The BSB Sets Out its 2026/27 Business Plan
The Bar Standards Board published its Business Plan for 2026/27 in April, setting out the regulatory priorities and commitments that will govern its work through to the end of March 2027. For barristers and chambers, the document is worth reading not simply as an account of how the BSB intends to run itself, but as a signal of where regulatory attention and enforcement effort will be directed over the next twelve months.
Operational Backlogs Are a Declared Priority
In the last year, the volume and complexity of reports about barristers has increased. The use of AI is now a contributing factor in driving those reports. A consequence has been that while the quality of the BSB's decision-making remains consistently high, its efficiency and timeliness targets have not been fully met. This culminated in July 2025 in the BSB agreeing to voluntary undertakings given to the Legal Services Board to improve operational performance.
The plan is frank about the scale of the task. Eradicating backlogs in assessments, investigations and authorisations by the end of the plan year is a key performance indicator, and the BSB is putting renewed focus on operational delivery through the appointment of a Chief Operations Officer with accountability for all regulatory operational functions. More significantly for the profession, the BSB will start to see the benefits of outsourcing some of its less complex investigations this year, with contracts expected to be in place and partners onboarded in the first quarter. Barristers who receive contact in connection with a complaint or investigation should be alert to the possibility that correspondence comes from an outsourced partner, and should verify accordingly before responding.
Bullying and Harassment: New Infrastructure Being Built This Year
The plan confirms a significant expansion of the BSB's infrastructure around bullying, harassment and sexual harassment. This year the BSB will introduce an independent support service for witnesses and for those who have experienced bullying and harassment and sexual harassment. Over the next year it will complete its consultation on proposed changes to enforcement regulations, which will help expedite harassment cases and crucially provide assurance of anonymity to vulnerable witnesses in sexual harassment cases. The Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service will also be empowered to manage proceedings to a speedier final hearing with greater transparency.
The plan also confirms that the BSB is leading an expert group to develop specialist competence standards for barristers acting in rape and serious sexual offence (RASSO) cases, reflecting recognition that RASSO advocacy requires specialist knowledge, skills and attributes. Chambers with members active in this area should expect those standards to become a formal requirement in due course.
This all sits alongside the separate BSB/Bar Council harassment protocol covered elsewhere in this edition. The business plan makes clear that the Commissioner for Conduct and the BSB will be working in coordinated fashion, and that enforcement responses to harassment reports will become faster, more structured and more visible. Chambers that have not reviewed their anti-harassment policies against the new framework should treat this as a prompt to do so.
AI Is Now a Regulatory Priority in Its Own Right
The plan confirms that AI guidance for the profession has been published — which it was, on 18 May 2026 — and that the BSB will work with Authorised Education and Training Organisations on technology competence in Bar training. The acknowledgement that AI is now contributing to the volume of reports coming into the BSB is significant. It confirms what many in practice will have observed: that AI use is generating complaints, not simply changing how complaints are investigated. The BSB's response is to treat AI competence as a regulatory matter, addressed through formal guidance and requirements that will eventually be embedded in Bar training.
The BSB Handbook Is Going to Be Redesigned
A less-publicised commitment in the plan deserves attention. As part of improving culture in the profession, the BSB will design and scope a plan for the future of the Handbook that is modernised and simplified, with reduced complexity and is easier to use. No timetable has been given for the outcome, but it signals that a substantive redesign of the primary regulatory framework document is on the horizon. When it arrives, a review of chambers' compliance documentation will follow.
A New Strategy Is Coming
The BSB's total running costs for 2026/27 are expected to be nearly £24 million, funded primarily through practising certificate fees. The plan also confirms that a new five-year strategy will be published later in 2026, of which the current business plan represents the first year. The combination of faster enforcement, outsourced investigations, new harassment infrastructure, formal AI oversight, and a Handbook redesign means that the regulatory landscape barristers operate in will look meaningfully different by the time the year is complete.