Bailey: Massive setback for young, aspiring lawyers
Scrapping government funding for Level 7 apprenticeships would be “a disaster for the legal profession and have a highly negative impact on social mobility and diversity”, the government has been told.
Last autumn, ministers announced a new growth and skills levy to replace the existing apprenticeship levy, introducing new foundation apprenticeships and shorter apprenticeships too.
They said employers would be asked to “rebalance their funding” for apprenticeships in favour of younger apprentices, and to fund more level 7 apprenticeships – equivalent to a master’s degree “and often accessed by older or already well-qualified employees” – outside of the levy.
The alarm of lawyers and training providers we reported on last year has continued, with personal injury giant Fletchers writing to MPs and ministers to urge the government to reconsider the plans.
Lorna Bailey, its head of learning and development, said it was “extraordinary” that a government committed to growth and social mobility planned to “wipe out one of the most successful social mobility programmes we’ve ever had”.
Fletchers has taken on 104 apprentices since the levy was introduced in 2017 and used £645,000 from the levy to fund the programme, covering non-graduate and graduate solicitor apprenticeships, CILEX lawyer apprenticeships, and other legal and non-legal apprenticeships.
Ms Bailey predicted that the changes would make training contracts “more competitive and only accessible for those who can afford towards £50,000 in course fees”.
She warned that the move would be “a massive setback for young, aspiring lawyers”, which would “re-institute a class ceiling on the ambitions of young people”.
Many apprentices were aged between 19-24 and came from a lower socio-economic background, “now dedicating their careers to supporting thousands of clients after they’ve been injured”.
Former Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce wrote on LinkedIn recently that the change would “close the door to qualifying as a solicitor and make a legal career less accessible for many” – and then “restrict the pool of future judges”.
She continued: “Redirecting funding towards lower-level qualifications not only limits aspiration, but it will do nothing to create a profession that truly reflects the society it seeks to serve.
“This approach is counterproductive to the government’s broader goals of fostering economic growth and ensuring equal opportunity.”
Nick Attwell, managing partner of Ipswich-headquarterd firm Attwells, said the change would mean going back to would-be lawyers having to self-fund their legal studies.
Mid-sized firms such as his would start asking how many people they could afford to put on the SQE – given the cost of the course to prepare for it – and whether they could offer the six-year solicitor apprenticeships if they could not also provide the SQE funding, he said.
Without the government changing its mind, “we will just be left with a purely elitist legal profession, which will take us back years from the progress we’re currently making”.
Also on LinkedIn, Charlie Moore, a senior paralegal at City firm Kingsley Napley, who trained as a CILEx paralegal through the apprenticeship scheme at the Financial Conduct Authority, wrote that this route “prioritises potential, not privilege”.
“The solicitor apprenticeship is not just a pathway to qualification; it is a lifeline for those who dare to dream big, despite financial obstacles. If we lose this funding, we risk making the legal profession even less accessible and more exclusive.”
Other professions involved in the Level 7 scheme, such as accountants and surveyors, have also warned the government not to go ahead with the move, with the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) saying it could result in work being transferred offshore.
The ICAEW said that, since the introduction of the levy, the number of school leavers entering accountancy had doubled.
The Royal Institute of British Architects, the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Chartered Institute of Building and RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) issued a joint call for built environment Level 7 apprenticeships to be exempt from the changes.
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