SRA freezes minimum trainee salaries
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The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is imposing a freeze on the minimum wages for trainee solicitors in response to the “current economic climate”.
The minimum salary for a trainee working in London will remain static at £18,590 until at least September 2011. The recommended salary for trainees in the capital is also remaining the same at £19,040.
The news comes despite a growing number of City law firms announcing a series of small pay increases and an unfreezing of trainee and associate salaries. On average a trainee working at a top City firm will receive a salary of around £37,000 in their first year.
The SRA has also announced that the minimum wage for trainees outside of London will continue to be £16,650 and has recommended that those living outside will remain on £16,940.
A spokesman for the SRA said: “The Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided the 2009 minimum salary levels for trainees remain unchanged for 2010-11 for London and for the rest of England and Wales in view of the current economic climate.”
The SRA began a consultation in October 2006 to determine whether the market favoured the abolition of the minimum salary for trainees. But findings in May 2007 showed the majority of respondents, two thirds of whom were trainees, said they supported the minimum standards aimed at protecting trainees from exploitation in the legal market.
Readers' comments (9)
IHateBPP | 22-Jun-2010 12:23 pm
The recent trend of unpaid placements (slave labour) shows more than ever the need for a minimum wage. Unfortunately, some law students seem to be desperate people and there are some unscrupulous firms happy to prey on that.
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Anonymous | 22-Jun-2010 2:38 pm
As a trainee on the minimum salary whilst I am still hoping (against all likelihood) for a pay rise I believe the SRA has made the right decision.
While I appreciate the security that the minimum salary gives me and the level of protection from exploitation it attempts to provide the SRA has been realistic about the current marketplace.
Large city firms may be increasing their salaries but they are not the firms terrified of the incoming ABS models and Quality Solicitor chains. It is high street and legal aid firms, that indecently that often pay the minimum salary,. that are most at risk from these proposals and I think that in this announcements the SRA realises this and is trying to protect the current trainees whilst ensuring those firm survive to give future trainees the same opportunity.
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Michael Jacobs | 23-Jun-2010 10:54 am
The unpaid placements point has no relevance here - the SRA minimum wage only affords a level of protection to those undertaking training contracts. It is essentially a carrot size-control mechanism. The issue with unpaid placements is that firms wave this carrot in front of (current and recently graduated) law students, but the length of the stick being used to wave the carrot (along with any accompanying wages) is what really merits regulation by the SRA.
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IHateBPP | 23-Jun-2010 3:06 pm
The unpaid placements point is very relevant as it shows an increasing trend towards law firms exploiting applicants' desperation.
If the minimum salary for trainees was removed then more firms than ever would take the opportunity to not pay their trainees yet work them like slaves with the promise of a job post qualification.
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Stephen Dutton | 24-Jun-2010 3:30 pm
Yes there is a freeze on public service salaries but I think I am right in suggesting that was for all those earning over £21,000 and outside of London. To freeze poorly paid students already hampered by debt is short-sighted. Unless, of course, the profession really does only want those from already wealthy backgrounds!
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Anonymous | 24-Jun-2010 5:33 pm
Of course. And if the national minimum wage for all employment were removed, the entire labour system would revert/mutate into something quite different from how we currently know it. But training contracts will never be unpaid as they will retain employment status and are subject to minimum wages (be it through the SRA or more general national legislative provisions). One would be unable to be in a position as a trainee, training to qualify as a professional, without receiving a wage. It is simply not feasible to suggest that training contract salaries will slip to zero, as they are treated quite differently to work placements.
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IHateBPP | 25-Jun-2010 1:43 pm
"But training contracts will never be unpaid as they will retain employment status and are subject to minimum wages"
Completely wrong, as any unpaid trainee will be able to tell you. In Northern Ireland for instance, it is now the norm (despite minimum salary requirements) that trainees work for free and keep quiet about it.
Desperate people and unscrupulous law firms will always find a way around the law, that's the entire basis of the profession after all.
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Anonymous | 28-Jun-2010 2:31 pm
This article is about the SRA, which only regulated solicitors in England and Wales. Trends in other jurisdictions are interesting but have to relevance to this article.
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drown | 12-Mar-2012 11:10 pm
Instead of trainee solicitors, the new trend is to take on interns. Paid or unpaid. They do the same work. :-/ you can pay interns nominal wage for a year before they start crumbling and have to go to the NHS for treatment of severe depression and exhaustion.
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