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.
Applies to England and Wales
Guideline hourly rates
| Pay band | Fee earner | London grade 1 | London grade 2 | London grade 3 | National grade 1 | National grade 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience | £512 | £373 | £282 | £261 | £255 |
| B | Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience | £348 | £289 | £232 | £218 | £218 |
| C | Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience | £270 | £244 | £185 | £178 | £177 |
| D | Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners | £186 | £139 | £129 | £126 | £126 |
These are the guideline rates in effect from 1 October 2021. Find out previous guideline rates for 1999 to 30 September 2021.
London bands
| London band | Area | Postcodes |
|---|---|---|
| London grade 1 | Very heavy commercial and corporate work by centrally based London firms | Not restricted to any particular London postcode |
| London grade 2 | City and Central London | EC1 to 4, W1, WC1, WC2 and SW1 |
| London grade 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 1 October 2021 + show all updates
Last updated 1 October 2021 + show all updates
-
Updated the guideline hourly rates.
-
First published.