Trainee “apprentices” to be paid 2.60
per hour after late SRA consultation change
The Law Society's Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) has said that
the legal profession will be the “preserve of the rich”
after it emerged that trainee solicitors may be paid as little as
2.60 per hour in their first year after the Solicitors
Regulation Authority (SRA) amended its minimum wage
consultation.
The SRA's amendment to its plans to remove the minimum wage for
trainees came after advice was taken that trainees would be classed
as apprentices within the National Minimum Wage Regulations.
The JLD has warned that this will deter those from less well off
backgrounds from entering the profession, undermining diversity in
the solicitors profession.
Heather Iqbal-Rayner, Vice Chair of the Junior Lawyers Division,
said: “Apprentice wages are designed for school leavers who
are usually living with their parents and about to enter a
profession. Solicitor trainees will have completed four, five or
even six years of study by the time they begin a training contract
and may have children and mortgages, not to mention a mountain of
debt from studying.
“Implementing these changes will deter large numbers of
people from entering the profession and have a negative,
knock-on impact on equality and diversity.
“The profession has a good, recent record on attracting a
more diverse range of entrants. Scrapping the minimum salary for
trainees could set back that progress and make the solicitors'
profession the preserve of the rich. Only those well off will be
able to afford to live on what equates to a less than 5,000
annual salary.”
Under the proposals, trainees will have to wait for their second
year of training before being entitled to even the standard minimum
wage of 6.08, equating to an estimated 12,000 per
year.
Last week the JLD issued a call for a delay to the consultation
citing, amongst a range of issues, a lack of assessment on the
impact the move would have on diversity and social mobility in the
legal profession, and has urged its members to support its
opposition to the plans to remove the minimum wage for trainee
solicitors. The SRA'S online survey closes on 21 March the
consultation responses are due by 10 April.
See
the JLD's call for action.
Ends