What to do if your employer won’t sign off your QWE
Published by FQPS Academy, which also offers QWE confirmation where the rules allow it. Each section links the SRA pages its rules come from.
Employer won’t sign off your QWE: who should confirm in your situation
Who confirms depends on whether the organisation where you did the work has a COLP or a solicitor. If it does, they confirm, whatever is holding things up. Pick the card that matches your situation.
The solicitor or COLP refuses
Ask why, show how you met the competences and ask for someone else there. If that fails, go to the SRA’s Professional Ethics team.
The firm says it does not confirm QWE
QWE that meets the SRA’s criteria should be confirmed. Refusing it so the firm can keep you as a paralegal is a clear breach.
Your supervisor has left
A supervising solicitor who reviewed your work can still confirm it after leaving. Or another solicitor or the COLP there can.
The firm has closed or merged
The SRA’s guidance on past roles applies. Find the solicitor who supervised you there, and keep every record you have.
There was never a solicitor there
Where the organisation has no COLP and no solicitor, a solicitor outside it with direct experience of your work can confirm.
The work may not count as QWE
A refusal can be fair if the work does not meet the SRA’s requirements. Check your role against the SRA’s questions before you ask again.
Regulation 2.2 lists who can confirm: the organisation’s COLP, a solicitor working in it, or, only if it has neither, a solicitor outside it with direct experience of your work. The SRA also lets a supervising solicitor who has since left confirm the period they reviewed. A refusal, a firm policy or a slow reply changes none of this, so an outside solicitor, FQPS included, cannot confirm in place of a firm that has a COLP or a solicitor.
The full rule, with what each person confirms: Who can confirm QWE?
Source: SRA Authorisation of Individuals Regulations, regulation 2
Source: SRA: Qualifying work experience questions and answers (updated 3 October 2023)
QWE refused: what to do if the solicitor or COLP says no
The SRA expects solicitors and COLPs to act fairly when confirming QWE and not to take unfair advantage, for example by refusing because they may not want to employ you as a solicitor once you qualify. It may take disciplinary action against one who refuses QWE that meets its criteria.
What the SRA suggests you do
- Ask the solicitor or COLP, politely and in writing or at a meeting, why they will not confirm, and show how you met the competences.
- Bring your records: a training diary, portfolio, or the SRA’s training template, and if it helps, your line manager or supervisor.
- Share the SRA’s guidance for those confirming QWE: confirming is not an assessment of your competence.
- Ask whether another solicitor or the COLP in the organisation can confirm instead.
- If they still refuse after you have taken these steps, contact the SRA’s Professional Ethics team. The SRA does not mediate, but it can remind solicitors of their obligations.
Before you contact the SRA. The SRA will want to see that you tried to resolve it first. Keep any documents showing the firm agreed to confirm in the past, and be ready to give more detailed evidence if the solicitor asks. You reach the Professional Ethics team through the SRA’s contact page.
A refusal can be legitimate: where you have not given enough information, the work does not meet the SRA’s requirements or, for a past role, no records survive and nobody still there can verify it.
What the SRA can do
- With your consent, remind the solicitor or COLP of their obligations.
- Remind a solicitor who agreed to confirm before, and now refuses without good reason, of their duty not to take unfair advantage.
- Where it does not regulate the organisation, such as a legal team at an insurer, remind the solicitor you named of their duty.
- Take disciplinary action against a solicitor or COLP who refuses QWE that meets its criteria.
What the SRA will not do
- Mediate between you and your employer.
- Contact the solicitor or COLP without your consent.
- Compel a firm to confirm your QWE.
- Tell you whether your role counts as QWE.
Source: SRA: Dealing with a refusal to confirm qualifying work experience (updated 19 February 2025)
Source: SRA: Qualifying work experience for candidates (updated 26 January 2024)
Source: SRA: Your organisation’s approach to qualifying work experience (September 2021)
Can a firm have a policy of not signing off QWE?
Not for QWE that meets the SRA’s criteria. Its guidance says that experience should be confirmed, and a firm that gave you the chance to do QWE has a responsibility to confirm it once it is properly completed.
Refusing to confirm QWE that meets the SRA’s criteria just to keep you in a non-qualified role, such as a paralegal post, would be a clear breach of the SRA’s Principles and Code of Conduct. The SRA may act against a solicitor or firm who does this deliberately.
Take the steps for a refusal, and send the solicitor or COLP the SRA’s guidance for those confirming QWE and its standards for good QWE. A firm policy does not open the outside-solicitor route while the firm has a COLP or a solicitor.
Source: SRA: Solicitors and COLPs confirming qualifying work experience (updated 29 September 2021)
Source: SRA: Meeting our standards for good qualifying work experience (updated 5 November 2026)
Supervisor left before signing off your QWE?
If your former supervisor is a solicitor of England and Wales, they can still confirm your QWE. The SRA says the solicitor does not need to work for the same organisation as you any more, as long as they reviewed your work for the period they are confirming.
Ask your former supervisor
If they are a solicitor of England and Wales and reviewed your work, they can confirm the period they reviewed, wherever they work now.
Or ask for another solicitor or the COLP
Another solicitor or the COLP there can confirm, once they have reviewed your work and had feedback from the people who supervised you.
Cover the time after they left
For work after they left, your former supervisor must review it too and get feedback from the person supervising you now.
A solicitor who can no longer confirm, for example because they are retiring, should tell you early and see that someone else is nominated where possible. If you are the one who left, QWE can still be claimed for a past role, with no limit on how far back.
Find where a solicitor works now on the SRA’s Solicitors Register. A supervisor who is not a solicitor cannot confirm. They can still give feedback to the solicitor who does.
Source: SRA: Qualifying work experience questions and answers (updated 3 October 2023)
Source: SRA: Dealing with a refusal to confirm qualifying work experience (updated 19 February 2025)
Source: SRA: Qualifying work experience for candidates (updated 26 January 2024)
Source: SRA: Solicitors and COLPs confirming qualifying work experience (updated 29 September 2021)
Firm closed or merged: who confirms your QWE now?
The SRA’s QWE guidance does not deal with firms that have closed or merged. Its guidance on past roles still applies: it points you back to your old employer, and a solicitor who supervised you there can still confirm the period they reviewed.
If a solicitor who knew your work can be found
- A solicitor who supervised you there and reviewed your work for the period can still confirm it, even though neither of you works there now.
- Find where that solicitor works today on the SRA’s Solicitors Register.
- Gather your contract or job description, your dates and your training diary or portfolio: the solicitor must review your work.
- If the firm merged into another, ask the new firm, for example its COLP, who can confirm your QWE. The SRA expects solicitors and COLPs to take reasonable steps on past roles, such as checking HR records or a job description and speaking to the person who supervised you.
If nobody who knew your work can be found
The SRA accepts that it may be legitimate not to confirm a past role where records were not kept or nobody who can verify the work is still there. If exceptional circumstances stopped your organisation signing off your QWE, for example because you worked for a sole practitioner who is no longer a solicitor, the SRA asks you to contact it. Do that before you record the period.
Source: SRA: Qualifying work experience questions and answers (updated 3 October 2023)
Source: SRA: Qualifying work experience for candidates (updated 26 January 2024)
Source: SRA: Your organisation’s approach to qualifying work experience (September 2021)
Source: SRA: Solicitors Register
Source: SRA: Getting the best out of your qualifying work experience (updated 19 February 2025)
No COLP and no solicitor where you worked? When an outside solicitor can confirm
If there is no solicitor to sign off your QWE because the organisation you worked in has no COLP and no solicitor at all, regulation 2.2 lets a solicitor of England and Wales outside it, who has direct experience of your work, confirm your QWE. To do so they must review the work you did for the period, for example your training diary or portfolio, and get feedback from the people who supervised you.
It tends to come up where nobody in the organisation is a solicitor of England and Wales, for example:
- A business the SRA does not regulate, with no solicitor of England and Wales working in it.
- An in-house legal team, where no solicitor of England and Wales works anywhere in the organisation.
- A charity or advice centre with no solicitor working there.
- Legal work overseas, in an organisation with no solicitor of England and Wales.
If a solicitor of England and Wales works there, even in an unregulated business or overseas, they confirm your QWE and an outside solicitor cannot. If you are not sure which applies to you, book a free 30-minute call and we will tell you.
More on these cases: Paralegal QWE sign-off and QWE confirmation for overseas work.
QWE confirmation by an FQPS solicitor
A designated solicitor
You get one designated solicitor. An initial guidance call goes through your experience, and if the solicitor finds you are not ready, you get a full refund.
Review and supervisor feedback
As regulation 2.2 requires, the solicitor reviews your work for the period and gets feedback from your supervisors, so your supervisor has to take part. Unlimited support is included.
Confirmation in mySRA
You record the period in mySRA and name the solicitor, who, if satisfied, confirms it in their own account. In our experience, the SRA often notifies you of the outcome within 24 hours of the solicitor confirming. From £275.
How it works, step by step: QWE confirmation by a solicitor.
Source: SRA Authorisation of Individuals Regulations, regulation 2
Source: SRA: How to manage my individual account, mySRA (updated 8 June 2026)
Could the refusal be fair? When the work may not be QWE
A solicitor can fairly decline to confirm work that does not meet the SRA’s requirements. The SRA does not advise on individual roles. It publishes six questions you can answer yourself: if every answer is yes, your role is likely to be QWE.
- It involved providing legal services, as section 12 of the Legal Services Act 2007 defines legal activity.
- It was real legal work: simulated work does not count.
- It exposed you to at least two of the competences in the Statement of Solicitor Competence.
- Your QWE is spread across no more than four organisations.
- It adds up to at least two years full time, or the equivalent part time.
- It can be confirmed by a solicitor or COLP.
Answer the SRA’s questions one at a time, and see who can confirm your QWE: Free QWE checker.
Source: SRA: Qualifying work experience for candidates (updated 26 January 2024)
How often do employers refuse to confirm QWE?
In the SRA’s 2023 survey, 9% of organisations said they had refused to confirm work as QWE, and 17% of candidates found getting it confirmed difficult or very difficult. The reasons they gave match the situations on this page.
Why sign-off was hard, in 2023
171 candidates answered the SRA’s November 2023 survey. Those who found getting QWE confirmed difficult gave three main reasons:
- The organisation did not understand what it needs to do to confirm QWE.
- It did not want to confirm because it wanted to keep the candidate in a role such as paralegal, not employ them as a solicitor.
- The QWE was in a previous role, and the right organisation or person was hard to reach.
What the 2025 evaluation found
8% of candidates had difficulty getting their QWE confirmed. Of those, 57% said the organisation did not understand what it needed to do, and 21% found it hard to contact the person or organisation they had worked with.
The evaluation notes that opt-in research tends to draw people with strong views.
Source: SRA: Experiences of qualifying work experience, survey findings (10 April 2024)
Source: SRA: SQE phase three evaluation, by IFF Research (18 December 2025)
How to ask your employer to sign off your QWE
As the research shows, the most common problem is an organisation that does not understand what confirming involves. These six steps, taken from the SRA’s guidance, deal with that before it turns into a refusal.
Agree who will confirm, early
The SRA expects firms to make clear from the outset who confirms. Make sure that person knows before you apply: the SRA contacts them once you submit.
Keep a record as you go
Use the firm’s own system or the SRA’s training template. You do not send it to the SRA: it shows the solicitor what you did.
Map your work to the competences
Show at least two competences with examples, such as B1, obtaining relevant facts. Ask the solicitor what evidence they want to see.
Explain what they are confirming
They confirm how long the work lasted, that it gave you the opportunity to develop some or all of the competences (at least two), and that nothing arose that questions your character and suitability. They do not assess your competence.
Bring your supervisor in
If your day-to-day supervisor is not the one confirming, ask them to help explain your work. The solicitor can speak to them.
Have the mySRA details ready
Your start and end dates, work pattern, and the solicitor’s name and SRA number. You make a separate mySRA application for each period of QWE you record.
Keep your records in our QWE record template or the SRA’s training template, and check them against the Statement of Solicitor Competence. The full process, step by step: How to get your QWE signed off.
Source: SRA: Meeting our standards for good qualifying work experience (updated 5 November 2026)
Source: SRA: QWE training template
Source: SRA: Qualifying work experience for candidates (updated 26 January 2024)
Source: SRA: Dealing with a refusal to confirm qualifying work experience (updated 19 February 2025)
Source: SRA: Recording your qualifying work experience (updated 12 April 2023)
Employer won’t sign off your QWE: common questions
Can my employer refuse to sign off my QWE?
A solicitor or COLP should confirm QWE that meets the SRA’s criteria. The SRA cannot force a firm to confirm, but refusing it, for example to keep you as a paralegal, is a clear breach of its Principles and Code, and the SRA may take disciplinary action.
Can the SRA force my employer to sign off my QWE?
No. The SRA says it cannot compel a firm to confirm QWE, and it does not mediate. With your consent it can remind the solicitor or COLP of their obligations, and it may take disciplinary action against one who refuses QWE that meets its criteria.
Can I report my employer to the SRA for refusing to sign off my QWE?
Once you have tried to resolve it and they still refuse, contact the SRA’s Professional Ethics team, and be ready to show the steps you took. If you think there has been misconduct, such as bullying, you can also complain to the SRA about the solicitor, COLP or firm, with copies of all your evidence.
Can another solicitor at my firm sign off my QWE instead?
Yes. The SRA suggests asking whether another solicitor or the COLP in your organisation can confirm. They must review the work you did for the period and get feedback from the people who supervised you.
My QWE supervisor left before signing off. What now?
If your supervisor is a solicitor of England and Wales, they can still confirm the period they reviewed, wherever they work now. For work after they left, they also need feedback from the person now supervising you. Otherwise, ask the firm for another solicitor or its COLP.
My old firm has closed. What happens to my QWE?
The SRA’s QWE guidance does not deal with firms that have closed. A solicitor who supervised you there and reviewed your work for the period can still confirm it. If you cannot find one and no records survive, contact the SRA before you record the period: it asks candidates to get in touch when exceptional circumstances, such as a sole practitioner who is no longer a solicitor, stopped them getting sign-off.
When can a solicitor fairly decline to confirm QWE?
The SRA says a solicitor may not be able to confirm where you have not given enough information about the placement or the work does not meet its requirements, and for a past role where, for example, no records survive or nobody still there can verify it. If a solicitor has a good reason not to confirm personally, such as being related to you or a conflict of interest, the firm should nominate another solicitor where possible.
Can FQPS sign off my QWE if my employer refuses?
Only where the organisation where you did the work has no COLP and no solicitor, the case regulation 2.2 allows for an outside solicitor. Even then, the solicitor must have direct experience of your work, review it and get feedback from the people who supervised you, so your supervisor still has to take part. If the organisation has a COLP or a solicitor, they confirm, and the route for a refusal is the SRA’s steps.
I left the firm because of bullying. Do I have to contact them again?
The SRA suggests getting legal advice first, starting with the Solicitors Assistance Scheme, which offers an hour of free advice. You can also complain to the SRA about the solicitor or firm, and send it copies of all your evidence. Depending on the circumstances, the SRA may approach the firm directly about confirming your QWE.
Each answer comes from the SRA pages linked in the sections above, read on 8 November 2026. Start with the SRA’s own advice on a refusal to confirm QWE. For free advice after bullying, it points to the Solicitors Assistance Scheme.
No COLP and no solicitor where you did your QWE?
Where the organisation had no COLP and no solicitor, one of our solicitors reviews your work, gets feedback from your supervisors and, if satisfied, confirms your QWE in mySRA. Full refund if the solicitor finds you are not ready.
More on getting your QWE confirmed
No COLP or solicitor where you did your QWE? An FQPS solicitor reviews your work, speaks to your supervisor and, if satisfied, confirms it in mySRA.
The SRA rule on who confirms: the COLP, a solicitor where you worked, or an outside solicitor only if there is neither.
Getting QWE signed off in mySRA, step by step: what to prepare, what the solicitor checks and how long it takes.
A free QWE record template with a filled-in example for each competence, in Word and PDF.
Overseas legal work can count as QWE. Who can confirm it, and when an outside solicitor can because there is no COLP and no solicitor.
Paralegal and legal assistant work can count as QWE. Who signs it off, and what to do if your firm has no COLP and no solicitor.
Check your work against the SRA’s QWE questions in two minutes, and see who can confirm it.
