Access to the profession is being restricted because banks are increasingly unwilling to provide loans to Legal Practice Course students, the Junior Lawyers Division has warned.

JLD chair Heidi Sandy said LPC students across the country have reported that they are finding it more difficult to secure loans to allow them to take the course, because banks have become more cautious about whether applicants will end up with a job.

She said the JLD has been told that banks have tightened their lending criteria, and some have dropped their postgraduate schemes, ‘closing the door to many’, particularly students who have not secured a training contract. She said this could have an adverse impact on diversity in the profession by preventing those from less privileged backgrounds from completing the LPC course.

‘In the past, making a loan application was just a formality, but now applications are being scrutinised more thoroughly,’ said Sandy.

The leading high street banks would not discuss any changes to their lending criteria.