSB Handbook Equality Rules
The Bar Standards Board’s supporting information publication contains guidance relating to the creation of equality action plans. The model policies section of the publication also includes a template plan for you to use as a starting point for your own.

Chancery Bar, Commercial Bar and Technology and Construction Bar Association Black Inclusion Report

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to introduce an equality, diversity, and inclusion policy, you must have one under rC110.1 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

An equality, diversity, and inclusion policy can also be used:

• To support compliance with the Equality Act 2010.
• To support broader compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, Core Duty 8 (you must not discriminate unlawfully against any person).
• As evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 31.3 (ensuring the planning and delivery of your pupillage programme enables pupils to develop the competencies required of them), mandatory criteria 37.1 (demonstrating your commitment to increasing equality and diversity at the Bar), mandatory criteria 37.2 (having a strategy that for making your pupillage programme accessible), mandatory criteria 37.3 (operating an open and fair recruitment process), mandatory criteria 37.5 (ensuring your assessments and appraisals procedures enable pupils to achieve the best possible outcome), mandatory criteria 37.6 (supportive, safe, and accessible learning environment), 40.1 (ensuring transparency in relation to how your pupils can progress into practice), mandatory criteria 42.2 (enhancing the employability and practice development opportunities of your pupils), and mandatory criteria 46.12 (a culture of high standards of performance and professionalism by pupils) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process.

You can use an equality, diversity, and inclusion policy (also known as an equal opportunities policy) to demonstrate to your members, pupil barristers, employees, and those interested in joining or instructing chambers, that your organisation:

• Aims to value diversity and promote equality of opportunities.
• Recognises that talent and potential are distributed across the population and strives to ensure that your workforce is reflective of those it provides services to.
• Aims to create a working environment in which there is no bullying, harassment, or discrimination (complemented by a dignity at work policy), and your members, pupil barristers, and employees can realise their full potential.

In your equality, diversity, and inclusion policy, you can set out:

• Why equality and diversity is important in the workplace, referring to both the legal requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and other drivers, such as ensuring that your members, pupil barristers, and employees feel valued and respected, and that your chambers can attract and recruit the highest calibre of candidates from a wide talent base.

• How you define the different forms of discrimination, victimisation, harassment, and bullying.
• A summary of your reasonable adjustments policy, including how you define reasonable adjustments and proportionality.
• How you expect your members, pupil barristers, employees, and other people in chambers to behave, both in terms of their conduct (complemented by a dignity at work policy) and in support of the policy.
• Who your appointed Equality and Diversity Officers are, in compliance with rC110.3.a of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.
• The purpose of your Equality, Diversity and Wellbeing Committee (or similar), if you have one (complemented by the Terms of Reference for the Committee).
• How you deal with the collection of diversity data relevant to your workforce and those who apply to join your set (complemented by your data protection policy, privacy notice, and data management and disposal policy).
• What training you will provide to your members, pupil barristers and employees to ensure that they are able to share chambers’ commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
• The steps that a member of your workforce can take if they find themselves having to deal with any unacceptable behaviour, from either a colleague in chambers or from an external party.
• How you will deal with complaints relating to unfair treatment (complemented by your dignity at work, grievance, and disciplinary policies).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your equality, diversity, and inclusion policy include:

Bar Council – Equality and Diversity Helpline
The Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Helpline is available to aspiring barristers, pupil barristers, members of the Bar, and chambers professionals. Chambers can use it to seek advice on implementing the equality and diversity rules in the Bar Standards Board Handbook, making reasonable adjustments, and handling related complaints.

Bar Council – Introduction to Equality and Diversity Training

Bar Council – Advanced Equality and Diversity Training

ACAS – Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy Template

Under Part 8A of the Employment Rights Act 1996, your employees have the statutory right to ask you to change their working hours or place of work, in the form of a flexible working request. At present, this right applies after 26 weeks’ employment service, but from 6 April 2024, it will apply from your employees first day.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for chambers to implement a flexible working policy, having one in place can therefore support compliance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 (applicable to 5 April 2024),  the Flexible Working (Amendment Regulations 2023) (applicable from 6 April 2024 onwards), and the Equality Act 2010.

A separate or expanded flexible working policy for pupil barristers and members can also be used:

• Support compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, Core Duty 8 (you must not discriminate unlawfully against any person).
• As evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 31.1 (explaining your flexible training strategy) and mandatory criteria 35.1 (explaining how you will take into account individual pupils’ personal circumstances in support of a diverse legal profession) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process.

Your flexible working policy should be drafted in accordance with the ACAS Code of Practice on handling flexible working requests. It should set out:

• A non-exhaustive list of the types of working arrangements that are considered flexible.
• The criteria that you will apply when considering requests for flexible working.
• The steps that a member of your workforce should take to request a flexible working arrangement and the procedure that you will follow in response to their request.

• The possible outcomes, including trial periods and the process for varying contracts of employment (preferably linked to any written pupillage agreements and, depending on your charging model, to chambers’ constitution or articles of association, if your flexible working policy is applicable to chambers’ pupil barristers and members respectively).
• How the member of your workforce can appeal your decision if you refuse their request or only agree to it in part.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your flexible working policy include:

Bar Council – Equality and Diversity Helpline
The Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Helpline is available to aspiring barristers, pupil barristers, members of the Bar, and chambers professionals. Chambers can use it to seek advice on implementing the equality and diversity rules in the Bar Standards Board Handbook, making reasonable adjustments, and handling related complaints.

Ethics and Practice Hub – Flexible Working Guide and Template Policy

ACAS – Flexible Working Resources Library

ACAS – Flexible Working Policy Template

There is no legal requirement for chambers to implement a menopause policy, but having one in place can:

• Support compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which says an employer must, where reasonably practical, ensure everyone's health, safety and welfare at work.

• Support broader compliance with rC110 to rC112 of Bar Standards Board Handbook (the equality and diversity rules).
• Evidence that your chambers meets the mandatory criteria of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process that deal with equality and diversity.

You can use a menopause policy to demonstrate to your members, pupil barristers, and employees that you offer a positive and inclusive working environment that supports people going through menopause and menopause symptoms equally. In your menopause policy, you can set out:

• What you hope to achieve through the implementation of a menopause policy.
• How you define the different forms of menopause and the different types of menopause symptoms.
• How people going through menopause and menopause symptoms might be affected.
• What support your chambers offers to people going through menopause and menopause symptoms (complemented by equality, diversity, and inclusion, dignity at work, and flexible working policies).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your menopause policy include:

Bar Council – Menopause in Chambers Guidance and Template

ACAS – Menopause at Work Guidance

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to introduce a parental leave policy for your members, you must have one under rC110.1.k of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

A parental leave policy for your members can also be used to support broader compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and the Bar Standards Board Handbook, including Core Duty 8 (you must not discriminate unlawfully against any person).

In your parental leave for your members, you can outline:

• Who the policy applies to and how you define the various terms associated with it, such as parental leave, parent, carer, and dependent.
• The steps that your members should take to notify you of their intention to take parental leave.
• The criteria that you will apply when considering requests for concessions from your fixed and/or percentage-based contribution schemes (complemented by your constitution).
• What support your chambers offers to your members prior to the commencement of their parental leave, including in relation to any time off that your members require to undergo fertility treatment, attend anti-natal or related medical appointments, or manage periods of pregnancy-related sickness absence.
• Any processes that you have in place for keeping in touch with your members whilst they are on parental leave and for facilitating their return to chambers, including details of how you will manage requests to adjust their working hours temporarily or permanently, if requested (complemented by your flexible working policy).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your parental leave policy for members:

Bar Council – Equality and Diversity Helpline
The Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Helpline is available to aspiring barristers, pupil barristers, members of the Bar, and chambers professionals. Chambers can use it to seek advice on implementing the equality and diversity rules in the Bar Standards Board Handbook, making reasonable adjustments, and handling related complaints.

Ethics and Practice Hub – Maternity and Parental Leave Guidance and Template Policy

Bar Standards Board – Supporting Information: BSB Handbook Equality Rules
The Bar Standards Board’s supporting information publication includes a template parental leave policy for you to use as a starting point for your own.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to introduce a reasonable adjustments policy, you must have one under rC110.1.m of the Bar Standards Board Handbook. You should also be aware that chambers have a legal duty under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for persons with disabilities, including in the form of auxiliary aids or additional services. A failure to comply with your duty to make reasonable adjustments is a form of discrimination.

A reasonable adjustments policy can also be used:

• To support compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which says an employer must, where reasonably practical, ensure everyone's health, safety and welfare at work.
• To support broader compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, Core Duty 8 (you must not discriminate unlawfully against any person).
• As evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 37.5 (ensuring your assessments and appraisals procedures enable pupils to achieve the best possible outcome) and mandatory criteria 37.6 (supportive, safe, and accessible learning environment) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process and to support compliance with Part 4D of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual (covering the documents that Authorised Education and Training Organisations are required to have in place with their pupil barristers upon commencement of pupillage).

You can use a reasonable adjustments policy to set out:

• What you hope to achieve through the implementation of a reasonable adjustments policy.
• The definition of disability and an explanation of your duty to make reasonable adjustments, with reference to the Equality Act 2010.
• How your members, pupil barristers, employees, and other people visiting your chambers can make a request for reasonable adjustments.
• A non-exhaustive list of the types of reasonable adjustments that you may be able to make for persons with disabilities.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your reasonable adjustments policy include:

Bar Council – Reasonable Adjustments Guide and Model Policy

Bar Council – Accessibility Self-Audit Tool for Chambers

Bar Council – Guidance on Effective Communication with those who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Bar Council – Dyslexia: Supporting Colleagues, Pupils and Students Guidance

Bar Council – Equality and Diversity Helpline
The Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Helpline is available to aspiring barristers, pupil barristers, members of the Bar, and chambers professionals. Chambers can use it to seek advice on implementing the equality and diversity rules in the Bar Standards Board Handbook, making reasonable adjustments, and handling related complaints.

Bar Council – Fair Recruitment and Selection Training

Bar Standards Board – Supporting Information: BSB Handbook Equality Rules
The Bar Standards Board’s supporting information publication contains guidance relating to the creation of reasonable adjustment policies and examples of adjustments. The model policies section of the publication also includes a template reasonable adjustments policy for you to use as a starting point for your own.

ACAS – Disability at Work Resources Library
The ACAS resources library includes advice and template policies relating to supporting disabled people and mental health at work, reasonable adjustments and accessibility, and disability discrimination.

EHRC – Employing People: Workplace Adjustments Resources
The EHRC resources library includes advice relating to supporting disabled people and making reasonable adjustments, including examples of adjustments in practice.

There is no legal requirement for chambers to implement a transitioning at work, but having one in place can:

• Support compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which says an employer must, where reasonably practical, ensure everyone's health, safety and welfare at work, and the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which says that disclosing the fact that a person transitioning has applied for a gender recognition certificate without their consent may be rendered a criminal offence.

• Support broader compliance with rC110 to rC112 of Bar Standards Board Handbook (the equality and diversity rules).
• Evidence that your chambers meets the mandatory criteria of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process that deal with equality and diversity.

You can use a transitioning at work policy to demonstrate to your members, pupil barristers, and employees that you offer a positive and inclusive working environment that supports people who are transitioning. In your transitioning at work policy, you can set out:

• What you hope to achieve through the implementation of a transitioning at work policy.
• How you define transitioning and the language that your workforce should use when referring to a transitioning person. 
• How people who are transitioning can seek support from your chambers (complemented by equality, diversity, and inclusion, dignity at work, and flexible working policies).
• The process that your chambers will follow when it becomes aware that a member of its workforce is a transitioning person.
• Your expectations of members, pupil barristers and employees in respect of the confidentiality of the person who is transitioning.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your transitioning at work policy include:

Bar Council – Gender Reassignment and Trans Guidance
Our Gender Reassignment and Trans Guidance document includes a model transitioning at work policy for chambers.

ACAS – Supporting Trans Employees in the Workplace Guidance

FreeBar – The FreeBar Charter
The FreeBar Charter aims to guide organisations in implementing best practice with regards to LBGT+ inclusion. Chambers can sign up to the Charter to demonstrate to the members of their workforce and those seeking to join them that they are an LGBT+ inclusive organisation. Charter members and those who are planning to commit to the Charter are also able to request a real example of a Chambers’ transitioning at work policy from FreeBar.

If you have five or more employees then, under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, you are required to produce a written health and safety policy that covers the steps you are taking to manage health and safety in accordance with The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Under The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 you are also required to provide adequate and appropriate first-aid equipment, facilities, and trained first aiders, to ensure that your members, pupil barristers, employees, and visitors to chambers are able to access immediate assistance if they are injured or unwell.

Additionally, under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, you are required to carry out and regularly review a fire risk assessment, identify the general fire precautions you need to put in place and maintain, and plan for an emergency, including through the appointment of an appropriate number of trained fire marshals.

Your health and safety policy should be used to demonstrate your commitment, and explain your approach, to managing the health and safety of your members, pupil barristers, and employees. It should include:

• A list of the people in your chambers who have specific responsibility for health and safety, including any trained first aiders, fire marshals, and mental health first aiders.
• Your expectations of members, pupil barristers and employees in relation to matters of health and safety.
• Details of the practical arrangements that you have implemented and will continue to maintain to manage health and safety in the workplace, including conducting risk assessments and reviews, training employees, ensuring that appropriate and accessible equipment is available, and implementing and testing evacuation plans.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your health and safety policy include:

Health and Safety Executive – Health and Safety Resources Library
The HSE resources library includes guidance and template policies relating to the implementation of health and safety policies, managing risk and conducting risk assessments, and first aid in the workplace, including reporting accidents and illness. 

Government – Fire Safety in the Workplace Guidance

There is no legal requirement for chambers to implement a wellbeing policy, but having one in place can:

• Support compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which says an employer must, where reasonably practical, ensure everyone's health, safety and welfare at work.

• Evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 37.6 (supportive, safe, and accessible learning environment) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process.
• Support broader compliance with Part 4B, rule 20.4 of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual, which sets out the responsibilities of pupil supervisors in respect of pupil wellbeing.

You can use a wellbeing policy to set out:

• What you hope to achieve through the implementation of a wellbeing policy, with regards to both the physical and mental health of members of your workforce.

• An explanation of what you are doing do to support wellbeing and details of how members of your workforce can access any internal services. This can include a list of people in your chambers who have specific responsibility for wellbeing, including any trained mental health first aiders. 

• A non-exhaustive list of external resources that your members, pupil barristers, and employees might find useful.
• The steps that you will take if a member workforce needs to take time off or otherwise for reasons relating to their wellbeing (complemented by equality, diversity, and inclusion, dignity at work, reasonable adjustments, and absence policies).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your mental health and wellbeing policy include:

Bar Council – Wellbeing at the Bar
Our Wellbeing at the Bar website includes links to helpful resources, including sample wellbeing policies and surveys, advice for chambers supporting colleagues following a death by suicide, and guidance on developing a health care plan.

Wellbeing at the Bar – Assistance Programme
The Assistance programme is a confidential service available 24/7 which provides mental health support to members of the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks and Legal Practice Management Association, pupil barristers and barristers, including those who are subject to formal grievance proceedings.

Ethics and Practice Hub – Fitness to practice guidance
This document is designed to help chambers understand the procedure to follows when they have health concerns about a barrister.

LawCare
LawCare is the mental health charity for the legal sector. It provides free and confidential emotional support for anyone struggling with the pressures of a career in law and its website contains useful resources relating to anxiety, bullying, depression, disciplinary proceedings, neurodiversity, stress, and wellbeing.

ACAS – Health and wellbeing resources library
The ACAS resources library includes guidance relating to supporting mental health at work, managing work-related stress, wellbeing when working from home, and using occupational health at work.

Hardship funds that you can signpost your members and employees to include:

Barristers’ Benevolent Association – Financial Support Schemes for Barristers and Chambers Professionals

Criminal Bar Association – Hardship Fund

North Eastern Circuit – Henry Scott Fund (Financial Support)

Northern Circuit – Hardship Fund (behind member login)

South Eastern Circuit – Financial Support Fund

There is no legal requirement to implement an acceptable use policy, but having one in place can:

• Support compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. It may also refer to the Computer Misuse Act 1990, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000.  

• Support broader compliance with Core Duty 6 (duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential) and Core Duty 10 (duty to take reasonable steps to manage your practice competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations) of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

You can use an acceptable use policy to set out the actions that are expected of your members, pupil barristers, and employees when using your IT resources. A non-exhaustive list of the areas your policy can cover includes:

• Access controls, including security settings and clearance levels.
• Email management, including permitted use of work email accounts, security procedures relating to the sharing of personal and sensitive personal information (including when sending emails to more than one external recipient), and retention and disposal (complemented by your data management and retention policy).

• Internet access, including permitted use of web browsers, social media channels (complemented by your social media and dignity at work policies), online messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models, and restrictions relating to the downloading of copyrighted materials.
• Desk working, including ensuring the security of physical documents and unattended IT equipment.
• Home and remote working, including permitted devices, procedures relating to the use of external wi-fi networks, ensuring the security of physical documents and unattended IT equipment, procedures relating to working abroad and procedures relating to the loss or theft of chambers’ IT equipment.
• Personal equipment usage, including permitted purposes (complemented by your bring your own device policy), procedures relating to the use of personal equipment for work purposes in an emergency, retention and disposal of chambers’ data from personal devices (complemented by your data management and retention policy), and procedures relating to the loss or theft of personal equipment used for work purposes (complemented by your bring your own device policy).
• Storage and transfer of data, including permitted purposes and methods of storage, and procedures relating to the use of portable storage devices received by chambers from external sources.
• Data sharing and outsourcing, including the circumstances in which confidential information and personal data may be shared with an external source and procedures relating to the secure transfer of any such information and data (complemented by your data sharing policies or agreements).
• Software and third-party services, including permitted use and details of which members of chambers’ workforce can install, configure, or modify software onto authorised IT equipment.
• Viruses, including information relating to the automated detection of viruses and related software updates, and procedures relating to the suspected infection of chambers’ IT equipment.

Your acceptable use policy should also:

• Set out the action that your members, pupil barristers, and employees should take if they suspect that a security breach has happened (complemented by your managing and reporting data breaches policy).
• Explain the extent to which the use of IT equipment issued by chambers is monitored and for what purposes.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your acceptable use policy include:

Ethics and Practice Hub – IT and UK GDPR Resource Library
Our resources library sets out a range template policies and guidance notes designed to help individual practitioners and chambers implement good information security practices and comply with UK GDPR, including our internet security guidance, mobile device security guidance, email guidelines for the Bar, and information security guidance.

Ethics and Practice Hub – Remaining compliant when working from home guidance

To comply with Article 24.2 of UK General Data Protection Regulation and ensure that the inappropriate use of personally-owned devices or unsatisfactory procedures do not result in a breach of the Data Protection Act 2018, chambers should have a written policy which sets out the conditions under which such devices may be used by members of staff and pupil barristers in connection with chambers’ business and in connection with individual barristers’ practices.

A bring your own device policy can also be used to support broader compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, Core Duty 6 (duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential) and Core Duty 10 (duty to take reasonable steps to manage your practice competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations).  

Your bring your own device policy should be used to set out your expectations of employees and pupil barristers when using personally-owned devices for work purposes. It should include:

• The steps that an employee or pupil barrister must follow to have their personal device approved for work purposes.
• Details of the practical arrangements that you have implemented and will continue to maintain to manage the use of personal devices for work purposes.  
• An explanation of the security settings, device configurations, and storage facilities that you will expect those using personal devices for work purposes to have in place.

• Your expectations of pupil barristers and employees in relation to reporting potential data breaches arising through the misuse, loss, or theft of the approved personal device.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your bring your own device policy include:

Ethics and Practice Hub – IT and UK GDPR Resource Library
Our resources library sets out a range template policies and guidance notes designed to help individual practitioners and chambers implement good information security practices and comply with UK GDPR, including our bring your own device policy template and mobile device security guidance.

ICO – Bring your own device guidance
The ICO guidance sets out the different approaches to facilitate home working and identifies the potential risks and mitigations in relation to each.

There is no legal requirement to implement a business continuity plan. However, it is beneficial to have one as it ensures that, following a disruptive incident, your chambers can continue to deliver services at predefined levels. It helps to identify potential threats and provides a simple framework for an effective response should an interruption take place.

To support your compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018, and The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and demonstrate your commitment to protecting data in accordance with the law, you should use a data protection policy.

Introducing a data protection policy will also support broader compliance with Core Duty 6 (duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential) and Core Duty 10 (duty to take reasonable steps to manage your practice competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations) of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

You can use your data protection policy to demonstrate your commitment to the six data protection principles and explain how you will manage risk and respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects. In your policy, you should:

• Explain the data protection principles and the personal and sensitive personal data to which the policy applies, including special category data (completed by your register of processing activities).
• Provide a list of definitions relevant to the policy, as defined under the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
• Set out the principles that you will follow to protect personal and sensitive personal data from unauthorised disclosure (complemented by your data management and retention, and acceptable use policies).
• Detail the responsibilities of your members, pupil barristers, and employees when managing personal and sensitive personal data, including any that are specific to your elected Data Protection Officer (complemented by your data management and retention policy).
• Set out the circumstances under which you will transmit confidential information and how you will mitigate risk in each scenario, including when sending personal or sensitive personal data to countries outside of the European Economic Area (complemented be your acceptable use and data sharing policies, and any data sharing agreements that you have in place with external suppliers and service providers).
• Summarise your approach to data retention and disposal (complemented by your data management and retention policy).
• Summarise your approach to managing data breaches and incident reporting (complemented by your managing and reporting data breaches policy).
• Explain the approach that you will take to conducting data protection impact assessments.
• Set out the rights of data subjects and how you will handle requests for personal data (otherwise known as subject access requests).
• What training you will provide to your members, employees, and pupil barristers to ensure they remain compliant with the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your data protection policy include:

Ethics and Practice Hub – IT and UK GDPR Resource Library
Our resources library sets out a range template policies and guidance notes designed to help individual practitioners and chambers implement good information security practices and comply with UK GDPR, including our Subject Access Requests guidance.

Whilst you must keep a record of data retention in your organisation, there is no legal requirement to implement a data management and retention policy. However, having one in place can:

• Support compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, which require organisations to retain personal data for only as long as is necessary.

• Support broader compliance with Core Duty 6 (duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential) and Core Duty 10 (duty to take reasonable steps to manage your practice competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations) of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

You can use a data management and retention policy to set out how you expect your members, pupil barristers, and employees to deal with records management and, specifically, with retention and disposal. Your policy should:

• Set out your statutory obligations relating to the collection, storage, retention, and disposal of records containing personal and sensitive personal data.
• Explain what you deem to constitute a ‘record’, including a non-exhaustive list of examples such as electronic files, emails, audio and video recordings, appointment books and calendars.
• Detail the responsibilities of your members, pupil barristers, and employees when managing records, including any that are specific to your elected Data Protection Officer.
• Set out the data retention periods that you apply to different forms of records and the methods of disposal and destruction available to your members, pupil barristers, and employees (complemented by your data retention schedule).
• Explain how frequently you expect your members, pupil barristers, and employees to review the records that they are responsible for.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your data management and retention policy include:

Ethics and Practice Hub – IT and UK GDPR Resource Library
Our resources library sets out a range template policies and guidance notes designed to help individual practitioners and chambers implement good information security practices and comply with UK GDPR, including our data retention policy guidance and guidance on data retention when counsel and chambers cease trading.

ICO – Retention and Destruction of Information Guidance

Whilst you must keep a record of the data that you share with other organisations, there is no legal requirement to implement a data sharing policy. However, having one in place can:

• Support compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, which require data sharing to be fair and transparent.

• Support broader compliance with Core Duty 6 (duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential) and Core Duty 10 (duty to take reasonable steps to manage your practice competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations) of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

In your data sharing policy, you can:

• Set out the reasons you may need to share data with other organisations and the lawful basis for sharing the data.
• Explain the process that your members, employees, and pupil barristers should follow before doing so (complemented by your template data sharing, data processor, controller-processor, and joint data controller agreements, and template data protection impact assessment form).
• Set out what you will consider when deciding whether to enter into an arrangement that will involve the sharing of data and the process that you will follow when documenting the decision and reasoning behind it.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your data sharing policy include:

Ethics and Practice Hub – IT and UK GDPR Resource Library
Our resources library sets out a range template policies and guidance notes designed to help individual practitioners and chambers implement good information security practices and comply with UK GDPR, including our joint data controllers under the UK GDPR guidance, template controller-processor agreement, and signing controller-processor agreements with solicitors’ firms guidance.

ICO – Data sharing agreements guidance

Whilst you must keep a record of all the data breaches that occur in your organisation, there is no legal requirement to implement a managing and reporting data breaches policy. However, having one in place can:

• Support compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, which require data controllers to report breaches that are likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms to the ICO.

• Support broader compliance with Core Duty 6 (duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential) and Core Duty 10 (duty to take reasonable steps to manage your practice competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations) of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

You can use a managing and reporting data breaches policy to set out how your members, employees, and pupil barristers should respond in the event of a data breach. Your policy should:

• Summarise the Technical and Organisational Measures that you will implement to ensure an appropriate level of security, in accordance with Article 32(1) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
• Explain the types of data breaches that might occur in your organisation.
• Set out the action that you expect your members, employees, and pupil barristers to take in the event they identify a data breach, including who to report it to and how will be investigated and dealt with thereafter.
• Set out how you will assess the likely risk to individuals arising from the breach, including identifying the type of breach, how many people it is likely to have affected, and the severity of the consequences.
• Explain the circumstances in which you will report the breach to the ICO, including any relevant timeframes, and the potential consequences of doing so.
• Explain the circumstances in which you will notify data subjects of the breach and any exceptions that apply under Article 34(3) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
• Set out the action that you will take following a data breach to evaluate the reason(s) for its occurrence and implement suitable mitigation measures.
• Provide details of your record keeping procedure, which should include details of the data breaches that occur in your organisation and the reasoning for your decision-making in respect of them.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your managing and reporting data breaches policy include:

Ethics and Practice Hub – IT and UK GDPR Resource Library
Our resources library sets out a range template policies and guidance notes designed to help individual practitioners and chambers implement good information security practices and comply with UK GDPR, including our guidance on what to do when you lose papers or when your data security is breached.

ICO – Personal data breaches guide

To comply with Article 13 and 14 of UK General Data Protection Regulation, you must have a publicly available privacy notice (also known as a privacy statement) that explains your approach to collecting and managing the personal and sensitive personal data of the data subjects that are relevant to your organisation, including:

• Members, including prospective, probationary, associate, and affiliate members.
• Pupil barristers, including prospective pupil barristers and those on secondment from any other Authorised Education and Training Organisation.
• Employees, including prospective, temporary, and casual employees, volunteers, and agents.
• Students in communication with, or visiting, your chambers for the purposes of work experience or otherwise.
• Customers and clients, including complainants, correspondents, and enquirers.
• Suppliers, advisors, consultants, and other professional experts.

A privacy notice can also be used to support broader compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, Core Duty 6 (duty to keep the affairs of each client confidential) and Core Duty 10 (duty to take reasonable steps to manage your practice competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations). 

In your privacy notice, you must:

• State who the data controller and data protection officer are.
• Set out what personal and sensitive personal data you collect, how you source it where it is not obtained directly from the data subject, and the methods that you will use to collect it.
• Explain the lawful basis that you have for collecting and processing personal and sensitive personal data, including special category data, and how you will use it (complemented by your record of processing activities, which you do not need to publicise).
• State who you will share personal and sensitive personal data with, including details of any transfers of personal and sensitive personal data to places outside the European Economic Area.
• Summarise how long you will retain personal and sensitive personal data for.
• Set out your data subjects’ rights and the details of who they should contact if they wish to exercise them, including their right to complaint to the ICO.

If applicable, you must also set out the existence of automated decision making within your organisation.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your privacy notice include:

Ethics and Practice Hub – IT and UK GDPR Resource Library
Our resources library sets out a range template policies and guidance notes designed to help individual practitioners and chambers implement good information security practices and comply with UK GDPR.

ICO – Make your own privacy notice

Under Article 15 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation, individuals have a right to be told what personal information your chambers holds about them and, unless an exemption applies, to receive a copy of that information.

Whilst there is no legal requirement to implement a subject access request policy to support this process, having one in place can help you to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

You can use a subject access request policy to set out:

• A summary of the requirements of Article 15 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation, including any relevant definitions, entitlements, and exemptions.
• Who subject access requests should be made to, and how.  
• The procedure that you will follow if you receive a subject access request, including the timeframe for your response.
• What training you provide to your members, pupil barristers and employees to ensure that they are compliant with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
• How you will deal with complaints relating to the response that you give in respect of a subject access request (complemented by your complaints policy).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your subject access request policy include:

Ethics and Practice Hub – Subject Access Requests under the UK GDPR
This document is designed to help individuals and chambers understand the procedure for dealing with a subject access request and their obligations under the UK GDPR.

ICO – Subject Access Request Template for Small Businesses

There is no legal requirement for most chambers to publish an anti-bribery and corruption policy. However, it is best practice to have one as it demonstrates your commitment to ethical conduct, helps prevent bribery and corruption, and can provide a defence against potential legal liabilities arising from the Bribery Act 2010.

Having an anti-bribery and corruption policy in place can also support broader compliance with Core Duty 4 (you must maintain your independence) and Core Duty 3 (you must act with honesty and integrity) of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

Your anti-bribery and corruption policy should:

• Clearly state that bribery and corruption are strictly prohibited in chambers.
• Be tailored to address any risks that your chambers faces relating to bribery and corruption.
• Include guidelines for your members, pupil barristers, and employees on accepting gifts, hospitality, or donations.
• Provide guidance on how relevant members of your workforce should conduct business on behalf of chambers, including negotiating contracts and dealing with conflicts of interest.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your anti-bribery and corruption policy include:

Ethics and Practice Hub – Gifts and Entertainment Guide
This document is designed to provide advice to barristers and chambers in relation to the giving and acceptance of gifts and entertainment.

There is no legal requirement for most chambers to implement an anti-money laundering and terrorist financing policy. However, under regulations 11 and 12 of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 as amended, an anti-money laundering and terrorist financing policy is required where barristers:

• Act as tax advisers.
• Participate in financial or real property transactions by assisting in the planning or execution of the transaction or otherwise acting for or on behalf of a client in the transaction.
• Act as a Trust or Company Service Provider.

Developing an anti-money laundering and terrorist financing policy in these circumstances will assist your members in meeting their obligations under The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as amended. These obligations include the requirement to carry out a risk assessment, undertake Customer Due Diligence before acting, keep a record of your compliance with the Regulations and disclose suspicious activity to the authorities. 

An anti-money laundering and terrorist financing policy will also:

• Ensure that your members, pupil barristers, and employees do not commit an offence within the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Terrorism Act 2000.
• Support compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, rS59.7 (which requires barristers to declare at Authorisation to Practise whether they do work within the scope of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as amended).

Your anti-money laundering and terrorist financing policy should include:

• An assessment of your exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing, including details of your client demographic and a non-exhaustive list of high-risk customer types.
• Your customer due diligence process, including how you will identify and verify the identity of your clients and beneficial owners, and the enhanced measures that you will apply to high-risk customers or transactions.
• Details of which members of your workforce are responsible for ensuring anti-money laundering and terrorist financing compliance.
• What training you provide to your members, pupil barristers and employees to ensure that they are compliant with The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as amended, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Terrorism Act 2000, and your associated procedures.
• Details of your record keeping procedure, which you should design to maintain accurate and complete records of relevant customer information, transactions, risk assessments, internal controls, training, and suspicious activity reports.
• A monitoring and review process that evaluates the effectiveness and adequacy of the policy and ensures that it is updated as necessary to reflect changes in the law, the business, or the risk environment.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your anti-money laundering and terrorist financing policy include:

Ethics and Practice Hub - Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Resource Library
Our resources library includes links to the Legal Sector Affinity Group’s Anti-Money Laundering Guidance, a range of specific advisory notes, and guidance designed to assist barristers in determining and navigating their obligations under the Regulations and related legislation. 

Bar Council - Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Training Course

Bar Standards Board – Anti-Money Laundering Guidance

Legal Sector Affinity Group - Anti-Money Laundering Guidance for the Legal Sector

Chambers’ constitutions (sometimes referred to as articles of associations or members’ agreements) are used to formalise the culture of the set, address the rights and responsibilities of its members, and lay out expectations as to how it will support the practices of each of its individual barristers.

You can use your constitution to set out:

• The details and mechanisms of your operating model (most commonly as an unincorporated body known as a trade protection association, or as a limited company), and the related rights and responsibilities of your individual members.
• Which committees or individual members of your workforce will be responsible for strategic and operational management, including details of any associated appointments and decision-making processes, and specific liabilities or authorities.
• How you will regulate the conduct of any meetings required to facilitate your decision-making processes.
• Your charging model and any concessions that you offer to your members under it.
• The terms on which your members can join, and depart from, chambers, including any associated processes and details of their liabilities and obligations when doing so.
• The process that you will follow if a dispute arises between your members.

Generally, your constitution should be as short and simple as possible. To enable this, consider the ways in which you can refer to relevant documentation, such as committee terms of reference, chambers’ policies, and lists of members, elsewhere.

It is also worth noting that under the Bar Standards Board Handbook you must ensure that your constitution enables you to take reasonable steps to:

• Terminate another person’s membership in specified circumstances. Your constitution should be drafted in a way that allows you to exclude a member from chambers whose conduct is reasonably considered to diminish the trust the public places in the profession (gC131).
• Ensure that there are policies in place that support the Equality and Diversity Rules (rC110 to rC112), and that they are properly enforced (gC141).

There is no legal requirement to implement a chambers social responsibility policy, but having one in place can demonstrate to your members, pupil barristers, employees, and those interested in joining or instructing chambers that you are making a concerted effort to promote ethical practices and socially responsible behaviour and contribute to sustainable development.

Depending on what you include in your chambers social responsibility policy, it can also help you to evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 37.1 (taking active steps to improve accessibility to the Bar) and mandatory criteria 38.1 (engagement with the wider community) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process.

You can use your chambers social responsibility policy to outline your core values and principles relating to social responsibility and the internal and external initiatives that you are undertaking to demonstrate your commitment to any of the following:

• Environmental responsibility, including initiatives relating to energy efficiency, waste reduction, and sustainable practices.
• Community engagement, including voluntary programmes, charitable donations, and community partnerships.
• Workforce wellbeing and human rights, including initiatives designed to promote equality, diversity and inclusion, mental health and wellbeing, and fair labour practices.
• Supplier and customer relations, including any expectations that you have of your suppliers and service providers in respect of their own business practices.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your chambers social responsibility policy include:

Bar Council – Chambers Social Responsibility Guide

Bar Council – Bar Sustainability Network
Our Bar Sustainability Network provides a range of services and support for chambers, designed to help them transition to a more sustainable way of working.

Pro bono schemes that you can signpost your members and employees to include:

Advocate
Advocate offer many different ways to volunteer. Your members and pupil barristers can sign up to become an Advocate panel member, or volunteer through one of their partner schemes, and take on cases. Their Bar in the Community Scheme also offers your members and employees the opportunity to volunteer their professional skills to support charities across England and Wales.

Chancery Bar Association – Chancery Bar Litigant in Person Support Scheme
Your members can provide “on the day” advice and representation for litigants in person in the Interim Applications Court through the Chancery Bar Litigant in Person Support Scheme.

Commercial Bar Association – Commercial Court and London Circuit Commercial Court Pro Bono Scheme
Your members can provide pro-bono assistance and representation for litigants in person appearing in applications to be heard in the Commercial Court or the London Circuit Commercial Court with a time estimate of one day or less through the Commercial Bar Association.

Free Representation Unit
Your members and pupil barristers can sign up to become a Free Representation Unit volunteer and provide free representation in employment tribunals, benefit appeals, and criminal injury compensation cases.

There is no legal requirement to implement an expenses policy. However, it is beneficial to have one as it helps to set out what you deem to be a reasonable expenditure and ensures that your employees understand what they must do, when incurring expenses or purchasing goods on behalf of chambers, to ensure that you achieve compliance with HM Revenues and Customs.

There is no legal requirement for most chambers to publish a modern slavery and human trafficking statement. However, under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, one will be required if your organisation has an annual turnover of £36,000,000 or more.

The Home Office’s statutory guidance recommends that your modern slavery and human trafficking statement covers the following areas:

• Organisation structure and supply chains.
• Policies in relation to slavery and human trafficking.
• Due diligence processes.
• Risk assessment and management.
• Key performance indicators to measure effectiveness of steps being taken.
• Training on modern slavery and trafficking.

Whilst there is no legal requirement to implement a risk register, it is generally good practice to keep one. A risk register could also support compliance with rC89.8 of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.

Your risk register should:

• Identify the strategic, regulatory, and operational risks chambers faces.
• Set out the controls that you have implemented to reduce each risk.
• Detail any further mitigating action that you plan to take, which members of your workforce will be responsible for carrying it out, and any associated timescales.  
• Assess the likelihood of each risk occurring and its impact on chambers if you fail to address it.

You should review your risk register regularly to ensure that it takes account of any political, economic, social, technological, legal, or environmental changes that might impact chambers.

There is no legal requirement to implement a strategic plan. However, it is beneficial to have one as it serves as a roadmap for your chambers. A strategic plan can help you to establish how you will achieve your organisational goals and measure your success against them. It also sets a timescale for the implementation of the actions required to achieve them.

To prepare your strategic plan, you should undertake a SWOT analysis, to assess internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats. You can also undertake a PESTLE analysis, to understand the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental issues that might have an impact on your chambers during the period that your strategic plan applies to.

Your strategic plan should:

• Include a concise statement describing your vision for the future (your ‘vision’).
• Clearly define the purpose and reason for your existence (your ‘mission’).
• Set out your overarching goals for the relevant period, including your priorities, objectives, and strategies in relation to each.
• Define how you will monitor and track your performance against the strategic plan and measure your success, in the form of key performance indicators.
• Identify any complementary sub-strategies that you have implemented, or will implement, to support your ambitions.

There is no legal requirement to implement a mentoring policy, but having one in place can help to ensure the success of any mentoring schemes you implement internally.

The numerous benefits of mentoring for your members, pupil barristers, and employees are detailed in the Bar Council’s Mentoring Guide. Additionally, mentoring schemes designed to benefit individual students from deprived backgrounds can help you to evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 38.1 (engagement with the wider community) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process.

In your mentoring policy, you can set out:

• What you define as mentoring and the purpose of your mentoring scheme.
• How mentors and mentees will be matched, including details of how your members, pupil barristers and employees can apply for your mentoring scheme.
• What training you will provide to your members and employees to ensure their success as mentors.
• How long the mentoring programme for each pair will last.
• How you expect your mentors and mentees to behave, including in relation to any confidentiality requirements associated with your mentoring scheme.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your mentoring protocol include:

Bar Council – Mentoring Guide

Bar Council – Developing Mentoring Skills Training

Mentoring schemes that you can signpost your members and employees to include:

Bar Council – Maternity and New Parents Mentoring Scheme

Bar Council – Silk and Judicial Appointments Mentoring Scheme

Advocate – Case-Based Mentoring Scheme

Chancery Bar Association – Mentoring Scheme

Commercial Bar Association – Mentoring Scheme

Western Circuit – Women’s Forum Mentoring Scheme

Midland Circuit – Women’s Forum Mentoring Scheme

Black Barristers’ Network – Mentoring Scheme

Women in Criminal Law – Mentoring Scheme

Institute of Barristers’ Clerks – Mentoring Options for Clerks

There is no regulatory requirement to implement practice reviews for your members. However, you should aim to prioritise them to ensure that you benefit from improved talent attraction, retention, and progression, and your members benefit in terms of their career development and wellbeing.

The Bar Council, Institute of Barristers’ Clerks and Legal Practice Management Association’s Practice Review Guide sets out the principles of practice review and suggests practical ways to get the most out of a review process. It also includes a template record for discussions, which can be adapted to suit individual needs.

Under Part 4D of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual, Authorised Education and Training Organisations are required to have a written agreement in place with their pupil barristers upon commencement of pupillage.

One of the appendices to your written agreement must be an absence from training policy which, as a minimum, should entitle your pupil barristers to take 20 days leave from training per annum. You can also use your policy to set out:

• The procedures that you expect pupil barristers to follow to book their leave and if they are unable to attend work or become sick whilst on annual leave.
• Your expectations of pupil barristers when booking medical, dental, and other appointments, and whether you will treat the leave they require in these circumstances as part of their annual allowance.
• Any processes that you have in place for self-certification and the production of medical certificates for long-term absence. Medical certificates are usually required after a period of absence lasting more than seven days.
• Any processes that you have in place for keeping in touch with pupil barristers who are on long-term sickness absence.
• The formal procedure that you will follow if the long-term absence of your pupil barristers is impacting on their training, including the possible outcomes of the process.

Under Part 4A, 2.16 of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual, you are required to have a written agreement or policy in place that deals with periods of probationary tenancy. Note that, whilst the relevant rules are contained within the Qualification Manual and refer to Authorised Education and Training Organisations, there is no requirement for you to have such a status to recruit probationary tenants.

The details of what your probationary tenancy agreement should include are detailed under Part 4A, 2.16 of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual. In summary, your probationary tenancy agreement must set out:

• The training and supervision or mentoring arrangements (complemented by a written description of your training programme).
• The process that your probationary tenants should expect to follow if they wish to apply for full tenancy once their probationary tenancy has ended, including the assessment criteria that you will apply during the process (completed by your recruitment policy).
• How the earnings that the probationary tenant makes will be managed, including whether they will receive guaranteed earnings and be exempt from your fixed and/or percentage-based contribution schemes (complemented by your constitution).
• Whether you will offer the probationary tenant voting rights (complemented by your constitution).
• Any other policies that are relevant to your probationary tenants.

In your probationary tenancy agreement, you may also wish to set out:

• The conditions precedent to the commencement of probationary tenancy, including any documentary evidence you require of the probationary tenancy in respect of their practising status, nationality or immigration status, and the process that you will follow if the probationary tenant is unable to meet one or more of these conditions.
• The commencement date of the probationary tenancy and term.
• What your expectations are of the probationary tenant, including that they must ensure that they comply at all times with your policies, their professional and regulatory obligations, and any relevant legislation, such as the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
• The process that you will follow if either you or the probationary tenant wishes to terminate their agreement (complemented by your grievance and disciplinary policies).
• How you will collect and process the probationary tenant’s personal data (complemented by your data protection policy and privacy notices).

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your probationary tenancy agreement include:

Bar Council – Probationary Tenancies Vacancies
You can place free advertisements for probationary tenants on the Bar Council’s website.

Ethics and Practice Hub – Probationary Tenancy Good Practice Guidelines

Under Part 4D of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual, Authorised Education and Training Organisations are required to have a written agreement in place with their pupil barristers upon commencement of pupillage.

Written agreements must reflect any relevant legislation, such as the obligations of both the Authorised Education and Training Organisation and the pupil barrister under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. In chambers, they should also not create an employment relationship between the pupil barrister and the Authorised Education and Training Organisation, nor be a contract for services or of apprenticeship.

The details of what your pupillage agreement should include are detailed under Part 4D of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual. In summary, your pupillage agreement should set out:

• The conditions precedent to the commencement of pupillage, including any documentary evidence you require of the pupil barrister in respect of their academic and vocational training, membership of an Inn of Court, and nationality or immigration status, and the process that you will follow if the pupil barrister is unable to meet one or more of these conditions.
• The commencement date of the pupillage and term.
• The supervision and training arrangements, including the process that you will follow if the pupil barrister is assessed as not having met the competencies in the Bar Standards Board’s Professional Statement and under Part 4A of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual (complemented by a written description of your training programme).
• The working hours (complemented by your absence from training policy).
• What your pupil barrister can expect from chambers, including that you will:
  • Conduct the pupillage in a manner which is fair and equitable, including the fair distribution of training opportunities to each pupil (complemented by your work distribution policy).
  • Ensure that each of your pupil supervisors has been appropriately trained and is registered as a pupil supervisor with the Bar Standards Board.
  • Ensure your pupil barrister is covered by the insurance of their pupil supervisor(s) for any legal services that they supply to the public during their practising period.
  • Ensure your pupil barrister is promptly provided with any necessary assistance they may need from you or their pupil supervisors to comply with their regulatory obligations relating to your pupillage.
  • Promptly notify the Bar Standards Board during the pupillage of any material changes it.
• What your expectations are of the pupil barrister, including that they must ensure that they:
  • Comply at all times with your policies, their professional and regulatory obligations, and any relevant legislation, such as the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
  • Keep adequate training records throughout their pupillage.
  • Promptly notify the Bar Standards Board during the pupillage of any material changes it.
  • Do not provide legal services as a barrister during the non-practising period of pupillage, except for in the case of noting briefs which they make take with the permission of their pupil supervisor or the Head(s) of Chambers.
  • Have registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, been called to the Bar, and obtained a provision practising certificate from the Bar Standards Board prior to their practising period.
  • Do not provide legal services as a barrister without the permission of their pupil supervisor or the Head(s) of Chambers during the practising period of pupillage.
• The pupillage award, including whether it is fixed or includes guaranteed earnings, the process that the pupil barrister should follow if they wish to request an advance, and the process that you will follow to reclaim the sums paid in certain circumstances.
• How the earnings that the pupil barrister makes during their practising period will be managed.
• The details of your travel and expenses policy (if applicable).
• The process that you will follow if the pupil barrister withdraws from the pupillage, or you either withdraw or terminate the pupillage (complemented by your grievance and disciplinary policies).
• How you will collect and process the pupil barrister’s personal data (complemented by your data protection policy and privacy notices).

You should also include the following documents as appendices to your written agreement:

• A written absence from training policy which states, as a minimum, that pupils are entitled to four weeks’ absence from training per annum i.e. 20 days in addition to Bank Holidays and includes provisions on sickness and other absence from training.
• Grievance policy.
• Dignity at work policy (otherwise known as a harassment, bullying and inappropriate behaviour policy, or an acceptable behaviour policy).
• Reasonable adjustments policy.
• Disciplinary policy.
• Recruitment policy.
• Pupillage training programme.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your written pupillage agreement include:

Ethics and Practice Hub - Model disciplinary policy

Ethics and Practice Hub - Model grievance policy

Ethics and Practice Hub – Written Pupillage Agreement Template

Under Part 4D of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual, Authorised Education and Training Organisations are required to have a written training programme which enables the pupil to meet the competencies in the Bar Standards Board’s Professional Statement.

Your pupillage training programme must set out:

• What training your pupil barristers will undertake in their non-practising and practising periods, including details of the compulsory advocacy course, which must be completed prior to starting the practising period, and the compulsory professional ethics examination, which your pupil barrister must pass prior to completing pupillage.
• The supervision arrangements that your pupil barristers can normally expect in the non-practising and practising periods, including the details of any periods spent with another Authorised Education and Training Organisation.
• How you will assess your pupil barrister’s performance against the competencies in the Bar Standards Board’s Professional Statement both throughout their pupillage and at the end of the practising period, including how frequently performance reviews will be conducted.
• Whether you will pay for second or subsequent resits of the compulsory professional ethics examination on behalf of your pupil barrister.
• The process that you will follow if your pupil barrister does not pass the compulsory advocacy course prior or the compulsory professional ethics examination before their pupillage is due to be completed.
• The process that you will follow if your pupil barrister takes an extended period of absence from training, or if you are unable to find an appropriate pupil supervisor for them, and there is a risk that they will be unable to meet the competences in the Bar Standards Board’s Professional Statement.
• How you will assess your pupil barrister’s performance against the competencies in the Bar Standards Board’s Professional Statement, including how frequently performance reviews will be conducted.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your pupillage training programme include:

ICCA – Pupillage Professional Ethics
The ICCA’s pupillage ethics materials have been designed to assist pupils in their preparation for the Bar Standards Board’s compulsory professional ethics examination.

Whilst there is no legal requirement for you to introduce a recruitment policy, you must implement one to support compliance with Part 4A, 2.16 and Part 4D of the Bar Standards Board Qualification Manual, which relate to the recruitment of your probationary tenants and pupil barristers as full members.

A recruitment policy can also be used to:

• Support compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and demonstrate to your workforce that you are committed to equality of opportunity and adopt transparent recruitment processes that ensure you recruit solely on the basis of ability and individual merit.
• Support compliance with the Bar Standards Board Handbook and, specifically, Core Duty 8 (you must not discriminate unlawfully against any person), rC110.3.c (you must ensure that every member of your selection panels are trained in fair recruitment and selection processes), rC110.3.d (you must ensure that your recruitment and selection processes use objective and fair criteria), and rC110.3.f (you must collect the data for, and analyse and regularly review the, applications to become a member of your workforce.
• Evidence that your chambers meets mandatory criteria 27 (accessible recruitment, admission, and selection processes) and mandatory criteria 46.5 (evidence of a culture of high standards relating to your recruitment, admission, and selection processes) of the Authorised Education and Training Organisation application process.

You can use your recruitment policy to set out:

• The process that you will follow prior to the advertisement of any given role, including implementing or reviewing, and evaluating, the associated job description and assessment criteria.
• Which committees or individual members of your workforce will be responsible for approving new or revised roles, including any budget that will be required for the recruitment and remuneration of the post holder(s).
• What should be included in the advertisement, noting the specific requirements for Authorised Education and Training Organisations set out below (complemented by your equality, diversity, and inclusion and reasonable adjustments policies).
• The shortlisting and interview processes that you will follow, including any training that you provide to your members and employees to ensure that they are compliant with rC110.3.c of the Bar Standards Board Handbook.
• The process that you will follow when making an offer, including details of any documentary evidence that you will require from your successful candidates (complemented by your contracts of employment and pupillage and probationary tenancy agreements).
• How you will collect and process candidates’ personal data (complemented by your data protection policy and privacy notices).

When advertising for pupil barristers, you should be clear whether you will expect them to complete an additional period of training, assessment, or probation before you make any decisions regarding offers of full membership. You should also provide sufficient information in the advertisement to enable prospective pupils to understand:

• What type of work your members undertake, where you are located and, if relevant, which location your pupil barristers will be expected to work from.
• The academic stage at which they can apply.
• How many pupillages you are offering and what their prospects of being offered full membership upon the successful completion of their practising period are.
• The shortlisting and interview processes that you will follow, including relevant dates and details of the criteria you will use to assess your candidates.

• The level of your pupillage award and details of any additional expenses that you will cover, including those relating to the compulsory advocacy course and professional ethics examination.
• What your pupillage training programme is and, more broadly, what they can expect from their pupillage with you.

• What practical impact your equality and diversity policies have on chambers’ recruitment processes and culture.

Resources that you might find helpful when creating and implementing, or reviewing, your recruitment policy include:

Bar Council – Fair Recruitment and Selection Training Course

Ethics and Practice Hub – Fair Recruitment Guide