Guidance
Solicitors' guideline hourly rates
Guideline figures for carrying out a summary assessment of court costs, listed by pay band and grade for different parts of the country.
Guideline hourly rates
Pay band | Fee earner | London grade 1 | London grade 2 | London grade 3 | National grade 1 | National grade 2 | National grade 3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience | £409 | £317 | £229–£267 | £217 | £201 | £201 |
B | Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience | £296 | £242 | £172–£229 | £192 | £177 | £177 |
C | Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience | £226 | £196 | £165 | £161 | £146 | £146 |
D | Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners | £138 | £126 | £121 | £118 | £111 | £111 |
These are the guideline rates in effect from 2010. Find out previous guideline rates for 1999–2009.
London grades
London grade | Area | Postcodes |
---|---|---|
London grade 1 | City of London | EC1–EC4 |
London grade 2 | Central London | W1, WC1, WC2 and SW1 |
London grade 3 | Outer London | all other London postcodes |
National grade 1
Covers the following areas:
- Aldershot, Farnham, Bournemouth (incl Poole)
- Birmingham Inner
- Bristol
- Cambridge City, Harlow
- Canterbury, Maidstone, Medway, Tunbridge Wells
- Cardiff (Inner)
- Chelmsford South, Essex, East Suffolk
- Fareham, Winchester
- Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Isle of Wight
- Kingston, Guildford, Reigate, Epsom
- Leeds Inner (within 2km of City Art Gallery)
- Lewes
- Liverpool, Birkenhead
- Manchester Central
- Newcastle - City Centre (within 2m of St Nicholas Cathedral)
- Norwich City
- Nottingham City
- Oxford, Thames Valley
- Southampton, Portsmouth
- Swindon, Basingstoke
- Watford
National grade 2
Covers the following areas:
- Bath, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Taunton, Yeovil
- Bury
- Chelmsford North, Cambridge County, Peterborough, Bury St Edmunds, Norfolk, Lowestoft
- Chester, North Wales
- Coventry, Rugby, Nuneaton, Stratford, Warwick
- Exeter, Plymouth
- Hull (City)
- Leeds Outer, Wakefield, Pontefract
- Leigh
- Lincoln
- Luton, Bedford, St Albans, Hitchin, Hertford
- Manchester Outer, Oldham, Bolton, Tameside
- Newcastle (other than City Centre)
- Nottingham, Derbyshire
- Sheffield, Doncaster, South Yorkshire
- Southport
- St Helens
- Stockport, Altrincham, Salford
- Swansea, Newport, Cardiff (Outer)
- Wigan
- Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Stourbridge
- York, Harrogate
National grade 3
Covers the following areas:
- Birmingham Outer
- Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Keighley, Skipton
- Cumbria
- Devon, Cornwall
- Grimsby, Skegness
- Hull Outer
- Kidderminster
- Northampton, Leicester
- Preston, Lancaster, Blackpool, Chorley, Accrington, Burnley, Blackburn, Rawenstall, Nelson
- Scarborough, Ripon
- Stafford, Stoke, Tamworth
- Teesside
- Worcester, Hereford, Evesham, Redditch
- Shrewsbury, Telford, Ludlow, Oswestry
- South and West Wales
National grades: A–Z by area
Area | Grade |
---|---|
Accrington | 3 |
Aldershot | 1 |
Altrincham | 2 |
Basingstoke | 1 |
Bath | 2 |
Bedford | 2 |
Birkenhead | 1 |
Birmingham Inner | 1 |
Birmingham Outer | 3 |
Blackburn | 3 |
Blackpool | 3 |
Bolton | 2 |
Bournemouth | 1 |
Bradford | 3 |
Bristol | 1 |
Burnley | 3 |
Bury | 2 |
Bury St Edmunds | 2 |
Cambridge City | 1 |
Cambridge County | 2 |
Canterbury | 1 |
Cardiff (Inner) | 1 |
Cardiff (Outer) | 2 |
Chelmsford North | 2 |
Chelmsford South | 1 |
Cheltenham | 2 |
Chester | 2 |
Chorley | 3 |
Cornwall | 3 |
Coventry | 2 |
Cumbria | 3 |
Derbyshire | 2 |
Devon | 3 |
Dewsbury | 3 |
Doncaster | 2 |
Dorset | 1 |
Dudley | 2 |
Epsom | 1 |
Essex | 1 |
Evesham | 3 |
Exeter | 2 |
Fareham | 1 |
Farnham | 1 |
Gloucester | 2 |
Grimsby | 3 |
Guildford | 1 |
Halifax | 3 |
Hampshire | 1 |
Harlow | 1 |
Harrogate | 2 |
Hereford | 3 |
Hertford | 2 |
Hitchin | 2 |
Huddersfield | 3 |
Hull (City) | 2 |
Hull Outer | 3 |
Isle of Wight | 1 |
Keighley | 3 |
Kidderminster | 3 |
Kingston | 1 |
Lancaster | 3 |
Leeds Inner (within 2km of City Art Gallery) | 1 |
Leeds Outer | 2 |
Leicester | 3 |
Leigh | 2 |
Lewes | 1 |
Lincoln | 2 |
Liverpool | 1 |
Lowestoft | 2 |
Ludlow | 3 |
Luton | 2 |
Maidstone | 1 |
Manchester Central | 1 |
Manchester Outer | 2 |
Medway | 1 |
Nelson | 3 |
Newcastle - City Centre (within 2m of St Nicholas Cathedral) | 1 |
Newcastle (other than City Centre) | 2 |
Newport | 2 |
Norfolk | 2 |
Northampton | 3 |
Norwich City | 1 |
Nottingham | 2 |
Nottingham City | 1 |
Nuneaton | 2 |
Oldham | 2 |
Oswestry | 3 |
Oxford | 1 |
Peterborough | 2 |
Plymouth | 2 |
Pontefract | 2 |
Poole | 1 |
Portsmouth | 1 |
Preston | 3 |
Rawenstall | 3 |
Redditch | 3 |
Reigate | 1 |
Ripon | 3 |
Rugby | 2 |
St Albans | 2 |
St Helens | 2 |
Salford | 2 |
Scarborough | 3 |
Sheffield | 2 |
Shrewsbury | 3 |
Skegness | 3 |
Skipton | 3 |
South Yorkshire | 2 |
Southampton | 1 |
Southport | 2 |
Stafford | 3 |
Stockport | 2 |
Stoke | 3 |
Stourbridge | 2 |
Stratford | 2 |
Suffolk, East | 1 |
Swansea | 2 |
Swindon | 1 |
Tameside | 2 |
Tamworth | 3 |
Taunton | 2 |
Teesside | 3 |
Telford | 3 |
Thames Valley | 1 |
Tunbridge Wells | 1 |
Wakefield | 2 |
Wales, North | 2 |
Wales, South | 3 |
Wales, West | 3 |
Walsall | 2 |
Warwick | 2 |
Watford | 1 |
Wigan | 2 |
Wiltshire | 1 |
Winchester | 1 |
Wolverhampton | 2 |
Worcester | 3 |
Yeovil | 2 |
York | 2 |
Published 19 April 2010