A law firm has pleaded with the prime minister to reconsider plans to cut funding for businesses taking on apprentices. Fletchers Solicitors, which has supported 104 legal apprentices through the levy introduced in 2017, said the government proposals to reduce the scope of public funding would be a ‘disaster for the legal profession and have a highly negative impact on social mobility and diversity’.

The firm has used the levy to provide young people from diverse backgrounds an accessible route into the profession who would otherwise be restricted due to finances or training contract competition. Fletchers said the levy has funded solicitor apprentices, graduate solicitor apprentices and CILEX Lawyer apprenticeships: all these are a Level 7 apprenticeship and involve a (regulated) legal qualification.

Lorna Bailey, head of learning and development at Fletchers, said: ‘It is extraordinary that a government which is committed to growth and social mobility plans to wipe out one of the most successful social mobility programmes we’ve ever had. It will put up barriers, and re-institute a class ceiling on the ambitions of young people.'

Lorna Bailey

Lorna Bailey, head of learning and development at Fletchers

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced plans last September to overhaul apprenticeships, asking employers to ‘rebalance’ their funding and invest in younger workers. This would also involve businesses funding more of their Level 7 apprenticeships outside of the levy.

Supporters of restrictions on the levy say that in certain professions the government is subsidising training that would have happened anyway.

But Fletchers says it has depended on using the levy to fund solicitor apprenticeships and says the government plans are ‘completely demoralising’ for its apprentices who have come from a lower socio-economic background and rely on the funding support. The firm points out it has taken on apprentices in regions where they are paid higher than the median salary.

Bailey, who said the plans exhibit ‘typical London-centric thinking’, has written to MPs in the north west and Yorkshire alerting them to the risks attached to the de-funding plans, and urged other firms to do the same.

‘It is vital that our legislators are made aware of the disaster waiting to happen, and step in to make ministers see how important apprenticeships are to the legal profession, and in turn, to access to justice,’ she said.

‘It is hard to understand why the government would want to take away opportunities from talented, ambitious college and university graduates, often without another route into law. Legal apprenticeships are crucial to develop talent and skills within a law firm.’

The government has said that training eligible for funding under the new levy will develop over time, informed by Skills England’s assessment of priority skills needs. The Department for Education will set out further details on the scope of the offer and how it will be accessed in due course.