The government’s decision to scale back funding for solicitor-apprenticeships has devastated many aspiring solicitors at a firm that has long supported the apprenticeship route to qualification, the Gazette has learned – with paralegals describing the move as a major step backwards for social mobility.
Fletchers Solicitors has supported 104 apprentices since the government introduced an apprenticeship levy in 2017. The firm currently has 41 solicitor, graduate solicitor and CILEX apprentices.
Lorna Bailey, head of training and development, told the Gazette that only five apprentices are under 22, so the remaining 36 would have missed out on funding under the government’s new plan. Half of the firm’s solicitor-apprentices were under 22 when they started.
Bailey was ‘bombarded’ with emails from staff upset that a route to qualification was being ‘taken away from them’. Some 50 employees applied for a Level 7 apprenticeship this year alone.
Chloe Butler is a paralegal in the clinical negligence team juggling childcare, full-time work and the rising cost of living. She said the apprenticeship 'was my only realistic route to qualification. Without government support, self-funding simply isn’t an option for me or my family’.
Paralegal Kieran Andrews has been balancing full-time work with studies. He described the government’s decision as ‘a door slam shut scenario for myself and so many others’ and 'pushed social mobility backward for so many across so many sectors'.
Bailey said the firm, which has been focused on growing its own talent, will 'come up with a new plan' to support career progression and will utilise the funding that will be available for apprentices under 22.
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