A first stage appeal is a request to review a decision by the Assessment Board to fail you in any part of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE1 and/or SQE2) or a finding of malpractice.

You must submit your appeal by 16:00 within ten working days of the results being released.

If you are awaiting an outcome of a mitigating circumstances claim, you will still receive your SQE1 results on the same day as all other candidates. However, if you have submitted a mitigating circumstances claim, you should wait for the outcome of this before submitting an appeal. You must submit your claim by 16:00 within ten working days after the date of your mitigating circumstances outcome letter.

A first stage appeal is only considered as submitted once the appeal form and the appeal charge of £350 has been made.

If you are unable to provide evidence within five working days, you should still submit the appeal by the deadline. You can then email the Quality Team (equality.quality@sqe.sra.org.uk) to request an extended deadline for you to provide supporting evidence.

If your appeal relates to issues that occurred before or during your assessment, you must provide supporting evidence explaining why a mitigating circumstances claim was not submitted by the deadline.

An appeal panel will not consider the substance of your appeal if you fail to provide evidence as to why a mitigating circumstances claim could not be submitted before the deadline.

No. Each assessment window impacted would need an individual appeal form to be submitted.

Each appeal would need to be paid for individually i.e. a payment is made per appeal per assessment window. Please ensure you refer to the correct appeals policy relevant to your assessment.

To make payment you need to contact the Candidate Services Team by telephone between 8:00 - 16:00 Monday to Friday on 0203 486 3080. Payments can only be taken by telephone.

Yes, however if you are appealing in relation to your reasonable adjustment plan not being delivered as agreed, you will not be required to pay the appeal charge. The Quality Team will confirm if this is applicable to you.

Appeals submitted outside of the time limits set out in paragraph 4.6 of the Appeals Policy will only be considered in exceptional circumstances as set out in paragraph 10.6. A Review Panel will decide whether to accept the late appeal submission (para 10.1).

You must submit a request (“Request”) by email to equality.quality@sqe.sra.org.uk with details to explain the exceptional circumstances why the appeal could not be submitted by the deadline in this policy and that the Request has been made at the earliest opportunity. Relevant independent written evidence must be submitted to substantiate the request.

A charge of £150 will be made for a Request to submit an appeal out of time (para 10.4).

A Review Panel will meet and determine whether there are exceptional circumstances, substantiated by any relevant independent evidence, why the appeal could not be submitted by the relevant deadline and that the Request has been made at the earliest opportunity.

Since the inception of the SQE in 2021, there has been an appeal charge of £350 that candidates are required to pay to submit a first stage appeal. There is no right under the SQE Terms and Conditions, or under the Assessment Regulations, Appeals Policy or Assessment Regulations to appeal without payment of the appeal charge.

The charge is refunded in full when the first stage appeal is upheld.

This is in comparison to other high stakes professional assessment organisations that deduct an administrative fee from the appeal charge refund.

It is for you to decide what evidence you wish to submit in support of your appeal. We are unable to advise on the specific evidence that will be accepted by the First Appeal Panel. The appeal must be accompanied by independent supporting written evidence as appropriate for the circumstances raised.

If you are awaiting an outcome of a mitigating circumstances claim, you should wait for the outcome of the claim before submitting an appeal. You must submit your appeal by 16:00 within ten working days after the date of your mitigating circumstances outcome letter.

An appeal on the basis that a candidate disagrees with the outcome of their mitigating circumstances claim will only be considered if there is new information or evidence that could not be presented at the time in support of the original mitigating circumstances claim.

If you encounter any issues during your assessment, it is important to report them to the test centre. Although Pearson Vue will notify Kaplan of these issues, this does not automatically create a mitigating circumstances claim. Reporting any issues helps to establish a record that might be useful if you decide to make a claim later.

You are expected to have read the SQE Assessment Regulations, which state that any mitigating circumstances claims should be submitted in accordance with the SQE Mitigating Circumstances Policy.

Please note that no appeal will be considered on the grounds of not understanding or being unaware of the SQE Assessment Regulations.

If you choose to submit an appeal, you will need to explain why you did not submit a mitigating circumstances claim at the appropriate time, in accordance with the timelines outlined in the SQE Mitigating Circumstances Policy.

If the formal complaint is in any way connected with an ongoing appeal, the investigation of the complaint will be put on hold until the appeals process has concluded.

An appeal is a formal request to review a decision made by the Assessment Board, such as failing an assessment or a finding of malpractice. It focuses on the decision-making process and its outcomes. A complaint, on the other hand, concerns dissatisfaction with the service or conduct experienced, such as administrative errors or issues unrelated to assessment decisions.

Appeals and complaints are handled separately, and a complaint will be suspended until the appeals process is concluded if they are related.

A complaint will not result in a change to the pass mark or your mark or a discounted attempt.

No, candidates are not permitted to attend the First Stage Appeal Panel.

If your appeal is upheld, you will ordinarily be given the opportunity to retake the assessment that is the subject of your appeal and have your original attempt discounted.

If an SQE2 appeal under ground 4.2.1 or 4.2.2 is upheld the Panel will decide on the outcome in accordance with the Mitigating Circumstances Policy . The Panel may consider the stations impacted. If the statistical analysis of your performance shows that you would have passed if the one directly impacted assessment station is removed, or where more than one station is affected, the lowest scoring station is removed the result will be recalculated over 15 stations, removing the impacted station. If this results in a pass, the station will be removed, the recalculation applied, and you will achieve a pass.

You will receive a refund of the assessment fee that is the subject of the successful appeal in accordance with the SQE Terms and Conditions along with a refund of the appeal charge.

No. An appeal does not result in the remarking of your assessments.

As part of the appeals process, a check will be undertaken to ensure your answers have been received and marked.

Both the First Appeal Panel and the Final Appeal Panel can't change your mark or a pass mark.

Kaplan SQE is the provider of the SQE and is not a training provider. A training provider may provide feedback on a mock formative or summative assessment.

Kaplan, as the assessment supplier, cannot provide specific feedback on improving performance, as this could be seen as giving candidates an unfair advantage.

Kaplan does not provide comments about candidate performance. Instead, a clear, consistent and objective summary of marks is provided in the SQE2 results to all candidates to allow them to see clearly which assessment criteria were met, or not met on each SQE2 assessment question.

An upheld First Stage Appeal Panel or Final Appeal Panel will not result in any individualised feedback being provided on your marks.

No, access to assessment scripts is exempt from disclosure in law. The exemption is in the Data Protection Act 2018 Sch 2, para 25(4), as provided for by Article 23 of the UK GDPR. This exemption is applied in order to maintain the security and integrity of the SQE assessments. Further information on this exemption is also set out in the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website.

An upheld First Stage Appeal Panel or Final Appeal Panel will not result in you being provided access to your answers.

You will receive the outcome via email. This will be sent to the email registered on your SQE account.

You will receive the outcome of your appeal within 35 working days of the appeal submission deadline.

Yes, the £350 charge will be refunded within 28 working days if your appeal is upheld.

You have three attempts to pass the SQE in a 6 year period, starting from the date of your first assessment. A discounted attempt means that your attempt for the successful appeal will be reinstated. For instance, if you have sat SQE2 for the second time, you have one attempt left. If you receive a discounted attempt, it will be as if you did not sit the assessment and you will have two attempts left.

Yes, you are encouraged to book as early as possible once the booking window opens to secure your preferred location. However, the appeal panel cannot change a candidate's mark, so if your appeal is unsuccessful, you will still be required to resit if you have failed.

If you have already undertaken three attempts of SQE1 or SQE2 and have been deemed to fail by the Assessment Board, you are not eligible to book another attempt until six years have passed or your appeal is successful and a discounted attempt is provided.

At this time, you cannot engage with the booking system. If your appeal is successful, your record will be amended to discount your last attempt, making you eligible to book a further attempt.