You can start applying for pupillage vacancies on the Gateway from Monday 5 January 2026. However, you can start preparing your applications from Monday 24 November 2025 when you can search and find adverts. You can also start to prepare your application questions by using our Sample application form.

Find out more about pupillage on our becoming a barrister hub, I am trying to secure a pupillage.

Please see the timetable.

We set the mandatory recruitment timetable every year with approval by the Bar Standards Board.

The timetable is designed to give applicants time to research, prepare and submit their applications. Reasonable adjustments can be made in certain circumstances. 

You can start preparing your applications from now. You can log on to the Gateway to create your account – inputting your academic and work experience history. This information is automatically copied across to all of your applications.

From Monday 24 November you can search and view adverts. If the AETO is accepting applications through the Gateway, you can start to prepare your standard application answers using our Sample application form. You’ll be able to find the additional bespoke questions AETOs ask in their adverts. We suggest you copy and paste these into a document so you can draft the answer ahead of the application window opening.

For those AETOs not using the Gateway to manage their recruitment process they will provide instructions on how to apply in their adverts.

You can tailor all sections of your application except your academic and work experience history, which automatically copies across to all your applications.

To those AETOs that manage their recruitment process through the Gateway, you can submit up to 20 applications. There is no limit to the number of applications to AETOs who ask you to apply outside of the Gateway.

You can identify which AETO is managing their recruitment through the Gateway in two ways:

• In the ‘How to Apply’ section of their adverts it will say: ‘Aspiring barristers are invited to apply to chambers between [date and date] using the Pupillage Gateway application system.’ .
• During the application window, an ‘Apply for this Pupillage’ button will  appear to the right-hand side of their adverts

No, the Pupillage Gateway is free to use

You can login to your account and view the status of your applications made through the Gateway at any time.

We operate as a licensed sponsor on behalf of UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and are able to provide Skilled Worker visas for funded pupil barristers and tenants working in chambers in England and Wales.

Please note that not all AETOs offer pupillages to overseas students. We suggest you find out from the AETO before applying.

Transferring solicitors can search for vacancies and make applications using the Pupillage Gateway. It should be noted that Authorised Education and Training Organisations are no longer automatically exempt from the requirement to advertise and to fund pupillage where the prospective pupil has been awarded a waiver from the Vocational Component, so whilst relevant candidates can also approach Authorised Education and Training Organisations directly, if they are subsequently offered a pupillage, the Authorised Education and Training Organisations must apply to the Bar Standards Board for a funding and advertising waiver.

Contextual recruitment tools look at the context in which students receive their grades. This helps recruiters spot candidates they might otherwise miss. It can highlight people from disadvantaged backgrounds who outperformed their peers and have the qualities to do well at the Bar. 

During the Pupillage Gateway application process, you will be given the opportunity to complete a contextual recruitment questionnaire. This form is optional and asks you questions within three categories:

• Educational background – eg the school you attended
• Personal background – eg if you have care experience, caring responsibilities or have sought asylum
• Socio-economic background – eg if you qualified for free school meals, your parent or carer’s occupation, if you are the first generation to attend university, and if you had to work to support your studies

The response to these questions will be sent directly to our partner, Rare, who process the data and attach ‘flags’ for each of the categories to your application. Recruiters will get to see if you have an ‘education’, ‘personal’ or ‘socio-economic’ category flag. There may be further developments to the portal which allows recruiters to see the detail in which this ‘flag’ was allocated. For example, if you received a socio-economic flag as you are the first generation to attend university.  

If you do not receive any ‘flags’, this does not put your application at a disadvantage. If your application meets all the criteria required by the AETO, you will still be included on their shortlist. 

Contextual data is optional for recruiters to use during the pupillage application process. Some may refer to it during initial shortlisting, some may look at it at interview stage, whereas some may look at it at offer stage. 

Read more about contextual recruitment

To register for an account, please go to the user login page and follow these steps:

1. Select ‘Register now’ underneath the ‘Login’ heading.
2. Fill in your first name, last name, email address, and set a secure and memorable password for your account.
3. Confirm that you have read and agree to both the privacy policy and terms and conditions.
4. Click ‘I agree. Create my account’.

Check your email account for the welcome email. You will now be able to log in using your email address and password.

If you haven’t received a welcome email check your junk inbox and if you can’t find it then contact our Services team at [email protected].

The first time you use the Pupillage Gateway, you will need to register for a new account. This applied to applicants who used the previous version of the Pupillage Gateway to make applications between March 2014 and September 2022. In subsequent years you will be able to use the same account to apply for vacancies. 

The information on your profile, relating to your academic and work experience history, and referees, will be stored on the system whilst your account remains active. It is advisable to update this before the submissions window opens, so the most up-to-date information is migrated across to any new applications that you make.

You can set a new password by using the ‘forgot password?’ function on the user login page.

You can use the ‘search for pupillages’ function to search for adverts in your preferred practice area.

AETOs can use tags such as ‘crime’, ‘property’, ‘commercial’, ‘family’ etc. in their adverts to indicate which areas of practice their members specialise in.

A ‘saved search’ allows you to save your preferred criteria for a vacancy, so you don’t have to complete the ‘search pupillage vacancies’ every time you log in. You’ll also receive email alerts when new vacancies matching your saved searches criteria are advertised on the Pupillage Gateway.

To create a saved search log in to your Pupillage Gateway account:

• Click on ‘search pupillage vacancies’ from the ‘pupillage vacancies’ dropdown menu.
• Enter your criteria in the ‘search pupillage vacancies’ form on the left-hand side and select ‘search’.
• At the top of your ‘search pupillage vacancies’ results page, select the ‘get alerts on this search’ button and ‘save search as’ a title of your choice, before selecting the plus symbol.

You can access and delete your ‘saved searches’ by clicking on the relevant option from the ‘pupillage vacancies’ dropdown menu.

Your ‘personal information’, ‘employment and work experience history’, and ‘education history’ will automatically copy across to the applications that you are in the process of making or have already submitted. You are unable to tailor this to different applications..

Once you have started an application, your answers to the remaining fields contained within the form (not including those mentioned above) will automatically populate in the next application that you start. You can make edits to these. Please note you should only have one application open at a time and remember to save and close it before opening a new application.

Check that you have completed all mandatory fields (marked with a red asterisk or as a ‘required question’). If you have not done so when selecting the ‘next’ button, the page will highlight the incomplete and mandatory fields with the words ‘This field is required’. You won’t be able to move on until these fields are populated.

You can continue an application by accessing your account and clicking on the ‘continue application’ button to the right-hand of the vacancy name.

• By email: You will receive an automated email from the Pupillage Gateway once you have successfully applied. Copies of these emails are in the ‘emails sent to you’ section of the platform, which can be found at the bottom of your dashboard.
• Application status: Look at the status of your application on the right-hand side of the advert under ‘my pupillage applications’ section of your dashboard. If you have not received an email to confirm your application from the Pupillage Gateway:

Check that you have select the ‘submit’ button at the bottom of the summary page that appears at the end of the application process.

No, in line with our sustainability values, we aim to reduce printing. There is no option to print your application from the Gateway.

How to view submitted applications

• Log in to your account and click ‘view my pupillage applications’ from the ‘pupillage vacancies’ dropdown menu

Click the ‘view application’ button to the right-hand of the vacancy name.

How to create a PDF of your application to share (by email or otherwise)

• Select ‘view application’
• Scroll to the bottom of the page
• Click the download icon

If you are in the application window (see timetable), you can edit the information relating to your academic and work experience history through your profile on the Gateway.

Please note: any edits will update across in all your applications, whether outstanding or submitted. You will not be able to edit any other information or withdraw an application to make a replacement one once you have submitted it.

How to withdraw an application

• Go to the User Login page account
• Click on ‘view my pupillage applications’ from the ‘pupillage vacancies’ dropdown menu
• A list of the AETOs that you have applied to and/or are in the process of applying to will appear
• Click the ‘view application’ button to the right-hand of the vacancy name, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click ‘withdraw application’
• Confirm you would like to withdraw your application.

Please note: once you have withdrawn an application, you will not be able to make a new application to the same AETO using the same account. In exceptional circumstances, we can delete your application on your behalf, which will enable you to replace it with a new one.

If you would like help deleting an application, contact our Services team at [email protected].

AETOs can contact you in several ways, including:

• Through the Pupillage Gateway
• Through their own business email accounts
• Using any of the email addresses that you have associated with your application

Please check the spam and junk folders of the email address used to set up your profile on the Pupillage Gateway (username email). Should this email address be invalid the email will go to the alternative email address you provided. All communications that AETOs send to you through the Pupillage Gateway can be found in the ‘Emails Sent to You’ section of the platform, at the bottom of your ‘Dashboard’.

If you find an important message in your spam or junk folder(s) or in the ‘emails sent to you’ section of the platform, don’t forget to approve/whitelist the sender’s email address so that next time they contact you, their message goes straight to your inbox.

Use our step-by-step instructions in the applicant user guide, designed to help users navigate the Pupillage Gateway system.

If you can’t resolve the issues, please email our Services team. Please include screenshots of the specific section that is causing you difficulties and any relevant error message(s), alongside a text version of the wording that you are attempting to input into your application.

The more information that you give to our team, the quicker they will be able to help.

We will only extend the timetable for submissions if more than 1% of all candidates experience the same or similar unavoidable technical difficulties in submitting one or more applications, during the final 48 hours of the submissions window.

In these circumstances, the deadline will automatically be extended by up to 72 hours, and our Director of Services will make the final decision regarding how long the deadline will be extended for.

Being able to meet deadlines and good organisation are essential skills for an aspiring barrister. All applicants using the site are expected to plan their time to ensure that their applications are submitted before the advertised deadline.

However, we recognise that there may sometimes be extenuating circumstances that are outside an applicant’s control, and which may result in them being unable to submit their application. Where you have experienced an unavoidable technical failure, you may obtain an Microsoft Word version of your application form, which can be completed and sent out to the AETO .

• To ensure fairness, this exception will only be applied if all these criteria apply: The applicant has started an application on the Pupillage Gateway
• The applicant has been affected by unavoidable technical failures that are unique to them
• There is clear evidence that those technical failures are specifically caused by the Pupillage Gateway platform
• The applicant has sought failed technical assistance from [email protected] within the final 48 hours of the submissions window
• The applicant bring these facts to the attention of our Services team within 24 hours of the submissions window closing

You may request:

•  We retrieve and send you the following to complete:
  • A copy of your unsubmitted application from the Gateway
  • An Microsoft Word version of the standardised application form
  • The authorised education and training organisation questionnaire
  • The equality and diversity monitoring form
• We send the completed above documents to the relevant AETO(s) on your behalf.  If you submit your completed application to us within 48 hours of receipt of the documents

Applicants should note:

• The AETO makes the final decision to accept your application. We will not be able to influence their decision-making
• This process cannot be used by applicants to start new applications following the closure of the submissions window. You must have started completing the standardised application form for the vacancy
• If you have experienced your own technical issues eg if you’re laptop battery has run out, or you lost internet connection, this doesn’t meet the criteria for extenuating circumstances
• Failed technical assistance includes incidences where an applicant has requested support, but has not been able to implement the suggested solutions in time to submit their application
• We are only able to consider requests that specifically relate to the Pupillage Gateway platform
• If you’re seeking a reasonable adjustment to your AETO assessment process eg an interview, or communication method, please contact the AETO directly

We’re committed to making reasonable adjustments to reduce substantial disadvantage for disabled people seeking a career at the Bar.

If you would like to request  a reasonable adjustment for use of the Pupillage Gateway please contact [email protected]. Applicants are responsible for ensuring  requests are made in reasonable  time for them to be considered and implemented.

Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis by our Services team. Where it is needed, we may seek advice from our Equality, Diversity, and Social Mobility committee.

During the operation of the mandatory recruitment timetable, we will aim to:

• Acknowledge requests for reasonable adjustments within two working days
• Provide a full response within five working days

Our response will set out our decision, if we are not able to make a requested reasonable adjustment, we will explain why. We will never pass on the cost of making a reasonable adjustment to the individual who requests it.

We are only able to consider requests that specifically relate to the Pupillage Gateway platform.

If you’re seeking a reasonable adjustment  to your AETO assessment process eg an interview, or communication method, please contact the AETO directly.

When handling requests for reasonable adjustments, we refer to the definition of disability provided by the Equality Act 2010. Under the Act, a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial (more than minor or trivial) and long-term (12 months or longer) adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

To make a complaint please email  our Services team, by emailing them at [email protected].

To find out more about to make a complaint, please see our complaints policy.