How is the PGDL/SQE grant treated re. tax? & Financing London living during PGDL & SQE

[prospectiveswitcher]

Hi all,
Apologies if this out of scope for the forum. I have three questions:

1/ I was wondering does anyone know how the PGDL/SQE grants are treated for tax purposes - are they considered regular income? I know the barristers chambers have some tax-efficient way of allocating pupillage 'awards' and was wondering if this is similar.

2/ In a similar vein, how do people typically fund living costs during the PGDL/SQE? I am not in a position where I will get any sizeable family support and I have some modest savings (although certainly not enough to live in London for 2 years). Are there any specialist finance options that allow you to only make repayments upon beginning work?

3/ Also, related to above, if I have never completed third level education in the UK, I believe the only way my law education can qualify for Student Finance is if I do an LLM - some providers like BPP offer an SQE1/2 LLM course to facilitate this. If this is not standard for law firms, can I persuade them to offer me this for financing reasons?

Thanks!

 

[AlexJ]

Hi all,
Apologies if this out of scope for the forum. I have three questions:

1/ I was wondering does anyone know how the PGDL/SQE grants are treated for tax purposes - are they considered regular income? I know the barristers chambers have some tax-efficient way of allocating pupillage 'awards' and was wondering if this is similar.

2/ In a similar vein, how do people typically fund living costs during the PGDL/SQE? I am not in a position where I will get any sizeable family support and I have some modest savings (although certainly not enough to live in London for 2 years). Are there any specialist finance options that allow you to only make repayments upon beginning work?

3/ Also, related to above, if I have never completed third level education in the UK, I believe the only way my law education can qualify for Student Finance is if I do an LLM - some providers like BPP offer an SQE1/2 LLM course to facilitate this. If this is not standard for law firms, can I persuade them to offer me this for financing reasons?

Thanks!

1) it’s not income but a grant so it’s tax free.

2) Grant plus masters loan (if required)

3) most firms have future trainees take LLM versions of the course. (Not sure how this works with the CCP tho).

 

[prospectiveswitcher]

1) it’s not income but a grant so it’s tax free.

2) Grant plus masters loan (if required)

3) most firms have future trainees take LLM versions of the course. (Not sure how this works with the CCP tho).

Great news - thank you!