Training contracts and failing SQE1: deferral and clawback

What happens to your training contract if you fail SQE1?

It depends on your firm’s policy and on what you signed. After the January 2024 results some large firms let future trainees resit and paid for it, others decided case by case, and some withdrew offers after a first-attempt fail. Read your offer and any funding agreement, then ask your firm in writing before you agree to anything new. (LawCareers.Net, firms’ approaches to SQE retakes (secondary source))

A fail with a job attached hurts twice: the result itself, and the fear for the offer. Both are common. In July 2026, 42% (check the official website) of the candidates who completed SQE1 passed, and 47% (check the official website) of first-time sitters. Firms have been here before: the Junior Lawyers Division of the Law Society has said firms should not impose a blanket rejection policy. (Law Society Gazette, 22 March 2024 (secondary source))

What can a firm do after an SQE1 fail?

Sources: firms that allowed and funded resits, reviewed each case or withdrew offers in 2024 (LawCareers.Net, firms’ approaches to SQE retakes (secondary source)); guidance from the City of London Law Society’s training committee offered firms options such as long and short deferrals and warned that revoking offers could bring negative publicity. (Legal Cheek, 22 March 2024 (secondary source)) Policies change, so the only one that counts is your firm’s current one.

What should you ask about a deferral?

SQE1 sittings are in January and July, so a resit usually means waiting for the next one: the next FLK1 dates are 11–15 January 2027 (check the official website) and 12–16 July 2027 (check the official website). A deferral lines your start date up with that resit.

• Is the deferral for one sitting or longer, and what happens if the resit does not go to plan?
• Are you paid in between, and can you work for the firm or elsewhere meanwhile?
• Does any study support, such as course access or leave, still apply?

Legal work during a gap may count towards your qualifying work experience: QWE can be gained before, during or after the SQE assessments, in paid or volunteer work, for example as a paralegal. (SRA, qualifying work experience)

What is clawback, and when might you have to repay?

Firms that sponsor future trainees may pay course fees, exam fees or a maintenance grant on conditions, such as starting with the firm or staying for a period after qualifying. A repayment or “clawback” clause says when that money has to be paid back. In 2025 a City lawyer described a firm’s plan to recover tuition fees and maintenance grants from a future trainee whose offer it had withdrawn after failed SQE assessments as “very unusual”. (Legal Cheek, 27 March 2025 (secondary source)) Paying for the SQE yourself avoids such conditions but carries its own risk – see should you self-fund the SQE.

What did a tribunal decide about SQE fees and a retention condition?

In an employment tribunal decision of March 2024 (case 2201953/2023), a firm had agreed in a signed letter to pay a trainee’s SQE exam fees on condition that she stayed for a period after qualifying. The length of that period, the salary rise and the terms for leaving early were to be set later in a new contract. She failed SQE1 at the first attempt. The firm did not pay her resit fee, so she paid it herself; when she would not sign a 12-month retention period, the firm said it would not pay for her SQE from then on, and that she would not have to repay what it had paid so far if she left. (Employment Tribunal, case 2201953/2023)

The tribunal dismissed her claim for the fees. The letter was an agreement to agree, not a binding contract, because critical terms such as the retention period were left open; the tribunal was not satisfied that the firm had agreed orally to pay without a retention agreement; and even a binding agreement would not have been breached, because it depended on her staying after qualifying and she resigned before she qualified. The firm’s own claim to recover what it had paid for an SQE2 preparation course failed too, because there was no contract requiring her to repay it. (Employment Tribunal, case 2201953/2023) A first-instance decision binds no other tribunal, but the practical lesson holds: get funding terms complete and in writing, and do not rely on reassurances in a meeting.

Can a firm take repayments out of your pay?

An employer may deduct money from your wages only if a statute or a relevant term of your contract allows it, or if you agreed in writing before the deduction. A contract term counts only if you were given it in writing, or told of it in writing, before the deduction was made. (Employment Rights Act 1996, s 13) If a firm plans to take money from your final pay, ask which written term it relies on.

Does the work experience you already have still count?

You need two years’ full-time or equivalent qualifying work experience with no more than four organisations. For each one, a solicitor or the compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) there confirms it; if neither is available, a solicitor outside the organisation can, after reviewing your work and feedback from your supervisors. (SRA, Authorisation of Individuals Regulations) Confirming QWE does not involve deciding whether you are competent, but a solicitor may be unable to confirm it, for example where there are no employment records showing that you worked there (SRA, QWE for employers), so ask for confirmation of the time you have done before you leave. Count it with the QWE calculator.

What if illness or a disability affected your result?

Illness or other personal circumstances beyond your reasonable control that materially and adversely affected your performance can be mitigating circumstances. (SRA, SQE Assessment Regulations) Claims for SQE1 are due by 4pm on the fifth working day after your booked assessment day, for each FLK paper separately (check the official website); tell your firm if you make one. An employer must not discriminate against an employee by dismissing them or subjecting them to any other detriment, and the duty to make reasonable adjustments applies to employers. (Equality Act 2010, s 39) For the exam itself, see reasonable adjustments for SQE1.

What should you put in writing to your firm?

1. Your result for each paper and the sitting you plan to resit.
2. A request for the firm’s policy on SQE1 fails, and the decision it intends to make, in writing.
3. Who pays the resit, whether study leave applies, and whether your start date or salary changes.
4. Whether any repayment is claimed, the clause it relies on and how the amount is worked out.
5. Confirmation of the QWE you have done so far, if you already work there.

Ask for time to take advice before you sign anything new.

How do you cope while it is uncertain?

Waiting for a firm’s decision can feel worse than the result. Keep the two apart: you can start planning the resit before the firm answers, because the attempts and time limits are the same either way. Tell one or two people what is happening, keep your usual routine, and avoid deciding on the day of the result. Our guide to what to do after failing SQE1 has a first-week plan and a restart plan.

Where can you get advice?

• The Law Society’s Junior Lawyers Division, which has spoken up for future trainees after SQE1 fails (Law Society Gazette, 22 March 2024 (secondary source)): Junior Lawyers Division.
• Acas gives free, confidential advice on work problems to employers and workers on 0300 123 1100, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Advisers explain the law and your options but do not give a legal opinion or act for you. (Acas, helpline)
• A solicitor who advises on employment law, for your own documents and position.

This page is general information, not legal advice.

When should you get support?

• Your GP: if you are struggling to cope with stress, or the things you are trying are not helping. (NHS, stress)
• LawCare: free, confidential support for people in the legal profession, including paralegals in training, by phone, online chat and email. (LawCare, helpline, chat and email support)
• Urgent help: call 999 or go to A&E if a life is at risk; NHS 111 can tell you where to get urgent help, and Samaritans are on 116 123. (NHS, urgent help for mental health) (NHS, stress)

Common mistakes after a fail with an offer at stake

• Signing a new repayment or retention agreement in the same meeting it is put to you.
• Resigning or withdrawing before you have read the funding and repayment terms.
• Relying on spoken reassurances instead of written confirmation.
• Going quiet with the firm until the resit result.
• Leaving without asking for your QWE to be confirmed.

What this means for you

Gather your offer, contract and every funding letter; ask your firm the questions above in writing; and take advice before you agree to repay anything. Then plan the resit on its own merits: check your attempts with the resit window checker, add the costs in the solicitor qualification cost calculator and take the free SQE1 quick test as your new baseline.

High Performer Certs is an independent study platform. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), and it is not authorised or accredited by the SRA or the SQE assessment provider. The SQE and SOLICITORS QUALIFYING EXAMINATION trade marks are the property of and are used under licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.