SRA says assessment ‘continues to perform well’
Fees for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) are set to increase for the second time amidst mounting student discontent regarding the centralised assessment.
The current fees for the exams are £1,798 for SQE1 and £2,766 for SQE2, totaling £4,564 for students. This sizeable sum doesn’t include expenses for study materials or preparation courses, which can reach up to £10,000. Starting September 2024, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has today confirmed fees will rise by 5% to £1,888 for SQE1 and £2,902 for SQE2. That’s a total of £4,790.
The news comes less than a year after fees were raised by 11% “due to inflation”.
On the rationale for this latest hike, the regulated said: “Our contract with our assessment provider Kaplan allows for an annual inflation-linked increase in fees.The new fee also includes an additional charge towards the costs of providing for candidates to sit the SQE in Welsh if they wish.”
The increase in fees follows several weeks during which students have expressed concerns about both the delivery and management of assessments, as well as the toll they can take on mental health.
Despite this, the SRA’s latest report on the SQE noted that it “continues to perform well and there can be confidence in this rigorous assessment”.
“The SQE Independent Reviewer”, it goes on to say, “concluded that the delivery of the assessment had overall gone well, had improved year on year and the assessments were fair and reliable.” They did however acknowledge “that there had been some operational issues, but Kaplan had been proactive in dealing with issues when they arose and considered the impact on candidates”.
Commenting on the review, Paul Philip, SRA chief executive, said:
“It’s good to see that once again the reports and analyses, including from the independent reviewer, provide assurances that the SQE is a robust, fair and valid assessment. As numbers taking the SQE route continue to increase we, and the public and wider profession, can have confidence that newly qualified solicitors meet the high standards that we all expect of them.”
Last month Legal Cheek exclusively revealed that a number of City law firms had revoked training contracts from students who failed to pass the SQE1 at their first attempt. These outfits include Clifford Chance, Slaughter and May, and CMS.