UK: Becoming a qualified solicitor could cost up to £1,000 more this year

UK: Becoming a qualified solicitor could cost up to £1,000 more this year
A mock university court room. Pic: Anglia Ruskin University.

The Legal Practice Course (LPC) fees for the forthcoming academic year shows there is an increase across the board, despite demands for more affordable costs by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the regulatory body for solicitors in England and Wales.

According to Legal Cheekstudents are expected to pay an average of £11,554 to study the course this year, a 4.6 percent or £509 increase from last year’s £11,045.

The legal news website’s analysis is compiled from the fees made public by LPC providers.

From the analysis, it was revealed University of Central Lancashire had the highest increase, at 11.1 percent (£1,000). This means students must pay £10,000 to take the course, compared to last year’s £9,000.

Cardiff Law School takes second place with an 8.7 percent increase (£1,005), followed by Northumbria University (6.3 percent or £600) and Anglia Ruskin University (5.5 percent or £500).

Bristol Institute of Legal Practice at UWE had the lowest increase at 0.4 percent (£50), followed by University of Law (Guilford) (0.8 percent, £100), while University of Law (Birmingham)University of Law (Bristol)University of Law (Exeter) tied at 1.7 percent with increases of £200 each.

There is no increase in fees at Birmingham City UniversityManchester Metropolitan University and Leeds Beckett University.

In the two big players, The University of Law (ULaw) and BPP University, there will be more modest fee increases across all their campuses.

ULaw, for example, has upped its fees within the range of one percent (Chester) and 4.5 percent (Leeds and Manchester), bringing the average fee to £12,425 to take the course, compared to £12,143 last year. Meanwhile, BPP has fixed a uniform increase of 3.3 percent at all its providers.

What this fee increase means in money terms is that students at BPP’s London branch will have to pay £15,740 – the highest fee among all LPC providers. The lowest fee is by Leeds Beckett University at £7,700.

The hikes come in the wake of last week’s report the average fee for the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) has gone down by £72, from £15,640 to £15,568, a 0.4 percent drop from last year.

Here is the full LPC price list, ranked from highest to lowest fee:

Law School 2016/17 Fees 2017/18 Fees % difference
BPP (London) £15,240 £15,740 3.30%
University of Law (London) £15,240 £15,670 2.90%
City Law School £14,000 £14,500 3.60%
Westminster University £12,000 £14,500 4.10%
University of Law (Guilford) £12,450 £12,550 0.80%
Cardiff Law School £11,485 £12,490 8.70%
BPP (Birmingham) £11,970 £12,370 3.30%
BPP (Bristol) £11,970 £12,370 3.30%
BPP (Cambridge) £11,970 £12,370 3.30%
University of Law (Birmingham) £11,950 £12,150 1.70%
University of Law (Bristol) £11,950 £12,150 1.70%
University of Law (Exeter) £11,950 £12,150 1.70%
University of Law (Leeds) £11,200 £11,710 4.50%
University of Law (Manchester) £11,200 £11,710 4.50%
BPP (Manchester) £11,210 £11,590 3.30%
BPP (Leeds) £11,210 £11,590 3.30%
BPP (Liverpool) £11,210 £11,590 3.30%
Bournemouth University £11,250 £11,500 2.20%
Sheffield University £11,000 £11,500 3.60%
Nottingham Law School (Nottingham Trent) £11,100 £11,300 1.80%
Bristol Institute of Legal Practice at UWE £10,950 £11,000 0.40%
Swansea University £10,600 £10,900 2.80%
Manchester Metropolitan University £10,068 £10,068 0%
Central Lancashire (UCLAN) £9,000 £10,000 11.10%
Northumbria University at Newcastle £9,400 £10,000 6.30%
London Metropolitan University £9,810 £9,900 1%
De Montfort £9,400 £9,750 3.70%
Anglia Ruskin £9,000 £9,500 5.50%
Liverpool John Moores £9,000 £9,200 2.20%
Birmingham City £8,900 £8,900 0%
Leeds Beckett University £7,700 £7,700 0%
University of West London £10,950 TBC TBC
Staffordshire University £10,600 TBC TBC
University of Wolverhampton £9,800 TBC TBC
University of South Wales £9,700 TBC TBC
National average £11,045 £11,554 4.60%

Source: Legal Cheek

(£100 = US$124.682)

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