Students: Failures and deferrals reach all-time high
Pass rates on the legal practice course (LPC) slumped from 57% to 42% in the year to 31 August 2024, newly released figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have revealed.
The proportion of students failing the exam and having to resit or defer due to exceptional circumstances increased from 34% to 46%, “the highest level recorded”.
Following the arrival of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) in 2021, the SRA introduced transitional regulations to allow students to continue to qualify through the LPC, potentially until 2032.
However, the regulator said it expected most courses to come to an end this year, with “only a few providers” choosing to extend their authorisation and offer the LPC next year.
The number of providers fell from 25 to 17 in 2023-24, and the number of students enrolled from 12,200 to just 8,100.
“It is likely that the LPC cohort in 2023/24 is not only smaller in number but also different in composition. This is likely down to a combination of factors, including more firms sponsoring students to pursue the SQE, and more aspiring solicitors choosing the SQE route for themselves,” the SRA said.
There was a dramatic rise, from 1% to 12%, in the proportion of students either exhausting all permitted resit attempts and failing, withdrawing from the course or suspending their studies.
The SRA said “significant differences” in successful completion rates between course providers persisted, ranging from 26% to 100% at the top four institutions. The SRA does not name the providers.
The regulator said there were “large differences in the size of course providers and the number of students enrolled on their LPCs”, with cohorts ranging from fewer than 10 students to thousands, spread over multiple locations.
The largest providers, BPP University and the University of Law, shared around 82% of the total number of LPC students enrolled.
“The wide differences in completion rates between providers and the lack of a standardised assessment taken by all aspiring solicitors were key reasons for our introduction of the SQE.”
Male students had a “slightly higher” successful completion rate of 43%, compared to 41% for women.
As ever, there was differential attainment based on ethnicity. Compared to 2022-23, completion rates declined across all ethnic groups, “most notably among students from Black, Asian and mixed ethnic backgrounds”.
A slender majority of White students (51%) successfully completed the LPC in 2023-24, down from 62% the year before.
This compared with exactly a third of Asian students, down from 49% the previous year, and only 24% of those who identified themselves as Black, down from 41% in 2022/23. The proportion of students from mixed ethnic groups who successfully completed the LPC, fell by 20% to 35%.
A quarter of White students obtained a distinction, 9% of Asian students and 4% of Black students.
The proportion of LPC students who reported having a disability rose to 24% and only 35% passed, compared to 49% of students who did not have a disability.
The proportion of LPC students saying they had been to state schools remained exactly the same at 43%, while the proportion from private schools fell from 8% to 6%. Those from private schools had a higher success rate on the LPC course – 41% compared to 51%.