QWE sign off: how to get your QWE signed off

Sign off

What candidates and firms say. The SRA’s Q&A uses it too: QWE not signed off by a solicitor does not count.

Confirm

The word in regulation 2.2, which says who may confirm each organisation’s period.

Record

What you do in mySRA: ‘Notify us of your qualifying work experience’.

Agree who signs off, at the start

Know from the outset which solicitor or COLP will confirm your QWE, with their position and SRA number. If that changes, your organisation should tell you who replaces them.

Keep a record as you go

Use a training diary, a portfolio or the SRA’s training template. The template is optional, and you do not submit it to the SRA.

Talk to your confirmer regularly

Use one-to-ones or appraisals, so that you both agree how your records show the competences.

Tell your confirmer first

The SRA contacts your solicitor or COLP once you submit, so let them know it is coming.

Start the application

In mySRA, select ‘Start new applications’ and choose ‘Notify us of your qualifying work experience’. A draft is saved in ‘My profile’, under ‘Applications and documents’.

Confirm the requirements and the organisation

Tick the boxes to confirm you understand the SRA’s requirements, then give the organisation and branch.

Say what type of experience it was

Paid work, an apprenticeship, a placement or volunteering.

Enter the dates and your work pattern

Start and end dates, full or part time, and the total months and weeks. The end date must be in the past and cannot be left blank. Apprentices can use any two-year period of their apprenticeship.

Name your confirmer

Give their name and SRA number. The SRA cannot accept a barrister or any other lawyer unless they are also a solicitor or COLP it regulates.

Your confirmer signs it off

The SRA emails them a link. They log in to their own mySRA account, where a table shows the periods to confirm; if the email does not arrive, the request is under ‘Actions’.

You get the outcome

The SRA emails you to say whether your QWE was approved or rejected.

What they confirm

1. How long the work experience lasted.
2. That it gave you the opportunity to develop some or all of the competences for solicitors, at least two of them.
3. That nothing arose that raises a question about your character and suitability to be admitted or, if something did, the details of it.

How they can check it

• Your training template, diary, learning and development record or portfolio, and whether it evidences the experience you claim.
• Your dates and role, and any character and suitability issues, with the organisation’s HR team.
• Feedback from the people who supervised your work.
• Their own supervision of your work, although the SRA says this is not a requirement.

Once a period has ended

You can only record a complete period: the end date cannot be in the future or left blank.

If you are still in the role

Use an end date that has passed. After more than two years in a role, the SRA suggests agreeing the best date range with your confirmer.

By the time you apply for admission

You only need the full two years registered by then, and QWE can come before, during or after the SQE.

Two years in total

At least two years full time, or the equivalent part time. The SRA does not define full time and expects a common-sense view, so agree with your confirmer how your hours count.

Up to four organisations

Your two years can come from no more than four organisations, and each one is confirmed separately.

No minimum per placement

The SRA’s guidance for confirmers says there is no minimum or maximum prescribed length for each placement.

Who signs off can differ

It depends on who works in each organisation: its COLP or a solicitor there, or an outside solicitor where there is neither.

They refuse

Ask why, show how you met the competences, share the SRA’s guidance for confirmers and ask whether another solicitor or the COLP there can confirm. If they still refuse after these steps, contact the SRA’s Professional Ethics team. The SRA does not mediate, but it can remind solicitors of their obligations.

Your supervising solicitor has left

A solicitor who supervised you can still confirm, as long as they reviewed your work for the period they confirm and, for any work after they left, got feedback from the person now supervising you. If your confirmer retires or comes off the roll, your organisation should nominate someone else where possible.

Exceptional circumstances

If you finished your QWE but could not get it signed off by your organisation because of exceptional circumstances, for example because you worked for a sole practitioner who is no longer a solicitor, you can contact the SRA.

A designated solicitor

One of our solicitors talks your experience through with you on a guidance call first, and you get a full refund if they find you are not ready.

What regulation 2.2(c) requires

Regulation 2.2 asks an outside solicitor to have direct experience of your work, review your work for the period and get feedback from your supervisors. Your solicitor reviews your work and speaks to your supervisor before deciding. You get unlimited support throughout.

Sign-off in mySRA

If satisfied, they confirm in their own mySRA account. In our experience, the SRA then emails you the outcome often within 24 hours of the solicitor confirming. From £275.