BSB offers first conditional authorisation to a vocational training provider

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has announced that it intends to authorise the Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA) as an Authorised Education and Training Organisation (AETO) for the provision of vocational training for the Bar, subject to certain conditions.  A number of other potential training providers are also in the process of seeking authorisation so the BSB hopes that there will be lots of choice available when new courses begin in 2020.

The process of authorisation for any potential AETO involves consideration by a BSB panel of detailed information provided by the AETO against the requirements of the Authorisation Framework.  Details of all those who are currently in the process of seeking authorisation to provide vocational training are also today published on our website.

The ICCA’s authorisation is conditional upon their application for registration with the Office for Students (OfS) being approved and details of that authorisation and of the Quality and Standards Review provided to the OfS by the Quality Assurance Agency being supplied to us; their remaining registered with the OfS; and their entering into a contract with the BSB, as all AETOs must do, in relation to the provision of the authorised courses.  Authorisation will then be for a period of five years from the date that that contract is signed.

Director General of the Bar Standards Board, Dr Vanessa Davies, said “For the last few years we have been reviewing the way in which students train for the Bar in the hope of making that training more accessible, more affordable and more flexible while sustaining high standards.  We are delighted that so many providers are now seeking authorisation to offer the vocational component of training for the Bar and that the ICCA’s new two part course will add to the choice that students will have.”