NQ questions firm’s demand to repay professional skills course costs
In the latest of our popular Career Conundrums series, a soon-to-be NQ questions their firm’s bid to claw back the cost of their professional skills course after confirming they’ll leave when their training contract ends.
“I wondered if you had come across this issue before and whether there is any authority or guidance on it. I am due to qualify as a solicitor in September 2026 via the LPC/training contract route. I have successfully completed my LPC and PSC and will be moving to another firm rather than remaining with my training firm. My understanding has always been that, under the old training contract regime, training providers were required to ensure that trainees completed the PSC and to meet the associated PSC costs. My training firm is now seeking repayment of the PSC fees under a clawback provision. Whilst I appreciate there may be contractual arguments either way, I am interested in the underlying regulatory position. Specifically, if a training establishment was required by the SRA to fund the PSC as part of the trainee’s qualification process, is there any SRA guidance, authority or industry practice on whether those fees can subsequently be recovered from the trainee through a clawback provision? I have found plenty of information confirming that firms were required to pay for the PSC, but very little addressing whether those mandatory costs can later be passed back to the trainee. I’d be very interested to hear whether this is a point that has arisen before, or whether there is any guidance or commentary on it.”
Fairly common both under the old and new route to have provisions like this in your TC, but it’s pretty rare for firms to enforce them provided you haven’t been a massive pain in the arse throughout your time at the firm.
Outrageous firms do this
NAME AND SHAME
Yes, definitely. The firm I trained with (a mid-sized regional firm) paid incoming trainees £10,000 towards the cost of the LPC, rather than covering the fees directly. The training contract required repayment if you left within two years of qualification, with the amount reducing by 1/24 each month.
Despite being a profitable NQ and leaving on good terms, I was required to repay £5,000 when I left after 10 months (with a small reduction granted as a “gesture of goodwill”). I also know of other former trainees who left the same firm before the two-year mark and were required to repay the money (although, curiously, one individual was apparently exempted for “exceptional circumstances”). In one case, the firm withheld an individual’s final salary and clawed back as much as it could in a single payment.
Needless to say, only one person from my intake remains at the firm.