Part-time study training contracts

A part-time study training contract enables you to begin training and start earning money, while at the same time studying a part-time course (CPE/GDL or LPC) leading to qualification.

How does it work?

Although the contract is called ‘part time’, you will usually work full time in the office and will only be absent to attend study days for the course – on many part-time courses this will also include weekends.

A trainee who undertakes two consecutive part-time courses, for example the last two years of a law degree and the part-time LPC, would complete a period of four years of training at the training establishment.

A trainee who completes only the LPC on a part-time basis would need to spend three years training at the firm, two part-time and one on a full-time basis.

The training contract

As with the full-time training contract, there is a prescribed form for the contract, a copy of which is in the ‘Training trainee solicitors’ guide.

You will need to be on an approved course before the contract can be signed. The contract must be calculated in academic calendar years and would normally run from 2 September 2007 until 1 September 2008. This is the case even though the course is likely to finish in the June before.

The training establishment is not obliged to take you on for the whole of the training period and may well just offer you the training while you are still studying. It is advisable to try to find a firm who will take you for the whole of the training period so that your training does not need to be interrupted by moving firms. It is important to check the offer letter to see whether the training is for all of the training period.

Registration of the training contract

The authorisation and registration requirements are the same as for the full-time training contract. The training contract must be registered at the Law Society within 28 days of the contract being signed by both you and the firm. Until it is registered you are not a ‘trainee’ and will not be protected by the Training Contract Regulations. The Law Society will send you notification of registration.

Eligibility

You must be enrolled as a student member of the Law Society The part-time contract is most suited to those who have difficulty with funding as it allows trainees to ‘learn as they earn’. It is appropriate, therefore, for those who have been unable to secure funding for either the law degree or the LPC.

Obligations on the training establishment

You must be paid the Minimum Salary each year you are in the contract. The current Minimum Salary is £17,660 for Central London and £15,820 for the rest of England and Wales.

However, if you are absent from the office to attend your course then the salary can be pro rata, to take into account these absences from the office.

The remainder of the responsibilities and obligations under the contract are the same as for full-time training contracts.

Working part time

This is where you serve under a training contract on a part-time basis, in the same way, as any other employee would work part time.

The period of training must not exceed four years and can not be less than would be served by a trainee in full time employment under a two-year training contract.

The length of the training contract will be calculated in days and half days depending on how many you work each week. So, if you work

• two-and-a-half days per week, the period is 1,460 days,
• three days per week, the period is 1,216 days,
• three-and-a-half days per week, the period is 1,043 days,
• four days per week, the period is 913 days,
• four-and-half-days per week, the period is 811 days
• five days per week, the period is 730 days.

If you work extra hours such as overtime or weekends whilst working part time, this will not be considered in order to reduce the overall term of your training contract.