The New Guideline Hourly Rates from 1 October 2021
The Master of the Rolls (Sir Geoffrey Vos) has approved the Civil Justice Council (CJC)’s recommended new Guideline Hourly Rates for solicitors, which are to published in new guidance on summary assessment for members of the judiciary, to be used from 1 October 2021.
The CJC published its recommendations in July 2021 following an evidence-gathering exercise amongst members of the legal profession in September and October 2020. A further review of the rates has been promised within the next 2 years. This is the first uplift on the rates in 11 years.
There are uplifts across the entirety of the figures. The distinction between London and National Grades remains in place. Qualified costs lawyers, who previously could bill at a rate no higher than Grade D, may now charge at Grades B or C, depending on the complexity of the work done.
The current structure is below:
The new structure from 1 October 2021 shall be:
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
