Guideline hourly rates to increase from 1 January 2024
Published: December 1st, 2023
7 min read
It has been announced by the Master of the Rolls that the Guideline Hourly Rates (GHR) are due to rise in January 2024. The new rates set out below will apply to work carried out from the 1 January 2024. The previous rates are in brackets.
| Grade | Fee Earner | London 1 | London 2 | London 3 | National 1 | National 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years' experience | £546 (£512) | £398 (£373) | £301 (£282) | £278 (£261) | £272 (£255) |
| B | Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years' experience | £371 (£348) | £308 (£289) | £247 (£232) | £233 (£218) | £233 (£218) |
| C | Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience | £288 (£270) | £260 (£244) | £197 (£185) | £190 (£178) | £189 (£177) |
| D | Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners | £198 (£186) | £148 (£139) | £138 (£129) | £134 (£126) | £134 (£126) |
The Master of the Rolls has also said that he agrees that there should be annual increases in the GHR, which should give more certainty to what rates the courts will use.
The last GHR increase was in 2021 and have been increased for inflation in accordance with the Service Producer Price Index which will be the relevant index for future annual increases.
Whilst hourly rates will affect far fewer cases since the expansion of fixed recoverable costs in cases worth up to £100 000, they will still be important in the multi-track and in historical cases and so insurers and other paying parties will be interested to see what the increases are when they are announced.
For further information please contact Siobhan Hardy