Solicitors' guideline hourly rates (2024)

Guideline hourly rates

Grade	Fee earner	London 1	London 2	London 3	National 1	National 2
A	Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience	£546	£398	£301	£278	£272
B	Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience	£371	£308	£247	£233	£233
C	Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience	£288	£260	£197	£190	£189
D	Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners	£198	£148	£138	£134	£134

These are the guideline rates in effect from 1 January 2024. You canfind the previous guideline ratesthat were in effect from 1 October 2021 to 31 December 2023.

London bands

London band	Area	Postcodes
London 1	Very heavy commercial and corporate work by centrally based London firms	Not restricted to any particular London postcode
London 2	City and Central London	EC1 to 4, W1, WC1, WC2 and SW1
London 3	Outer London	All other London boroughs, plus Dartford and Gravesend

National band 1

Covers the following areas:

The counties of:

Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Dorset
Essex
Hampshire (and Isle of Wight)
Kent
Middlesex
Oxfordshire
Suffolk
Surrey
Sussex
Wiltshire

Plus:

Birkenhead
Birmingham (Inner)
Bristol
Cambridge City
Cardiff (Inner)
Leeds (Inner) (within 2km of City Art Gallery)
Liverpool
Manchester (Central)
Newcastle City (within 2m of St Nicholas Cathedral)
Norwich City
Nottingham City
Watford

National band 2

All places not included in London 1 to 3 and National 1

National grades: A to Z by area

Area	Grade
Aberystwyth	2
Accrington	2
Aldershot	1
Altrincham	2
Amersham	1
Ashford	1
Aylesbury	1
Banbury	1
Barnsley	2
Barnstaple	2
Barrow-in-Furness	2
Basildon	1
Basingstoke	1
Bath	2
Bedford	2
Bedlington	2
Berwick-upon-Tweed	2
Beverley	2
Birkenhead	1
Birmingham Inner	1
Birmingham Outer	2
Blackburn	2
Blackpool	2
Blackwood	2
Bodmin	2
Bolton	2
Bootle	2
Boston	2
Bournemouth	1
Bradford	2
Bridlington	2
Brighton	1
Bristol	1
Burnley	2
Bury	2
Bury St Edmunds	1
Caenarfon	2
Cambridge City	1
Cambridgeshire	2
Cannock	2
Canterbury	1
Cardiff (Inner)	1
Cardiff (Outer)	2
Carlisle	2
Carmarthen	2
Chelmsford	1
Cheltenham	2
Chester	2
Chesterfield	2
Chorley	2
Colchester	1
Cornwall	2
Coventry	2
Crawley	1
Crewe	2
Cumbria	2
Cwmbran	2
Darlington	2
Derbyshire	2
Devon	2
Dewsbury	2
Doncaster	2
Dorset	1
Dudley	2
Durham	2
Epsom	1
Essex	1
Evesham	2
Exeter	2
Fareham	1
Farnham	1
Fleetwood	2
Folkestone	1
Gateshead	2
Gloucester	2
Great Yarmouth	2
Grimsby	2
Guildford	1
Halifax	2
Hampshire	1
Harlow	1
Harrogate	2
Hastings	1
Hatfield	2
Havant	1
Haverfordwest	2
Hereford	2
Hertford	2
High Wycombe	1
Hitchin	2
Horsham	1
Hove	1
Huddersfield	2
Hull	2
Huntingdon	2
Ipswich	1
Isle of Wight	1
Isles of Scilly	2
Keighley	2
Kidderminster	2
Kings Lynn	2
Lancaster	2
Leamington Spa	2
Leeds (Inner) - within 2km of City Art Gallery	1
Leeds (Outer)	2
Leicester	2
Leigh	2
Lewes	1
Leyland	2
Lincoln	2
Liverpool	1
Llandrindod Wells	2
Llandudno	2
Llanelli	2
Loughborough	2
Lowestoft	1
Ludlow	2
Luton	2
Maidenhead	1
Maidstone	1
Manchester (Central)	1
Manchester (Outer)	2
Mansfield	2
Medway	1
Merthyr Tydfil	2
Milton Keynes	1
Mold	2
Nelson	2
Newcastle - City Centre (within 2m of St Nicholas Cathedral)	1
Newcastle (other than City Centre)	2
Newcastle under Lyme	2
Newport	2
Newton Abbot	2
Newton Aycliffe	2
Norfolk	2
North Shields	2
Northallerton	2
Northampton	2
Norwich City	1
Nottingham City	1
Nottinghamshire	2
Nuneaton	2
Oldham	2
Oswestry	2
Oxford	1
Peterborough	2
Peterlee	2
Plymouth	2
Pontefract	2
Pontypridd	2
Poole	1
Port Talbot	2
Portsmouth	1
Prestatyn	2
Preston	2
Rawenstall	2
Reading	1
Redditch	2
Reedley	2
Reigate	1
Ripon	2
Rochdale	2
Rugby	2
Salford	2
Salisbury	1
Scarborough	2
Sevenoaks	1
Sheffield	2
Shrewsbury	2
Skegness	2
Skipton	2
Slough	1
South Shields	2
South Yorkshire	2
Southampton	1
Southend	1
Southport	2
St Albans	2
St Helens	2
Stafford	2
Staines	1
Stevenage	2
Stockport	2
Stoke	2
Stourbridge	2
Stratford-upon-Avon	2
Suffolk	1
Sunderland	2
Swansea	2
Swindon	1
Tameside	2
Tamworth	2
Taunton	2
Teesside	2
Telford	2
Thanet	1
Torquay	2
Truro	2
Tunbridge Wells	1
Wakefield	2
Wales (North)	2
Wales (South)	2
Wales (West)	2
Walsall	2
Warrington	2
Warwick	2
Watford	1
Wellingborough	2
Welshpool	2
Weston-super-Mare	2
Weymouth	1
Wigan	2
Wiltshire	1
Winchester	1
Wolverhampton	2
Worcester	2
Worthing	1
Wrexham	2
Yarl’s Wood	2
Yeovil	2
York	2

Published 19 April 2010
Last updated 4 January 2024 +show all updates

4 January 2024
Added the date that the new guideline rates came into effect, and added a link to the previous guideline rates.
1 January 2024
Updated the guideline hourly rates that come into affect from 1 January 2024.
1 October 2021
Updated the guideline hourly rates.
19 April 2010
First published.

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