Two Numbers That Are Often Confused
There are two different counts of solicitors in England and Wales, and they are frequently conflated. One is the number of solicitors on the roll. The other is the number of solicitors holding a current practising certificate. They measure different things, and the gap between them is large.
According to the latest aggregate statistics, there are 218,036 solicitors on the roll and 177,841 holding a current practising certificate.[1] That leaves approximately 40,195 admitted solicitors, around 18.4% of the roll, who are not currently exercising a practising certificate.
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| Measure | Count | Share of the roll |
|---|---|---|
| Solicitors on the roll | 218,036 | 100% |
| Holding a practising certificate | 177,841 | 81.6% |
| Admitted but not currently practising | 40,195 | 18.4% |
Source: aggregate figures from SRA Regulated Community Statistics and The Law Society Annual Statistics. Used with attribution; no named-firm data.[1][2]
The Roll: Permanent Admission
The roll is the permanent register of everyone who has been admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales. Once you are admitted and your name is entered on the roll, you are a solicitor. Admission does not expire. You remain on the roll unless you apply to be removed voluntarily, or you are struck off following disciplinary proceedings.
Because admission is permanent, the roll accumulates over decades. Every newly qualified solicitor is added; very few names ever leave. This is why the roll is so much larger than the practising population and why it keeps growing year on year. The roll answers the question, how many people have ever qualified as a solicitor and not left the register.
The Practising Certificate: Annual Authorisation
A practising certificate is a different thing entirely. It is the annual authorisation, issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, that a solicitor must hold to practise as a solicitor and to carry out reserved legal activities. It carries an annual fee, requires the holder to meet continuing competence obligations, and lapses if it is not renewed.
The practising-certificate count answers a narrower question, how many solicitors are currently authorised to practise. When a solicitor stops practising, whether to move in-house, retire, take a break, or change career, they typically let the practising certificate lapse while remaining on the roll. That is the mechanism that produces the gap.
Why the Gap Exists
The roughly 40,000-solicitor gap between the roll and the practising population is not an anomaly. It reflects the breadth of what a legal qualification allows. Admitted solicitors who are not currently practising include:
- In-house and business roles. Solicitors working for commercial employers, some of whom hold a practising certificate and some of whom do not, depending on whether they are carrying out reserved activities and how their role is structured.
- Academia, policy, and regulation. Qualified solicitors teaching, researching, or working in regulatory and policy bodies who no longer practise.
- Career and parental breaks. Solicitors who have stepped away temporarily and expect to return, who let the certificate lapse in the interim.
- Overseas. Solicitors working abroad who retain their place on the roll.
- Retirement. Retired solicitors who keep their name on the roll for professional identity.
The permanence of admission, combined with the annual, lapsing nature of the practising certificate, means the two counts will always diverge. As more solicitors qualify each year and the profession ages, the gap tends to widen rather than close.
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Why This Distinction Has a Tax Dimension
The roll-versus-practising distinction is not just a regulatory point. It maps onto real transitions in a solicitor's career, and each transition changes how income is taxed and what can be deducted. Your tax position follows your employment status and income type, not your place on the roll.
Employed and In-House Solicitors
An employed solicitor, whether in a firm or in-house, is taxed through PAYE on their salary. Where a practising certificate is required for the role, the fee and professional indemnity arrangements may be met by the employer or, where the conditions are met, deductible against employment income. In-house solicitors who let the certificate lapse are still solicitors on the roll, but they are taxed simply as employees with no practice-specific deductions.
Locum Solicitors
A solicitor who leaves permanent practice to work as a locum often operates through a personal service company or as a sole trader. This changes the tax picture substantially. Locums must consider the off-payroll working rules and IR35, the deductibility of the practising certificate fee and PII as business expenses, and the interaction with VAT. We cover this in detail in our guides to locum solicitor tax and the locum solicitor IR35 rules.
Partners and Members
A solicitor who becomes an equity partner or LLP member is taxed on their profit share as trading income, plus Class 4 NICs, rather than through PAYE. If they are an LLP fixed-share member, the salaried member rules under FA 2014 may reclassify them as an employee for NIC purposes. The practising certificate fee is generally an allowable expense of the profession in this case. See our law firm partnership tax guide and our explainer on the salaried member rules for UK LLPs.
Returning to Practice
A solicitor returning to practice after a break applies for a new practising certificate, subject to the SRA's requirements at the time. The tax consequences depend on the structure they return into: employee, locum, partner, or director-shareholder of an incorporated firm. Each route has a different treatment of income and expenses, which is why the return decision is worth planning alongside the regulatory steps.
Stock, Not Flow: A Note on What These Figures Mean
The roll and practising-certificate counts are stock figures. They describe the profession as it exists at a point in time. They are not a flow measure of how many people qualify or requalify each year, and they say nothing about how law firms are structured or incorporated.
This matters because the profession's structure is sometimes described using very different numbers drawn from Companies House, such as the share of new legal-sector companies that register as limited companies. Those are new-incorporation flow figures about firms, not counts of individual solicitors, and they should not be mixed with the roll and practising-certificate figures discussed here. For the firm-structure picture, and the important distinction between the stock of regulated firms and the flow of new incorporations, see our UK Solicitor Profession Structure research and our UK Legal Incorporation Index.
What This Means for You
If you are a solicitor thinking about a change, whether moving in-house, going locum, taking a break, or returning to practice, the practical questions are the same ones the roll-versus-practising gap illustrates:
- Do you need a practising certificate for the role you are moving into? This determines your ongoing SRA obligations and fees.
- What is your employment status? Employee, self-employed locum, partner, or director-shareholder, each with a different tax treatment.
- Which professional costs can you deduct? The practising certificate fee, PII, and continuing competence costs are treated differently depending on your status.
- How is your income taxed? PAYE, self-assessment on trading income, or a mix of salary and dividends.
The roll tells you that you are a solicitor. Your tax position is decided by what you do with that qualification and how you are engaged to do it. For newly qualified solicitors weighing their first move, see our note on newly qualified solicitor salary and tax. To model any of these transitions for your situation, our team works exclusively with solicitors and law firms.
Sources
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, Regulated Community Statistics (solicitors on the roll and holding practising certificates). Aggregate data, used with attribution under the SRA custom licence; no named-firm data cited. Available at: sra.org.uk. Accessed July 2026.
- The Law Society of England and Wales, Annual Statistics Report (roll and practising-certificate figures). Aggregate statistics used with attribution. Available at: lawsociety.org.uk. Accessed July 2026.
- Accounts for Lawyers Editorial Team, UK Solicitor Profession Structure. Available at: /research/uk-solicitor-profession-structure. Data through June 2026.