The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is set to hike fees for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) for the second time in two years, while glossing over issues in the rollout of the exam in its latest annual report.

From September this year, the cost of the SQE exams will increase by 5 per cent across both SQE1 and SQE2. The former exam will now cost £1,888 (up from £1,798) while the latter will cost 2,902 (up from £2,766). 

This follows the 11 per cent price increase of the exams in September 2023. On average, fees have increased by 16.4 per cent in the two years since its launch. 

The fee increase was announced in the SRA’s annual SQE report, released this morning. 

The report alludes to the the discontent that has been widely reported relating to administrative failures experienced by candidate and the dissatisfaction some candidates experienced with the online booking journey, stating that “feedback from candidates in surveys show a mix of experiences.”

According to these surveys, candidates’ overall satisfaction levels for SQE1 ranged between 39 per cent and 49 per cent.

The Lawyer has spoken to multiple candidates about their experiences with administration around the exam. One told The Lawyer that they had been in the booking queue for SQE1 for nearly 10 hours. Another had been in their exam room, unable to leave, from 12pm to 7pm on the day of FLK1 as a result of a technical issue

The report states: “While there have been some adverse events that have regrettably impacted delivery to isolated pockets of candidates, the assessment has been delivered without issue to the vast majority.”

However, there will be no response to the problems experienced in the latest, January 2024, sitting until the next annual report this time next year.

The SRA is now said to be working with training providers and candidates to better anticipate demand at each assessment, though the number of candidates sitting SQE is expected to grow exponentially. More than 3,000 candidates sat the SQE between September 2021 and August 2022. This rose to 8,000 candidates between October 2022 and July 2023. 

The SQE independent review annual report followed a similar tone. Geoff Coombe, the independent reviewer for the SQE, commented: “Overall, the 2022/23 delivery demonstrated year-on-year improvement, it was generally good. However a small number of service failures did occur, mainly at Pearson Vue test centres.”

Issues concerning the most recent sitting of SQE1 in January were pushed to the next annual report, to be expected in April 2025. Coombe wrote: “Further concerns were raised about the booking process for the SQE1 exam due to be held in January 2024. This issue will be featured in the next annual report.”

“In the meantime, candidates, stakeholders and the public should have confidence that the SQE outcomes delivered in 2022/23 were fair and reliable.”

SRA chief executive Paul Philip said: “It’s good to see that once again the reports and analyses, including from the independent reviewer, provide assurances that the SQE is a robust, fair and valid assessment. 

“As numbers taking the SQE route continue to increase we, and the public and wider profession, can have confidence that newly qualified solicitors meet the high standards that we all expect of them.”

While the reports found no evidence of bias in the SQE assessments, pass rate data continues to highlight differences in performances between ethnic groups.

The SRA has committed to publishing research by the University of Exeter later this year, which will evaluate these differences in performance.

The statistical report following the results of the January 2024 sitting is expected to be published at the end of this month.

The latest episode of The Lawyer Podcast looks at the issues with the SQE in detail.