News

It will cost you over £500 more to do the LPC this year than it would have done last year

By on

2017/2018 price list shows fees up by as much as 11% at some universities

The cost of solicitor qualification just seems to be going up and up. Despite the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) pushing for a total shake-up of legal education — one which will apparently make it cheaper to become a lawyer — the 2017/2018 Legal Practice Course (LPC) price list shows fee increases almost across the board.

As can be seen from the table below, students paid an average of £11,045 to complete the vocational course in 2016/2017. The average rate for 2017/2018 now stands at £11,554. This is an increase of £509 (4.6%).

Of those LPC providers which have made their costs public, the biggest increase comes from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). There, budding solicitors will have to fork out £10,000 to take the course, an increase of £1,000 (11.1%) on last year’s £9,000 fee.

Other universities to considerably up their fees this year include Cardiff Law School (8.7%), Northumbria University (6.3%) and Anglia Ruskin (5.5%).

As for the two big players, BPP University and The University of Law (ULaw), 2017/2018 LPC-ers can expect more modest price increases.

All of BPP’s providers — Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester — have notched up their fees by 3.3%. This means that in the capital, BPP LPC students will now have to fork out £15,740 which, in money terms, is the most expensive rate among all of the course providers. By contrast, the cheapest provider in both 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 is Leeds Beckett University (£7,700).

ULaw too has adopted increases across all its locations. These increases range between 1% (Chester) and 4.5% (Leeds and Manchester). ULaw students will now, on average, pay £12,425 to sit the course, compared to £12,143 last year.

Legal Cheek reported last week on similar price stats concerning the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), which showed the average fee has dropped by £72. ULaw, slashing the cost of the vocational course at its London branch by 8%, will now charge students £17,500. Meanwhile BPP, opting to freeze fees for the forthcoming academic year, will charge London-based wannabe barristers £19,070.

Read the full LPC price list, from most expensive to least expensive, here:

Law School

2016/17 Fees

2017/18 Fees

% difference

BPP (London)£15,240£15,7403.3%
University of Law (London)£15,240£15,6702.9%
City Law School £14,000£14,5003.6%
Westminster University£12,000£14,5004.1%
University of Law (Guilford)£12,450£12,5500.8%
Cardiff Law School£11,485£12,4908.7%
BPP (Birmingham)£11,970£12,3703.3%
BPP (Bristol)£11,970£12,3703.3%
BPP (Cambridge)£11,970£12,3703.3%
University of Law (Birmingham)£11,950£12,1501.7%
University of Law (Bristol)£11,950£12,1501.7%
University of Law (Exeter)£11,950£12,1501.7%
University of Law (Leeds)£11,200£11,7104.5%
University of Law (Manchester)£11,200£11,7104.5%
BPP (Manchester)£11,210£11,5903.3%
BPP (Leeds)£11,210£11,5903.3%
BPP (Liverpool)£11,210£11,5903.3%
Bournemouth University£11,250£11,5002.2%
Sheffield University£11,000£11,5003.6%
Nottingham Law School (Nottingham Trent)£11,100£11,3001.8%
Bristol Institute of Legal Practice at UWE£10,950£11,0000.4%
Swansea University£10,600£10,9002.8%
Manchester Metropolitan University£10,068£10,0680%
Central Lancashire (UCLAN)£9,000£10,00011.1%
Northumbria University at Newcastle£9,400£10,0006.3%
London Metropolitan University£9,810£9,9001%
De Montfort£9,400£9,7503.7%
Anglia Ruskin£9,000£9,5005.5%
Liverpool John Moores£9,000£9,2002.2%
Birmingham City£8,900£8,9000%
Leeds Beckett University£7,700£7,7000%
University of West London£10,950TBCTBC
Staffordshire University£10,600TBCTBC
University of Wolverhampton£9,800TBCTBC
University of South Wales£9,700TBCTBC
National average£11,045£11,5544.6%

For all the latest commercial awareness info, and advance notification of Legal Cheek’s careers events, sign up to the Legal Cheek Hub here.