Flexible traineeships

• The costs of taking a trainee are shared with another employer.
• Employers and trainees can benefit from the traineeship, even where one employer might not have sufficient volumes of work to have a trainee 5 days a week.
• A trainee can help support 'pinch points' in your business, when you anticipate there would be more work.
• A shared traineeship in a similar geographical location, may support the growth of young solicitors in that area, which could be beneficial to succession.
• It may be a way for in-house teams to create a traineeship with a private practice firm which neither individual organisation would be able to commit to offer on their own.
• Part-time traineeships - This could be a good opportunity for succession planning, if you can't take a trainee on full-time but want to train them in your business exclusively.
• Secondments - These can help firms support clients, or other businesses they work closely with, which can be beneficial to client relationships, but can also bring enhanced expertise and knowledge into the firm.

One of the major benefits of all flexible traineeships is that a job opportunity has been created in a location, area of practice or with an employer(s) that it might not have been otherwise. This creates the opportunity for someone to qualify as a solicitor.

Dependent on the type of flexible traineeship undertaken, additional potential benefits include:

• If a trainee has a shared traineeship or goes on secondment, they get access to wider networks, a broader range of clients, experience of different workplaces and potentially practical training in a broader range of practice areas than they might have if they were working with one employer.
• If a flexible traineeship is created in a new location where opportunities are scarce, it could allow a trainee to live in an area where they wouldn't have been able to qualify otherwise.
• If a trainee is undertaking a part-time traineeship, they can fit this around their lives and other responsibilities.  For example those with caring responsibilities or health issues may struggle to undertake a traineeship full-time.

It could either be an employer or a group of employers who offer a flexible traineeship, or a prospective trainee could approach an employer and pitch the idea.  In practice, it will often be easier for employers to make a plan and an application for a flexible traineeship in advance, then promote this to prospective trainees.

In terms of areas of work, there are no restrictions other than all work needs to allow the trainee to work towards the PEAT2 outcomes.  It means that trainees don’t have to work in specific areas of law during a traineeship – theoretically they could work in one niche area the whole time or could work in several unrelated areas. Employers who might collaborate to offer a traineeship don’t have to have a crossover in their areas of work or be linked in any way.

The general rules for appointing a Training Manager and having appropriate supervising solicitors overseeing a trainee’s day-today work is the same for a shared traineeship as it is for any other traineeship.

How supervision works in practice will depend on how the shared traineeship is structured. However, there will need to be a supervisor at each place of work.

For example, if the trainee spends one year with one employer and the next with a different employer, then the supervisors would need to have a clear handover and comprehensive notes about trainee progress as they move from one employer to another. Alternatively, when a trainee's weekly hours are split between employers throughout the traineeship, it might be appropriate to have more regular meetings and. In this instance PQPRs could be completed with one solicitor only, with any other supervisor(s) feeding in, or jointly.

Communication and collaboration between supervisors is essential, so that there is agreement about the trainee's progress throughout.

Some elements of the training plan may need closer consideration than others, but with a collaborative approach, there is no reason the requirements can't be met.

PEAT Quarterly Performance Reviews (PQPRs) - It might be appropriate to do all PQPRs with one supervising solicitor, with any other supervisor(s) feeding in. Or you might have them with different supervisors at different points in the traineeship dependent on structure. Regardless, communication between supervisors and the trainee is key.  Completing the PEAT2 Record fully and regularly may help with record-keeping and communication.

Required CPD for trainees - Where multiple employers are involved, they should consider agreeing schedule to allow the trainee to undertake a minimum of 60 hours' required CPD for trainees.

Being signed off as a fit and proper person - For a shared traineeship, this will have to be agreed between all supervisors involved. However, only one solicitor need sign the final paperwork.  Due to the regular PQPR structure, progress should have been communicated clearly throughout anyway.

This would be a matter for agreement between the parties involved. Any financial agreement between organisations should not impact a trainee’s regular salary. Organisations are also asked to bear in mind what would be preferable for the trainee, e.g. if one monthly lump sum from one employer would be better, with the other employer reimbursing the salary to the paying employer.

Please note all trainees must be paid, as a minimum, the living wage and that the Law Society also sets a recommended salary for trainees each year.

A shared traineeship application will need to be approved by our Admissions Sub-Committee. This would be made by the employer(s), rather than the prospective trainee.

There is no formal template required for the Admissions Sub-committee to consider a shared traineeship. However, we would recommend an application includes as much practical information as possible about how the traineeship supervision will be managed, and how the firms/organisations will ensure that the PEAT 2 Outcomes are met by the trainee. Some suggested headings to structure an application around are:

1. Background - Details of the trainee and employers involved in the proposal, including who will act as Training Manager and who will supervise the trainee, as well as a summary statement of how the shared traineeship will work.
2. Structure of traineeship - How the trainee’s time will be split between participating employers (e.g. the days of the week or different stages of the traineeship that will be spent with each employer).
3. Areas of work - What areas of work the trainee will be working in during each part of the traineeship, including the sort of tasks and projects they will undertake.
4. Fulfilment of PEAT2 Outcomes - Will there be an opportunity to develop each of the PEAT2 outcomes throughout all parts of the traineeship, or might some be developed exclusively in parts of the traineeship?
5. Supervision - Who will be acting as the primary supervisor, or will this role be split between different parties at different employers? Who will conduct regular Quarterly Performance Reviews and, if needed, how will the supervisors communicate in advance of these?
6. Salary - Who will be paying the salary and what will the trainee be paid?