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United Kingdom · Professional exam

The SQE specification: what the assessments cover

Two documents set out what you need to know for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE): the SQE1 Assessment Specification and the SQE2 Assessment Specification, both on the SQE website. They come from the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA’s) competence statement, which describes what a solicitor must be able to do and know. The SQE specification was last updated in September 2026, and the SRA is consulting on a bigger update to take effect in September 2027.

  • 14SQE1 subject and practice areas
  • September 2026Latest specifications published
  • September 2027Planned start of the updated framework
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Updated October 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

What is the SQE specification based on?

The competence statement has three parts: the Statement of Solicitor Competence, a Statement of Legal Knowledge and a Threshold Standard that defines the level expected. The SQE assesses candidates against the Statement of Solicitor Competence, which has four groups:

  • A: Ethics, professionalism and judgment
  • B: Technical legal practice, such as getting the facts, research, advice, drafting, advocacy and negotiation
  • C: Working with other people
  • D: Managing themselves and their own work

Functioning legal knowledge, or FLK, is the core legal knowledge every SQE candidate has to understand and apply. SQE1 tests it directly, and SQE2 draws on it in skills tasks.

SQE1 subjects and modules

The SQE has no modules to pick from: SQE1 is two papers that together cover 14 subject and practice areas, including ethics. The Statement of Solicitor Competence’s own list of the broad legal knowledge a solicitor needs covers:

  • The legal system of England and Wales, constitutional law and EU law, including human rights
  • Contract law and torts
  • Ethics, professional conduct and regulation, including money laundering and solicitors accounts
  • Criminal law and evidence, and criminal litigation
  • Civil litigation
  • Property law
  • Wills and the administration of estates
  • Trusts and equitable wrongs

The SQE1 Assessment Specification decides which subjects go in FLK1 and which in FLK2, and from January 2027 it also groups them by session. Check the version that applies to your sitting on the SQE website.

SQE1: how the papers work →SQE2: skills and practice areas →

How the specifications change each year

Kaplan, the SRA’s assessment provider, reviews the FLK every year to keep it in line with changes in the law and practice, and to clear up points stakeholders raise. The 2025 review was due to finish by the end of April, with changes for assessments taken after September 2025.

The latest versions came out in September 2026 after that year’s review, and they apply to SQE2 from the October 2026 sitting onwards.

What the SRA wants to change for 2027

On 8 October 2026 the SRA opened a consultation on updates to the Statement of Solicitor Competence and the FLK. It runs until 3 December 2026. The SRA plans to publish the new versions in April 2027, with effect from September 2027.

The proposed competence changes cover technology and AI, supervision, health and wellbeing, and professional conduct and ethics. For the FLK, the SRA proposes to add clarity, and to add or remove content.

Sources: SRA and 4 more. Checked October 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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