Its academy program brings majority of new conveyancers into the business
ONP Group, a legal services provider to the residential property and remortgage markets, has increased its conveyancing capacity by 30% over the past year.
At the beginning of last year, ONP relaunched its academy program to bring new conveyancers into the market. Since then, it has brought over 187 new people into the business, with 150 joining in the past year alone.
ONP said training its own recruits allows it to build capacity in the organisation over time, developing people throughout the organisation.
According to the Stockport-based legal services provider, it has invested heavily in its IT infrastructure to streamline the conveyancing process, as well as in developing its people. The 150 colleagues recruited and trained in the past 12 months, brings its total headcount to 640 staff up from 490 a year ago.
This increase is driven by soaring demand, initially driven by the stamp duty holiday. The conveyancing market, as a whole, completed 1.8 million transactions last year, up 50% from 1.2 million in 2020.
The group, which consists of O’Neill Patient Solicitors, Grindeys, and Cavendish Legal Group, has set up the academy to have a new recruit every month. Its next academy will start on September 5 with new trainees joining alongside a further intake of experienced conveyancers. The academy will consist of eight weeks of intensive training in a hybrid classroom and digital environment, hosted at the ONP Group’s offices in Stockport.
Read more: ONP training academy welcomes 79 starters.
After graduating from the academy, each individual joins an established conveyancing team, where they will be provided with mentorship from experienced conveyancers, as well as team support. More experienced conveyancers that join the training academy will take part in a fast-track course. This will involve a focus on learning the ONP Group processes and how to use its technology systems.
Adam Forshaw (pictured), managing director of the ONP Group, said that they believe in investing in the conveyancing market and bringing new people into the industry.
“Increasing our headcount by 30% in the past year, shows our dedication to increasing our conveyancing capacity and helping to make life easier for brokers and their clients,” he remarked. “We seek to build upon both the challenges and the business successes of the past two years, which saw exceptional demand. We are looking to build capacity through highly trained new staff, working in conjunction with our market-leading technology.
“By investing in our technology at the same time as our people, we are freeing up time for our case managers, giving them more time to devote to brokers and their clients.”
