The Bar Standards Board (BSB), is today publishing a review of the admissions arrangements of vocational Bar course training providers and how they support student progression.

The BSB supervision team conducts thematic reviews to examine, in depth, a specific topic or theme relating to an area of our regulatory functions. This review spanned the years 2020-2023, and involved a combination of desk-based research and fieldwork. The participants were drawn from nine providers of vocational Bar training and combined the use of quantitative and qualitative data. The team examined the application of providers’ policies and processes, which are the mechanisms for providers to meet the requirements of the Authorisation Framework.

Overall, the review confirms that providers are largely meeting the standards in the Authorisation Framework in relation to their admissions policies and processes, how they enable standards to be maintained once a student is admitted and that systems are in place to ensure that each student develops to their full potential, whatever their starting point. There were also many examples of good practice across the topic areas. The BSB will promote and develop these with the providers in order to continue to raise standards.

The findings of this review will assist the BSB in its overall strategy of being a proactive, consumer-focused regulator, anchored in an intelligence-based understanding of the market we regulate. It will also assist the BSB in continuing to improve our public protection responsibilities and deliver our gatekeeping and supervision functions efficiently and effectively.