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There
are plenty of nervous whispers travelling around at the moment as it has been announced
that the minimum wage for trainee solicitors may soon be abolished. The minimum
wage, which has been around since 1982 and was implemented to prevent trainee
solicitors being exploited, currently stands at £18,590 for those working in
central London and £16,650 for everywhere else. However, it has now been condemned
by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) who claims that there is no
justification for keeping it.
In the consultation paper (found here), the SRA claim that
the wage deters many firms from taking on trainees and by removing it, it would
increase the number of opportunities for students. They deny the claims that
this may result in trainees being exploited, saying that they will still be
protected by the National Minimum Wage (£6.08p/h).
What it seems that
they fail to take into account is, by the time the start their training, that
many students, will be over £30,000 in debt. The Legal Practice course alone sets
students back £8500 and with no Government funding available, many people are
forced to turn to bank loans. By removing the minimum pay rate for trainees,
many people will be deterred from the legal profession as they simply would not
be able to afford to pay back their loans.
People
who are willing to invest over £30,000 for a career as a solicitor would find
themselves earning a wage that they could of earned working behind a bar.
The
SRA also seems to be forgetting that trainee solicitors also have living costs.
Many people are already finding it difficult facing the rising prices in the
current economic climate, never mind having loans to pay back on top of this.
If the current pay rate is to be scraped, then the only people that would
realistically be able to train are those that come from the more wealthy
families. Read more about the proposals here
The fate of
the minimum wage will be announced on 12th May 2012.
What are your thoughts on the matter?
Good post! :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's going to result in exploitation. Firms are all going to toe the line with one another, to avoid the wooden spoon title of 'worst paying regional firm of the year' etc. etc. So I think there are going to be sufficient forces which shape firms' conduct on trainee salaries in the future.
I think all trainees were/are paid in excess of the minimum at the moment anyway.
And as for deterring would-be lawyers from the legal profession, I fear that might be kind of the point; to get the number of applicants relative to the vacancies back in kilter a bit.
That way, only the law schools lose out.
Maybe. :-)
Hi Michael, thank you for your comment. I do hope that you are right about it not resulting in exploitation.
DeleteIn relation to deterring would-be lawyers, surely it would be better to raise the bar academically, rather than base it on financial means? It just seems that a lot of highly capable, intelligent candidates would be driven away from the profession, whilst less able candidates would be able to apply due to money.
Its a tricky one.
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