If you need an independent solicitor to confirm your Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) for the SQE, one of the first things you will want to know is what it costs. The honest answer is that it depends less on your experience and more on how a particular service chooses to charge. Two candidates with almost identical work histories can pay very different amounts depending on the pricing model in front of them.
This guide explains the three ways QWE confirmation services typically charge, what you are actually paying for, and the questions worth asking before you hand over any money.
Watch: how QWE confirmation is priced, and when you pay
The three ways QWE confirmation is priced
There is no fixed market rate for confirming QWE. Each service sets its own approach, and they generally fall into one of three models.
1. By the hour
Some confirming solicitors charge an hourly rate for the time they spend reviewing your experience and evidence. The difficulty is that you rarely know in advance how many hours that will be. If your evidence needs a second look, or there is back-and-forth over what qualifies, the bill grows. Hourly pricing makes the final cost hard to predict, which is the opposite of what most candidates want when they are already managing exam fees and study costs.
2. Per placement
Others charge per placement, meaning per organisation where you gained your experience. Because QWE can be drawn from up to four different employers, a candidate whose two years span several roles can end up paying two, three, or four times over for what is essentially one confirmation exercise. This penalises exactly the candidates the SQE route was designed to help: paralegals, in-house staff, and people whose experience is spread across more than one job.
3. A fixed fee per competency
The third model is a flat fee based on the number of competences being confirmed, regardless of how many hours the review takes or how many placements your experience came from. The advantage is certainty. You know the figure upfront, and it does not change because your career happened to take a winding path.
What are you actually paying for?
Whichever model a service uses, a proper QWE confirmation involves real work on the solicitor's part. When you pay, you are paying for some or all of the following:
- Reviewing your experience against the SRA's Statement of Solicitor Competence to identify which competences your work demonstrates.
- Guiding your evidence so that what you submit actually meets the SRA's requirements.
- Contacting your supervisor to obtain the feedback the SRA requires as part of confirmation.
- Providing the formal confirmation itself, and coordinating the mySRA step where the SRA asks the solicitor to confirm your QWE.
A genuinely low price is worth a second look if it means corners are cut on the review, because the confirmation is only as good as the solicitor standing behind it.
Free stages versus paid stages
Not everything in the process needs to cost money. Many candidates are surprised to learn that the early, advisory stages can be free. At QWE Confirmed, the initial assessment, the help mapping your competences, and the written guidance on preparing your evidence are all provided free of charge. There are no consultation fees, and no payment is taken until your evidence has been reviewed and confirmed as meeting the SRA's requirements. In other words, you only pay once you know the confirmation is going ahead, not before.
This matters because the thing candidates most fear is paying first and finding out later that their evidence falls short. A pay-on-approval model removes that risk.
What QWE Confirmed charges
For transparency, here is our own pricing. We use a single fixed fee based on the number of competences confirmed. The fee is the same whether your experience came from one placement or four, and there is no charge for the assessment, guidance, or competency mapping along the way.
| Tier | Competences confirmed | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | 2 to 3 | £250 |
| Standard | 4 to 6 | £400 |
| Comprehensive | 7 or more | £500 |
There is no upfront payment and no obligation. After reviewing your experience we will tell you which tier applies, so you are never trying to work the price out for yourself.
Questions to ask before you pay any provider
Whoever you use, a few simple questions will tell you what you are getting into:
- Is the fee fixed, or could it change? A clear, fixed figure is far easier to plan around than an hourly estimate.
- How is it calculated - by the hour, per placement, or per competency? This is where the biggest differences in total cost arise.
- Is there an upfront payment, and is it refundable if your evidence turns out not to qualify?
- When exactly do I pay - before the review, or only once my evidence is confirmed as acceptable?
- Is the confirming solicitor SRA-regulated, and can I verify them on the SRA register?
Frequently asked questions about cost
Is there any cost to get started?
No. The initial assessment, competency mapping, and written guidance on preparing your evidence are all free. You only pay once we have reviewed your evidence and confirmed it meets the SRA's requirements. There is no upfront payment and no obligation.
Do you charge more if my experience is across several placements?
No. The fee is determined solely by the number of competences confirmed, not by the number of placements. Whether your two years came from one employer or four, the price is the same. This is a key difference from services that charge per placement.
What if my evidence is not accepted first time?
You do not pay until your evidence has been confirmed as meeting the SRA's requirements. If something further is needed, the solicitor provides written guidance first, before any payment is taken.
Why charge per competency rather than by the hour?
Because it gives you certainty. An hourly rate means the final cost depends on how long the review happens to take, which is impossible to know in advance. A fixed fee per competency tells you the figure upfront, so there are no surprises.
Are there any hidden fees?
No. The tier fee covers the full process: assessment, competency mapping, evidence guidance, the review, supervisor contact, and coordinating the SRA confirmation. There are no consultation charges and nothing to pay until your evidence is approved.
Getting started
The simplest way to find out what your confirmation would cost is to get a personalised assessment first, at no charge. Fill in our short form with your background and a description of your work experience, and we will respond within 24 hours with which competences are likely to apply and which tier that puts you in - with no obligation and no payment.