Our equality, diversity and inclusion Annual Report 2024/25

This section provides an overview of our work to support fair, flexible and accessible pathways into the profession.

You can find further detail in our education and training publications, including data on routes into the profession and trends over time.

We also publish a suite of annual Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) reports. These include:

• the SQE Annual Report 2024/25, which provides an overview of candidate outcomes from assessments between October 2024 and July 2025
• the SQE Quality Assurance Report 2024–25, which explains how we assure the quality and consistency of the assessments
• the SQE Independent Reviewer Annual Report 2025, which provides external assurance on the fairness and robustness of the SQE.

Differential outcomes in professional assessments by ethnicity

Following publication of our research into differential outcomes in legal professional assessments in June 2024, and a stakeholder summit in October 2024, we worked with stakeholders to consider the findings and recommendations. This informed the development of an action plan, which was approved by our Board and published in March 2025.

During 2024/25, we began implementing actions across a number of workstreams. To support sector engagement and the sharing of good practice, we established a regular forum bringing together legal employers, education providers and representative groups to share research, evidence and practical approaches to improving outcomes and access to the profession.

We worked with Kaplan, the assessment provider responsible for delivering the SQE, to identify ways to better support candidates preparing for the SQE, including improving access to information and guidance to help candidates understand assessment requirements and prepare effectively. We also began further analysis of SQE outcomes data to better understand the relationship between candidate characteristics, background and assessment performance.

Alongside this, we engaged with law schools, legal employers and other stakeholders to explore opportunities for greater collaboration in supporting aspiring solicitors, particularly those from underrepresented groups. We also continued discussions with stakeholders including professional bodies and firms about the feasibility of contextual recruitment approaches and how these might support fairer access to career opportunities across the profession.

We published an update on the work we have been doing in July 2026, which covers the progress made over the reporting period.

Pathways into the profession for disabled candidates

We have continued to work closely with Kaplan, the SQE assessment provider, to ensure the reasonable adjustments process is delivered effectively for disabled candidates. During the period covered by the 2024/25 SQE report, 2,596 reasonable adjustments were implemented, a 67% increase from the previous year.

In 2024/25, Kaplan introduced significant improvements to the process, including clearer guidance for candidates, more proportionate evidence requirements, streamlined application and case management arrangements, and enhanced communication and support throughout the assessment journey. These changes were designed to make the process more accessible, consistent and easier for candidates to navigate. The 2025 Independent Reviewer report highlighted these improvements, noting clearer communication, stronger support and a substantial increase in candidate satisfaction with the reasonable adjustments process.

Kaplan also carried out a deep dive analysis of candidates with a reasonable adjustment plan for a neurodivergent condition. The report found that neurodivergent candidates with a reasonable adjustments plan achieved slightly higher scores and pass rates than those without. This is consistent with wider SQE evidence showing that candidates with a reasonable adjustment perform as well as other candidates, indicating that adjustments are helping to remove potential barriers and support fair access to qualification.

Qualifying work experience (QWE)

Qualifying work experience (QWE) continues to support more flexible and inclusive routes into the profession by enabling candidates to gain experience in a range of settings and at different stages of qualification. This flexibility allows individuals to tailor their pathway to their circumstances, including balancing work and study.

Evidence shows that candidates report positive experiences overall and value the flexibility QWE offers. It supports wider participation by opening access to qualifying experience beyond traditional routes, helping to build a more diverse pipeline into the profession. Further detail is set out in the SQE Phase Three Evaluation.

Solicitor apprenticeships

Solicitor apprenticeships in England remain an important and growing route into qualification, supporting wider access to the profession. During the reporting period, apprentices accounted for nearly 9% of all SQE assessments, up from 5% in the previous year.

Apprentices continued to perform strongly, achieving higher average scores and pass rates than non-apprentices across SQE1 and most SQE2 sittings. This reflects the benefits of combining workplace learning with academic study and assessment preparation.

Evidence from our Report on SQE Outcomes for Solicitor Apprentices also highlights the role apprenticeships can play in supporting social mobility. Half of solicitor apprentices (50%) came from lower socio-economic backgrounds, compared with 31% of non-apprentice candidates. Apprentices were also more likely to be female than non-apprentice candidates, although they were less ethnically diverse than the wider SQE candidate cohort.

Overall, the evidence suggests that solicitor apprenticeships are helping widen participation in the profession.

We continued to encourage firms and the wider profession to create more inclusive workplaces and improve equality, diversity and inclusion outcomes. Over the reporting year, this included:

• hosting a webinar on ethnicity pay gap reporting, covering good practice in firms and the development of a new online resource
• updating our online resources on race equality in the workplace highlighting examples of good practice
• partnering with the Social Mobility Business Partnership to host students from less advantaged backgrounds at our Birmingham office, supporting the development of their skills and experience
• delivering an online event on assistive technology, raising awareness of available tools and how they can support individuals in the workplace
• delivering a session on workplace culture at our Compliance Officers Conference 2024, highlighting why workplace culture matters and the practical steps firms can take to create health and inclusive working environment
• speaking at the Women in the Law Conference in March 2025 on firms' responsibilities and expectations in creating healthy workplace environments
• participating in Sikhs in Law careers event, supporting aspiring legal professionals and promoting accessible pathways into the profession
• continuing to raise awareness of workplace culture and wider equality, diversity and inclusion issues through our guidance, communications, social media activity and support for awareness days, helping firms understand their responsibilities and implement good practice
• sharing learning and good practice on preventing sexual harassment and creating inclusive workplace cultures, including through a session at our Compliance Officers Conference 2025 on creating a culture of intolerance for sexual harassment.

Upholding high professional standards in the profession

During the 2024/25 reporting period, we strengthened our support for the profession by updating our guidance on Principle 6, which requires those we regulate to act in a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion. The updated guidance provides greater clarity on our expectations and practical examples to help regulated individuals and firms understand how equality, diversity and inclusion obligations apply in day-to-day practice.

We continued to take action where conduct fell below the standards expected of the profession, including in cases involving sexual misconduct, bullying and discrimination. During the reporting year, outcomes included:

• Solicitors being suspended for sexual misconduct towards colleagues, including inappropriate touching and sexually motivated comments.
• Using control and disqualification orders for those working within law firms we regulate who are not solicitors in cases involving sexual misconduct, inappropriate behaviour towards colleagues and sexual offending.
• A solicitor being struck off following conviction for a serious sexual offence.
• A solicitor being fined by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for workplace bullying and offensive conduct towards colleagues.
• A solicitor being sanctioned for making offensive and antisemitic social media posts and required to undertake equality, diversity and inclusion and antisemitism training.

These outcomes demonstrate our commitment to tackling bullying, harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct, and to promoting respectful and inclusive workplace cultures across the profession

Overrepresentation of minority ethnic solicitors in our enforcement work

We published our independent research into the overrepresentation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic solicitors in our enforcement process in October 2024. During 2024/25, we began implementing actions across four key workstreams:

• providing tailored support for small firms
• further strengthening our assessment process
• improving how we collect and use diversity data to better understand trends and outcomes
• engaging with the profession and other stakeholders to explore the factors contributing to overrepresentation and identify potential support mechanisms.

We started the reporting period by engaging with stakeholders about the findings of the research including representative groups and our commitments. Progress during the year (summarised in our published update) included delivering an anti-money laundering (AML) compliance webinar for sole practitioners and small firms, helping firms understand and meet their regulatory obligations. We also strengthened our assessment process by introducing a new approach to recording assessment decisions, ensuring the factors considered and rationale for decisions are clearly documented and supporting transparent, objective and evidence-based decision making.

In addition, we upgraded the IT supporting diversity data collection through mySRA and laid the groundwork for a campaign to encourage greater disclosure from the regulated profession. Increasing disclosure rates will strengthen our understanding of trends and outcomes across our regulatory processes.

Learning from complaints about our service

We use feedback, complaints and independent scrutiny to help us understand people's experiences of our services and identify opportunities to improve accessibility and support fair and inclusive regulation.

Following a series of complaints about our handling of reasonable adjustments requests in 2023/24, we started a programme of work to strengthen our approach. Over the reporting year we completed an evaluation of our reasonable adjustments policy, processes, guidance and training. The evaluation found that our overall policy was effective and that awareness of reasonable adjustments had improved across the organisation. However, we identified opportunities to improve consistency in how adjustments were identified, recorded and delivered across teams. This work has included reviewing and strengthening staff guidance, improving staff capability and sharing best practice.

Our annual complaints report and the report from our Independent Reviewer of Complaints about 2024/25 will be published in the coming weeks.

Having good quality data about diversity in the profession helps us and others understand and address any challenges in achieving a diverse and inclusive legal workforce. We use this data to inform our regulatory approach and the work we do to encourage equality, diversity and inclusion in the profession. It allows us to monitor progress and informs research and publications produced by us and others.

Diversity in law firms

Since 2015, we have collected diversity data from SRA-regulated law firms every two years, with the latest collection completed in 2025. Ten years of data collection provides a strong evidence base for tracking trends and progress across the profession with increasing confidence. The data, available through our new tool, offers one of the most comprehensive pictures of diversity within the legal sector in England and Wales.

The 2025 data shows that women now make up 55% of lawyers, compared with 48% in 2015. Representation at senior levels has improved, with women accounting for 40% of partners in 2025, up from 32% in 2015. However, a seniority gap remains, particularly in larger firms, where women continue to be underrepresented at full-equity partner level.

The findings show that the profession is becoming more ethnically diverse overall, but progress is uneven. While representation has increased for Asian solicitors, Black solicitors remain underrepresented. Overall, 19% of partners were from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background, although representation varied significantly by firm size, ranging from 42% in the smallest firms to 9% in the largest firms.

The data also shows an increase in the proportion of disabled lawyers, rising from 3% in 2015 to 8% in 2025. However, disabled people remain underrepresented compared with the wider UK workforce, where 17% of workers reported a disability. Representation also varies across the profession, with disabled lawyers accounting for 13% of lawyers in the smallest firms compared with 6% in the largest firms.

The data highlights both the progress made and the areas where further work is needed to build a profession that better reflects the communities it serves.

For more information, see:

• our diversity tool showing trends from 2015
• the firm diversity tool for 2025
• an overview of the firm data in 2025
• an overview of the data from firms based in Wales in 2025.

Individual diversity data

In addition to the firm diversity data collection, we collect diversity information from individual solicitors through mySRA. This data helps us understand the diversity profile of the regulated profession, monitor trends over time and assess the impact of our regulatory and EDI work.

During the reporting period, we improved the functionality and user experience of the diversity section within mySRA, making it easier for individuals to review and update their diversity data. We also worked with Kaplan to introduce a new process that will transfer diversity information collected as part of SQE registration into mySRA when candidates are admitted as solicitors. This will reduce duplicate data entry and improve the completeness of diversity information for new entrants to the profession.

We will continue to improve disclosure rates across the wider profession through targeted communications, engagement with representative bodies and stakeholder groups, and awareness raising through our communication channels. Improving participation and data quality is a long-term objective, but more complete diversity data will strengthen our understanding of the profession, help us identify emerging trends and potential disparities, and ensure our regulatory and EDI work is informed by robust evidence.