Short answer: The SRA published the July 2026 SQE1 figures on 29 September 2026. 42% of candidates passed overall and 47% of first-time sitters passed, from 6,260 candidates graded on both papers. That is up slightly on July 2025 (41% and 46%) and well below January 2026 (53% and 58%). FLK1 and FLK2 both came in at 50%, the first sitting in which FLK2's pass rate was not the lower of the two.
If you sat in July, you have known your own result since 8 September. What you did not have until today is the number that puts it in context. Here is what the SRA has published, what its full report adds, and what it should change about a January 2027 resit plan.
The Headline Numbers in Context
| Metric | July 2025 | January 2026 | July 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall pass rate | 41% | 53% | 42% |
| First-attempt pass rate | 46% | 58% | 47% |
| Candidates graded on both papers | 5,851 | 7,863 | 6,260 |
| First-time sitters | 4,736 | 6,760 | 5,012 |
| Resitters | 1,115 | 1,103 | 1,248 |
| FLK1 pass rate | 51% | 62% | 50% |
| FLK2 pass rate | 48% | 57% | 50% |
| Mean scaled score, FLK1 / FLK2 | 291.3 / 287.3 | 311.2 / 304.3 | 291.0 / 289.2 |
All figures from the SRA's statistical report for each sitting; the July 2026 report and news item were published on 29 September 2026. Resitters are graded candidates minus first-time sitters. The news item's count of 6,315 includes 55 candidates who used an attempt but did not sit one of the papers, whom the report leaves out of the pass rates.
Three things the headline does not say on its own.
42% is a floor holding, not a recovery. July 2025 produced a 41% overall pass rate, the lowest the assessment has recorded. July 2026 came in at 42%. The first-attempt rate moved the same single point, from 46% to 47%. On the SRA's own framing these are increases, and they are real, but a one-point move across two sittings a year apart is stability rather than a rebound. The recovery story belongs to January 2026, and July has not repeated it.
The cohort shrank against January and grew against last July. 6,260 candidates were graded on both papers, against 7,863 in January 2026 and 5,851 in July 2025. About one in five of them were resitters (1,248), against one in seven in January 2026, which matters because cohort composition, not question difficulty, is where the SRA locates most of the July to January gap.
The standard did not move, because it never does. The SRA repeats the point in the news item: there is no pre-determined pass mark, the standard a candidate has to meet is the same at every sitting, and the mark on each paper is set independently to allow for differences in difficulty. On the scaled score that standard is always 300, and it was 300 on both papers again. If you are new to what that means for your own score report, scaled scores and quintiles explained covers the mechanics.
What the July Versus January Pattern Shows
This is now the clearest finding in the data, and the SRA states it directly: pass rates for the SQE have been noticeably higher for January sittings than for July sittings, by 10 to 15 percentage points in each of the last three years. January 2026 against July 2026 is an 11-point gap; the same comparison was 15 points in 2025 (56% and 41%) and 12 points in 2024 (56% and 44%).
The SRA's explanation is about who sits when, not about the papers. Candidates following different training and educational routes typically take the assessment in different sittings, and July sittings carry a higher proportion of people resitting after at least one previous failure. Resitters pass at lower rates than first-time sitters, so a July cohort with more of them produces a lower headline number even if every individual candidate performs exactly as a January candidate would.
The practical reading of that is uncomfortable but useful. The sitting you choose does not change your own odds much. The cohort you are counted in changes the headline. A first-time candidate in July 2026 faced a 47% rate, eleven points below January's 58%, so the route mix the SRA describes reaches first-time sitters too, not only resitters. If you want the honest version of what the national numbers do and do not predict for one person, how hard SQE1 really is works through it.
Resitters: Roughly One in Five Passed
The SRA does not publish a headline resit pass rate, but this time it publishes enough to derive one.
Of the 6,260 candidates graded on both papers, 5,012 were first-time sitters, which leaves 1,248 resitters. (The news item says 1,303 because it counts from all 6,315, including the 55 who did not sit a paper.) Work the arithmetic through:
- Total passes: 42% of 6,260 is about 2,629 candidates.
- First-time passes: 47% of 5,012 is about 2,356 candidates.
- Resit passes: 2,629 minus 2,356 is about 273 candidates.
- Resit pass rate: 273 out of 1,248 is about 22%.
That figure is derived from the SRA's rounded figures, so treat it as a band rather than a point: allowing for the rounding, it could be anywhere from about 17% to 26%. It sits in the same range as January 2026, where the same calculation gives roughly one in five, and it is the number that should govern how a resit is planned.
22% is not a statement about ability. It is a statement about method. Candidates who resit without changing how they prepare tend to repeat the result, which is the central finding of the January 2026 results analysis and the reason the resit guide starts with a diagnostic rather than a syllabus. A common failure mode is reading the same notes more slowly. The fix is question volume with every wrong answer traced back to the rule, which is what MCQ technique and exam strategy drills.
What It Means If You Are Sitting in January 2027
January 2027 changes in two ways. The first is the format. The minor changes the SRA mentions in the news item are the ones it announced on 10 September 2026: each paper drops from 180 to 170 questions, set in two sessions of 85 with fixed subject groups, and the time allowed stays the same. The 170-question format explained shows which subjects sit in which session. The second is the syllabus. January 2027 is the first sitting on the SRA's updated specification, which took effect on 1 September 2026 with an examinable law cut-off of 11 September 2026: tax figures are now provided in questions, trust cases are newly named, and wills and criminal topics are expanded. Every specification change explained has the full list and a currency check to run against whatever you are revising from.
Four things follow from today's figures.
One: do not read 42% as your own probability. You are a first-time or a resit candidate, on a particular runway, with a particular degree background. The relevant numbers for you are 47% and 22%, and both move with preparation.
Two: the January cohort effect cuts your way, and it is not a cushion. January sittings have run 10 to 15 points higher for three years. That is composition, not generosity. Plan as though you were sitting in July.
Three: your dates are already fixed. FLK1 runs 11 to 15 January 2027 and FLK2 runs 18 to 22 January 2027. The seat reservation form closed on 24 September 2026. If you did not return one, a limited number of seats can be booked directly through your candidate account from 10am on 19 November to 5pm on 23 November 2026, subject to availability. Every date, with the payment windows, is in the exam dates and deadlines guide, and you should confirm it against sqe.sra.org.uk before you rely on it, because the SRA has moved these dates once already this cycle.
Four: the fee follows the assessment date, not the booking date. January 2027 costs £2,006 for both papers or £1,003 for a single paper, at the rate that took effect in September 2026, whenever you book. The fee increase guide explains why booking early does not avoid it.
If you are starting from results day, the 18-week resit plan for January 2027 is built on those dates. If you are coming in fresh with a shorter runway, the 12-week study plan maps the same ground, and the free study plan will lay out the syllabus week by week at no cost.
If you are still weighing a procedural challenge to a July result, note that the appeal window ran ten working days from results day on 8 September and has closed. Appeals, marking reviews and mitigating circumstances sets out the grounds and why the marking itself cannot be appealed.
What the Full Report Adds
The SRA published its full statistical report for the sitting on the same day, on the SQE reports page. Three things in it matter more than the headline.
FLK2 did not trail FLK1 this time. 50% of graded candidates passed FLK1 and 50% passed FLK2; on a first attempt the rates were 54% and 52%. In every earlier sitting FLK2 had the lower pass rate, by five points in January 2026 and three in July 2025. One tie does not undo nine sittings in which FLK2 was the harder paper to pass, but it does mean neither paper can be treated as the safe one. The FLK1 versus FLK2 comparison sets out what each paper covers.
The typical candidate finished on the line. The mean scaled score was 291.0 on FLK1 and 289.2 on FLK2, both under the 300 pass mark, with medians of 300 and 297. July 2025 looked almost the same, with means of 291.3 and 287.3, while both January 2026 means sat above 300. On FLK1 the median was exactly 300: the middle candidate scored the pass mark itself.
Who passed on a first attempt. The report breaks first-time candidates down by background. Their SQE1 pass rates:
- Degree class: first 66%, 2:1 47%, 2:2 22%. As in January 2026, this is the widest gap in the tables.
- Age: 48% for both 16 to 24 and 25 to 34, 42% for 35 to 44 and 41% for 45 to 54.
- First language: English 50%, other 42%.
- Qualified lawyers from other jurisdictions passed at 45%, against 48% for candidates who were not yet lawyers.
- School: independent or fee-paying 57%, state non-selective 46%, schooled outside the UK 44%.
- Ethnicity: White 57%, Mixed 51%, Asian or Asian British 38%, Black or Black British 28%.
When you read the report yourself, take the first-attempt rate before the headline, and check your own degree-class and age band against it before you decide how many hours you need.
For how the results timetable works and what the score report itself shows, the July 2026 results day guide covers it. If you have decided to commit properly this time, the pricing page has what a full mock and question stack costs.
The Short Version
- The SRA published the July 2026 SQE1 figures on 29 September 2026.
- 42% overall, up one point from 41% in July 2025. 47% first-attempt, up one point from 46%.
- 6,260 candidates were graded on both papers: 5,012 first-time sitters and 1,248 resitters.
- January sittings have run 10 to 15 points higher than July sittings for three years running, which the SRA attributes to cohort composition rather than to the papers.
- The resit pass rate is about 22%, derived from the SRA's rounded figures: roughly one in five, in line with January 2026.
- FLK1 and FLK2 both passed at 50%, the first sitting in which FLK2 did not trail FLK1, and both mean scores sat just under the 300 pass mark.
- January 2027 is the first sitting in the 170-question format and on the updated specification, FLK1 from 11 January and FLK2 from 18 January, at £2,006 or £1,003 for a single paper.
A pass rate is a summary. Your plan is the thing that moves it.
