FAQs about English or Welsh proficiency

Most aspiring solicitors demonstrate their proficiency in English or Welsh by passing SQE2.

However, if you are granted an exemption from SQE2, you must demonstrate your language proficiency in a different way. This needs to be done before you apply for admission as a solicitor of England and Wales.

You can do this by:

• providing evidence that the professional legal qualification on which your exemption was based was assessed in English or Welsh, or
• passing a language assessment at an appropriate level.

You can also choose to sit and pass SQE2 instead.

Before applying for your first practising certificate, you must demonstrate your English or Welsh proficiency in one of the following ways:

• by providing evidence that the professional legal qualification on which your exemption was based was assessed in English or Welsh, or
• by passing a language assessment at an appropriate level.

This is done through an application in mySRA under ‘Start a new application’.

Before applying to be admitted as a solicitor, you must demonstrate your English or Welsh proficiency in one of the following ways:

• providing evidence that the professional legal qualification on which your exemption was based was assessed in English or Welsh, or
• passing a language assessment at an appropriate level.

This is done through an application in mySRA and can be found in your SQE checklist in your profile.

No, you do not need to take any further action to demonstrate your English or Welsh proficiency.

You can use your professional legal qualification/degree as evidence so long as it is the same qualification you used for your SQE2 exemption and that it was taught and assessed in English. This includes anyone who was already admitted as a solicitor by 13 June 2024 but did not have their first practising certificate.

All other degrees, which do not form part of a professional legal qualification, will not be accepted as evidence.

You can choose a Secure English Language Test (SELT) test from any of the UK Home Office approved providers.

A Secure English Language Test (SELT) is a test that has been designated by the UK Home Office as secure and is also known as UKVI for UK Visa and Immigration.

The test questions and format are the same but there is greater assurance of identification. Your certificate must be SELT (or UKVI) designated.

The minimum test score required from each provider is:

• IELTS (Academic) UKVI – 7.5 overall
• Pearson PTE (Academic) UKVI – 76 overall
• Language Cert (Academic SELT) – 75 overall
• Trinity College London ISE III – Grade 11

Yes, if your provider offers the SELT to the appropriate level online (ie an IELTS score of 7.5 or equivalent).

Your provider will give you all relevant information before taking the test.

Your SELT certificate can be up to three years old when using it for admission purposes.

If you want to provide evidence using an alternative language test in Welsh, please contact us first.

We will review each request on a case-by-case basis and work with you to determine if there is a test that you can take that is equivalent to an IELTS standard of 7.5.