I note the suggestion that trainee solicitors could be paid as little as £2.60 an hour in their first year under an amendment to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s proposals for ending the minimum wage.
Presumably we can then expect a corresponding decrease in Guideline Hourly Rates for trainee solicitors to, say, £10 per hour. This should still give firms a reasonable profit margin. Obviously Guideline Rates ranging from £90-138 would be totally unsustainable with pay rates of £2.60 per hour.
The guideline rates (as far as I know) do not have any link whatsoever to their particular salary?!
Surely, if this idea has an sort of merit as all, it would be calculated down rather than up e.g.
Guideline Rate [MINUS] Difference between average hourly pay and actual pay
As opposed to:
Guideline Rate [DIVIDED BY] Average Pay = FACTOR
Actual Pay [MULTIPLIED BY] FACTOR = Charge Rate
Particularly given that actual salary, as first poster says, have no real relation to rate.
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In reality, market forces will effect what salary can be negotiated.
There would of course be no reduction in the other overheads associated with running the firm and investing in the training of the the trainee. Salary is by no means the only factor.