ONP Group has increased its conveyancing capacity by 30% in the past year, the firm has announced.

The legal services provider to the residential property and remortgage markets relaunched its academy programme to bring new conveyancers into the market at the beginning of last year.

Since then, it has brought over 187 new people into the business – with 150 joining in the past year alone. These colleagues recruited and trained in the past 12 months has taken ONP’s total headcount to 640 staff, up from 490 a year ago.

ONP, which incorporates O’Neill Patient Solicitors, Grindeys, and Cavendish Legal Group, said the increase has been 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 firm has set up the academy to have a new intake every month. ONP’s next academy will start on 5 September 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 firm’s offices in Stockport.

“We believe in investing in the conveyancing market and bringing new people into our industry,” said ONP managing director, Adam Forshaw.

“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.

“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.”

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