Employer FAQs

An apprenticeship is a job that requires substantial and sustained training, leading to the achievement of an apprenticeship standard and the development of transferable skills.

This definition is underpinned by four principles:

• An apprenticeship is a job, in a skilled occupation
• An apprenticeship requires substantial and sustained training, lasting a minimum of 12 months and including off-the-job training
• An apprenticeship leads to full competency in an occupation, demonstrated by the achievement of an apprenticeship standard that is defined by employers
• An apprenticeship develops transferable skills, including English and maths, to progress careers.

The apprenticeship standard for each occupation is developed by a group of employers working together to design standards for occupations within their sectors. Professional bodies and training providers are also involved. CILEX has contributed to the standards for the legal sector.

If you pay the employer levy (i.e. if your payroll is over £3 million), you can only get the benefit of that money if you draw it down to apply to your own apprentices’ training. If you don’t pay the levy, you can benefit from 95% government funding (from 1 April 2019) of the cost of training apprentices. Apprenticeship programmes are tailored to sector needs, so they are an ideal way of recruiting new talent or developing current employees who have the aptitude for career progression.

At CILEX Law School we have the expertise and experience to advise you from planning an apprenticeship programme right through the recruitment process to the delivery of training and advice on post-completion progression for successful apprentices. We have been leaders in the introduction of apprentices to the legal sector and are truly specialists in this field. We can also help you to navigate the waters of government funding. You can find the latest information on incentive payments for hiring a new apprentice here.

We are an award-winning provider for legal apprenticeship provision, and have nearly 40 years’ experience in delivering legal training to those employed in the legal sector.

We have over 3,000 students enrolled on legal training courses, leading to CILEX vocational qualifications, most of whom are sponsored by their legal sector employers.

We were set up in 1983 to deliver distance learning courses for qualifications awarded by the Institute of Legal Executives (now the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives) to legal secretaries and legal clerks wishing to gain the qualifications whilst continuing with their work. Although we have expanded our range of qualifications to include law at all levels, we have always remained a specialist distance learning law school.

As well as offering ‘off-the-shelf’ CILEX qualifications, we can use develop courses to deliver knowledge and skills specific to the needs of a particular job role. For example we are currently delivering training to Highways England, using our CILEX courses in Land Law and Conveyancing adapted to meet the client’s needs. We have also amended and supplemented our standard course in the Law of Tort for a firm of liability adjustors, to incorportate their requirements to include specialist content on the insurance market.

We are happy to tailor materials to deliver bespoke courses to clients in the private or public sector.