We take the welfare of our pupils seriously. Our pupils are a part of QEB Hollis Whiteman and we ensure they can access help and advice if they need it.
Pupils can approach whoever they feel most comfortable speaking with in Chambers for welfare support, but we maintain an array of different support options.
Chambers has a named Head of Pupillage who has overarching responsibility for the pupillage programme, as well as a designated Head of Pupil Welfare. There is also a Pupillage Committee, an Equality and Diversity Committee, and a volunteer group of members of chambers and staff who have undergone mental health awareness training. We also put on an array of welfare events throughout the year.
We also run a pupil ‘aunt and uncle’ system where two junior members of chambers volunteer to provide welfare support to our pupils, to assist any pupil who would prefer to approach someone closer to their call level.
Welfare is also about concrete action. We mandate that pupils take holiday and encourage them to approach us if they need more time off. Chambers has a shared parental leave policy, a fair recruitment policy, an internal anti-harassment policy, and a new external bullying policy that was recently announced in Counsel Magazine.