Audience Reaction

A very talkative North East audience for the first date of the tour. Unusually everyone was quite open about current difficulties with the LSC especially regarding the “top 10%” club. If today’s crowd were in any way representative it is significantly more than the top 10% who are facing an inquisition regarding PACE costs. The recurrent themes of this are also coalescing; attendance which should be properly recorded as waiting, travel, and a mixture of both when undertaken by agents, are top of the list of LSC concern.
We are also encountering a growing number of firms facing early peer review and everyone reports a harsher regime on CDS7 assessment, especially when enhancement is being sought.
None of this is much of a surprise I suppose but its nice to confirm one is not completely out of touch, when as desk bound as I have been recently.
The general mood seems resigned but resilient.
Will report on the rest of the UK over the next fortnight.