Engagement with the Profession by the Faculty Office
The Faculty Office’s understanding of the notary profession and the notary marketplace arises from many activities and services.
The profession currently numbers approximately 740 and engagement can be frequent and close. For example, almost half of the profession attends the Notaries Society Annual Conference.
Stakeholder Engagement
The Master and Senior Officers Team have a programme of stakeholder engagement. This is not just “meet and greet” events but range from presentations at conference and training events to “one to one” meetings with key stakeholders.
Notaries also call and email the Faculty Office seeking guidance and direction.
Equality and Diversity in the Profession
Every three years the Faculty Office collects (through a voluntary questionnaire) and publishes statistics in relation the diversity and profiling of the profession.
This work began in 2011.
The first data set can be found here and acts as a benchmark.
Breakdown of the 2017-2018 Diversity and Equality Data here
The challenge remains the age profile of the profession. Other criteria such as gender and ethnicity are important but the declining numbers is a critical concern. There is work being undertaken to identify what may be done to grow the size of the profession and remove unnecessary barriers to entry, and details will be published when the work is completed.
Equality and Diversity in the Notarial profession:
The legal profession and wider legal services workforce should reflect the society it serves. To achieve a profession which is truly representative at all levels requires regulators and the profession itself to identify barriers to entry and progression and begin to break them down. By doing this, we will ensure that the legal workforce is open to the widest possible pool of talent. The Legal Services Act 2007 includes a specific regulatory objective to “encourage a strong, independent, diverse and effective legal profession.” The Equality Act 2010 also puts approved regulators under a duty to advance equality of opportunity between different groups. As part of its work in these areas, once every three years, the Faculty Office collects data about the profession, through a voluntary questionnaire which all Notaries are requested to complete. This data is collated and is published to display equality and diversity statistics about the profession. Please click on the links below to view the results:
Results of 2011-2012 Notaries Diversity and Equality Questionnaire
Results of 2014-2015 Notaries Diversity and Equality Questionnaire
Results of 2017-2018 Notaries Diversity and Equality Questionnaire
The 2017-18 data has been analysed further and broken down against the diversity characteristics in various ‘post-admission’ bands. The data supports the anecdotal evidence that recent admissions represent a more diverse cohort than has been the case in the past. The data can be viewed here:
Breakdown of 2017-2018 Diversity and Equality Data.
The 2018-2020 data has been analysed and condensed into an article for The Notary in July 2021 and can be found here.
The 2021-2023 data has been analysed and compiled into a Diversity and Equality Report and can be found here.