Changes in CLC Education

6 October, 2015

Council for Licensed Conveyancers and Scottish Qualifications Authority announce strategic partnership in legal education

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), the specialist property law regulator, and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), an Ofqual recognised awarding body, have today announced a partnership for the delivery of a suite of qualifications, enabling those who achieve them to be licensed as a CLC lawyer specialising in conveyancing or probate in England and Wales.

Now that the partnership has been agreed, CLC and SQA are working together on the transitional arrangements, which will see SQA develop, assess and quality assure the qualifications to industry standards, with CLC’s expertise and guidance. There will be announcements early in the new year about the new arrangements and how these will affect students.

Students currently taking the qualifications should continue with them and work towards their exams. The qualifications will continue to be valid under the new arrangements.

Sheila Kumar, Chief Executive of the CLC said: “We are delighted to be working with SQA in this exciting partnership that will open new routes to qualifications as a CLC lawyer and help to ensure that the pipeline of qualified conveyancers and probate practitioners continues to grow to meet demand in the market place. It will bring a much improved student experience through the use of the most up to date educational tools and approaches developed by a range of providers and give students even greater flexibility. Importantly, the CLC will work with SQA to assure the high standards of these specialist qualifications for which the profession is known. Current students can take comfort that their achievements will all be valid under the new arrangements and they should carry on with their current courses. We will be announcing transition arrangements next year.”

Dr Janet Brown, Chief Executive of SQA said: “We look forward to working with CLC to deliver a suite of qualifications for the conveyancing and probate sectors of the legal profession. SQA is committed to helping people to realise their potential and to achieve their ambitions by providing a wide range of high quality, recognised qualifications and associated services. We work with employers and industry to ensure that SQA qualifications accurately reflect learners’ knowledge and skills and provide routes to jobs or further study as well as enable organisations to succeed in meeting a wide range of educational and workforce development challenges.”