Legal training providers call for government to protect solicitor apprenticeships amid funding cuts

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BARBRI and Damar Training are urging the government to consider the impact that withdrawing levy funding for some level 7 programmes could have on access to the legal profession.

These concerns follow the government’s planned reforms to the apprenticeship system in which employers are being asked to rebalance their funding for apprenticeships, including asking businesses to fund more of their level 7 apprenticeships. While it remains unclear whether these reforms will impact the level 7 solicitor apprenticeship, BARBRI and Damar Training have voiced their worries.

In a recent survey of more than 100 solicitor apprentices conducted by Damar Training, it was found that just over one-third of solicitor apprentices had received free school meals, 93% had attended a state school and 75% didn’t attend a Russell Group university.

Of those apprentices who took part in the survey, many said that without the solicitor apprenticeship they would’ve been unable to progress further in the legal profession due to cost.

Jonathan Bourne, managing director at Damar Training, said: “We believe that the withdrawal of funding would reinstate the class ceiling that has for so long blighted the legal profession but where progress is now being made; and that such action would impose further barriers rather than breaking them down.”

Speaking to Legal Cheek, Lucie Allen, BARBRI’s managing director, explained that solicitor apprenticeships make the legal profession more representative, which is why it’s “asking the government to consider any impacts on people who may otherwise struggle to access a legal career”.