CILEx encourages MPs to prioritise parity for university, vocational and apprenticeship routes

09 August 2016

CILEx has encouraged Parliamentarians to have the highest aspirations to not only remedy the barriers to social mobility, but to systemically remove them altogether.

Responding to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility’s inquiry on Access to the Leading Professions, CILEx has recommended that no one should be prevented from achieving their full potential because they took a vocational or apprenticeship route to qualification rather than a university route.

CILEx director of policy and governance Simon Garrod said: “That people can come from any background and be enabled to qualify and practise in the law is one of CILEx’s core tenets. For some people the traditional routes to qualifying are not accessible or affordable, but CILEx has systemically removed these barriers and continues to campaign for a more socially mobile legal profession.”

In the response, CILEx recommends that senior positions within the leading professions, such as senior judicial posts, should be appointed on merit alone and not be restricted to those who have studied at a university.

CILEx offers a genuinely accessible and affordable way for people from any background to practise in law. 82% of CILEx members did not have a parent who attended university, only 3% of members had a lawyer for a parent, and 19% of members’ families received income support or free school meals.

Click here to read the full response.