CQS Learning and Development Policy: What Should Your Firm Include?

A CQS Learning and Development Policy should explain how your firm identifies training needs, supports its people and checks that learning improves the work they do.

For a managing partner or Senior Responsible Officer (SRO), the practical question is straightforward: can the firm demonstrate how it maintains competence across the conveyancing team?

Course certificates provide useful evidence of completed training. A fuller picture also includes why that training was needed, what the individual learned and how the firm checked whether further support was required.

This guide explains the areas to consider when preparing or reviewing your CQS Learning and Development Policy, with practical examples for conveyancing practices.

Why does a CQS firm need a Learning and Development Policy?

Section 4.1 of the CQS Core Practice Management Standards addresses learning and development. It requires a policy that includes ensuring appropriate training for personnel and appropriate training for supervisors and managers.

The policy should translate that requirement into arrangements the firm can operate consistently. Who identifies a learning need? Who approves the response? What happens when a member of staff needs help before they can safely undertake a particular task?

The sections below are practical drafting suggestions. They should be adapted to your practice rather than treated as a prescribed CQS table of contents.

1. State the policy’s purpose and scope

Explain what the firm intends its learning and development arrangements to achieve and who the policy covers.

Consider everyone whose work affects the conveyancing service, including fee earners, supervisors, managers, accounts personnel and support staff. Their needs will differ according to their responsibilities.

A member of the accounts team may need detailed instruction on payment verification. A conveyancer handling an unfamiliar leasehold issue may need technical training and closer supervision. A newly appointed manager may need support with delegation, feedback and workload oversight.

2. Allocate clear responsibilities

A policy becomes difficult to apply when responsibility is spread vaguely across “management”. Identify the people responsible for:

• Maintaining and reviewing the policy.
• Identifying individual and department-wide training needs.
• Approving learning activities and allocating time or funding.
• Monitoring mandatory CQS training requirements.
• Reviewing learning records and evaluating progress.
• Addressing overdue learning or unresolved competence concerns.

Employees should also understand their own responsibility to raise concerns about unfamiliar work and seek assistance promptly.

These arrangements should connect with the allocation of responsibilities described in your CQS Risk Management Policy.

3. Explain how the firm identifies learning needs

Learning needs often emerge during ordinary file work. The policy should explain how the firm captures those signals and decides what action to take.

Useful sources include:

• File reviews and supervision discussions.
• Appraisals and individual reflection.
• Complaints, claims and near misses.
• Repeated Land Registry requisitions.
• Changes in legislation, lender instructions or regulatory guidance.
• New technology, systems or areas of work.
• Feedback from clients and colleagues.

For example, repeated problems with reports to lenders may reveal a need for training on identifying reportable issues, explaining the legal risk or retaining evidence of the lender’s response.

Our article on drafting a CQS Dealing with Lenders Policy provides a related starting point for reviewing those procedures.

4. Include induction and changes of role

Previous experience does not tell a new colleague how your firm operates. Induction should introduce the procedures, systems and escalation routes relevant to their work.

Depending on the role, this may include file opening, client communication, payment controls, lender reporting, confidentiality, supervision and post-completion procedures.

The policy should explain who oversees induction, how completion is recorded and how the firm decides which tasks require supervision or approval.

Similar consideration is useful when an existing employee takes on new responsibilities, returns after a substantial absence or starts handling an unfamiliar type of transaction.

5. Connect appraisals with individual learning plans

An appraisal provides an opportunity to discuss strengths, difficulties, future responsibilities and development needs. The resulting actions should be specific enough to follow up.

A useful learning plan identifies:

• The knowledge or skill to develop.
• Why it matters to the individual’s work.
• The learning activity or support proposed.
• A suitable completion date.
• Who will review the outcome.

“Attend conveyancing training” offers little direction. “Review the firm’s procedure for escalating lease defects, discuss two worked examples with the supervisor and review subsequent reports” provides a clearer route to improvement.

Urgent competence concerns should be addressed when they arise. They should not wait for the next scheduled appraisal.

6. Distinguish mandatory CQS training from wider development

The Law Society’s CQS training guidance explains the scheme’s mandatory training arrangements. The policy should allocate responsibility for checking the applicable requirements, identifying relevant staff and monitoring completion.

It should also address the wider learning needs arising from the firm’s work. These may include technical law, ethical judgment, communication, management, supervision and the use of technology.

Completing mandatory training is an important part of the process. The firm should still consider whether an individual needs additional support for the particular tasks they undertake.

7. Allow appropriate learning methods

Different needs call for different activities. Depending on the circumstances, suitable methods may include:

• External courses and webinars.
• Supervised work and mentoring.
• Structured discussions of file review findings.
• Reading relevant guidance and discussing its application.
• Practical exercises using the firm’s systems.
• Team sessions on complaints, errors or near misses.

For instance, discussing an anonymised payment-diversion attempt can help staff apply the firm’s verification procedure under pressure.

Technology training should also reflect the safeguards discussed in our guide to the CQS Information Management and Security Policy.

8. Evaluate whether the learning worked

The policy should explain how the firm assesses the outcome of learning activities. The method can be proportionate to the subject and the risk involved.

A short discussion may establish whether someone understands a revised procedure. A subsequent file review may show whether they have applied it correctly.

Consider a conveyancer who receives training after several registration errors. A useful follow-up would examine later applications, identify any recurring mistakes and decide whether further assistance is needed.

Where a material gap remains, the firm should consider additional training, closer supervision or adjustments to work allocation.

9. Keep useful learning and development records

Records help the firm explain the connection between a learning need, the action taken and the outcome.

A practical record might capture the issue identified, the activity completed, the learning gained and any follow-up required. It should be easy for the individual and reviewer to understand.

The SRA provides learning and development templates that can assist individual solicitors. Its guidance on reflection also explains how considering everyday work can reveal development needs.

10. Provide fair access and review the policy

Consider whether staff have a realistic opportunity to complete appropriate learning. Working patterns, accessibility needs and caring responsibilities may affect the format or timing of activities.

The policy should also specify who reviews the arrangements and what triggers an earlier review. Changes in personnel, systems, work types or recurring errors may all reveal that the existing approach needs attention.

Before approving the document, check that it reflects the resources and procedures your firm actually uses.

A practical checklist for your next review

• Can staff explain how to request training or raise a competence concern?
• Do supervisors receive development appropriate to their management responsibilities?
• Do file review findings feed into learning plans?
• Is responsibility for monitoring mandatory CQS training clear?
• Can the firm show what changed following a learning activity?
• Are unresolved needs followed up promptly?

If those questions are difficult to answer, the policy review provides an opportunity to make the process clearer.

Start with a structured CQS Learning and Development Policy template

Lexsure’s CQS (CPMS) Learning and Development Policy template includes sections on responsibilities, appraisals, induction, learning plans, training activities, evaluation and records.

Use the template to establish a structure, then adapt it to your people, work and supervision arrangements. Identify the responsible individuals and ensure the resulting procedures can be followed in practice.