We have some exciting news!
NALP is changing both the current NALP Level 3 Certificate for Paralegal Technicians and the NALP Level 4 Certificate for Associate Paralegals to Diploma qualifications.
Why?
As part of our commitment to Quality Assurance, we gather feedback from Learners and Centres. It has become clear that the Self Study Assignment (SSA) hours, which form part of the Total Qualification Time (TQT) needed to be increased to better reflect the time that Learners spend on self-study.
By increasing the SSA hours this moved the TQT into the Ofqual ‘Diploma’ band. But perhaps even more importantly, we believe that a qualification titled as a ‘Diploma’ better reflects the content, relevance and level of knowledge Learners gain by studying the L3 and L4 qualifications.
Therefore, both the L3 and L4 qualifications are being upgraded to ‘Diplomas’. This will happen on 1st April 2026.
To avoid confusion and in order to allow this change to happen smoothly and effectively the existing Level 3 Certificate for Paralegal Technicians and the Level 4 Certificate for Associate Paralegals will be withdrawn from the Ofqual Register of available qualifications.
The newly titled NALP Level 3 Diploma for Paralegal Technicians and NALP Level 4 Diploma for Associate Paralegals will be launched as NEW qualifications.
Impact on existing Learners
No Learner will be disadvantaged.
All existing Learners will automatically be transferred, at no cost to them, onto the new Diploma courses. As the course content remains the same, there is no additional learning or actions required by or from the Learner.
Impact on past Learners
No past Learner will be disadvantaged.
All past Learners who have successfully completed either the Level 3 Certificate for Paralegal Technicians and/or the Level 4 Certificate for Associate Paralegals will be contacted shortly. They will be asked to destroy their existing certificates for the qualification(s) and they will be supplied with a new certificate showing the new qualification: Level 3 Diploma for Paralegal Technicians and/or the Level 4 Diploma for Associate Paralegals
There will be no cost to these Learners.
Impact on Centres
No Centre will be disadvantaged.
Centres will be supplied with updated Learning materials reflecting the new title/name and the updated TQTs (the content remains the same, and the Guided Learning Hours (GLH) are also unchanged).
Centres will also be supplied with information they can give Learners to help them understand the change and what will happen.
There will be no additional charge to Centres.
Next steps
NALP will be in touch in the coming weeks as the changeover takes place. If you have any questions, please email us at centres@nationalparalegals.co.uk
