How to support financial wellbeing across pay brackets in your law firm
16 October 2025
There are seven core legal roles within a UK law firm, and that’s not including any other office and support staff. Most people have this conception that if you work in law, you’ll have a high salary, but the average salary for an entry-level paralegal is just over £24k. Considering that London is the primary hub for legal professionals in the UK, where the cost of living is highest, it becomes clear why we need to discuss financial wellbeing in this prestigious industry.
In a hurry? Here are the top three things to take away from our blog on supporting financial wellbeing across different pay brackets in your law firm:
1. Understand the salary disparities and financial pressures, especially on junior employees: Salaries in UK law firms range widely—from paralegals and trainee solicitors earning around £22,000–£30,000 to partners earning millions. Junior staff, particularly trainee solicitors, often face heavy financial burdens from student debt (up to £70,000) and qualification costs, making it hard to manage even basic living expenses. This financial strain can significantly impact their mental health and risk burnout, so empathy and tailored financial support for these groups are essential.
2. Offer holistic, inclusive financial wellbeing support tailored to all pay brackets: Support should go beyond pay raises to include benefits that make daily life more affordable, such as discounts on essentials, cashback schemes, debt consolidation, salary sacrifice/deduction plans, and access to Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) for mental health and debt support. Initiatives like our Pluxee Employee Experience platform show how combining benefits and perks can deliver more value than small pay increases, helping lower-paid employees stretch their income without stigma.
3. Promote financial education and future planning for all employees, including higher earners: Financial wellbeing isn’t just for lower-paid employees—higher earners also benefit from money management guidance and retirement planning support. Creating a culture of inclusivity means providing tailored solutions across the entire firm and making financial wellbeing a strategic priority that supports retention, productivity, and overall employee wellbeing.
Got time to stick around? Let's dive a little deeper.
Understanding the salary landscape in UK law firms
As we mentioned in the introduction, some law professionals will be on a comfortable salary, but others working in this industry will be scraping by with just over the minimum wage. They’ll likely have plenty of student debt and are potentially living in the UK’s most expensive cities.
How much do lawyers get paid in the UK?
Salaries vary based on experience and location, ranging from £22,000 for paralegals to partners who could be taking home a seven-figure salary.
Breakdown of typical roles and pay brackets in UK law firms
Here’s a breakdown of the seven core legal roles that exist within UK law firms.
- Paralegal: Paralegals manage essential tasks that provide support to solicitors within the business. Their daily to-do list includes case preparation and drafting more basic legal documents. The average base pay in the UK is £22,000 to £25,000, rising to up to £40,000 for those with years of experience or who have a specific specialism.
- Trainee solicitor: You need an undergraduate degree in law or a related subject to embark on becoming a trainee solicitor. During training, they move throughout the department to get hands-on experience of different areas of law while also studying for their full qualification. Graduate pay in law firms in the UK for trainee solicitors can be up to £30,000, but they may also have to cover up to £15,000 worth of fees or more if their employer does not fully sponsor them. In some cases, that could be up to 40% of their income funding their journey to becoming fully qualified.
- Newly qualified solicitor: Also known as an associate, a newly qualified solicitor (NQ) will see a considerable salary increase, climbing from up to £40,000 to potentially over £100,000 in prestigious London firms, and between £65,000 and £76,000 elsewhere in the UK.
- Senior associate: Once a solicitor has five years or more post-qualification experience (PQE) under their belt, they could progress to the senior associate level. At this point, they’ll supervise others and even develop case strategies. As you’ll expect, salaries rise with seniority, and a senior associate could earn up to £250,000 or more, depending on the the firm and region.
- Legal director of council: Legal directors of council may manage business operations, lead deals, and participate in strategic planning. It may be fifth in the list, but from a salary perspective, legal directors of council will, on average, earn a salary that’s between what an NQ and a senior associate will earn.
- Partner: Partners are co-owners and could be salaried or earn equity based on business performance. Partners will shape the direction the firm takes and will mentor junior lawyers. The take-home pay varies widely depending on whether they're a full equity partner or salaried, with some potentially earning £2 million or more annually.
- Senior or managing partner: At the very top of the ladder, managing partners are the knowledge hubs of the firm, guiding others through the evolving landscapes and acting as the external spokesperson. As with partners, pay varies massively depending on the region, firm and payment structure, but some can earn above the £3 million mark.
Since we’re discussing roles and salaries, it’s important to remember that there are some non-fee-earning paths, with some law firms operating without billing clients.
What type of law is the highest paid?
Corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions are the highest paid types of law to get into, followed closely by construction law, IT, media and entertainment and then criminal law.
What benefits do entry-level legal staff get?
Realistic entry-level salaries for trainee solicitors are up to £30,000.
We’ve explored pay scales from the lowest to the highest, so let’s take it back to those just joining the profession. They may be able to enrol in the workplace benefits package, which could include money-saving benefits like discounts and cashback, but they might also rely on their income to fund their qualifications.
The reality is that for two years, trainee solicitors could really struggle to make ends meet.
Acknowledging graduate debt and entry-level challenges
We’re writing about how to support financial wellbeing across pay brackets in your law firm. Still, given what we’re learning about starting salaries for trainee solicitors and the possibility that they’re funding their qualifications, we will focus in more detail on this demographic.
Law school costs and student loans in the UK
The paid journey to becoming a qualified solicitor begins with attending university, where courses can cost over £9,000 per year and last for three years. Once they graduate, the two-year training period could cost them up to £15,000 personally, if they’re not lucky enough to be sponsored.
That’s up to £42,000 in learning fees, which doesn’t factor in living expenses. As of 2025, the average UK student loan debt is £53,000. So for an NQ, the debt could be close to £70,000.
Mental health impact of financial pressure
There's a wealth of research on the link between financial anxiety, debt and mental health. There are the practical elements. If you can’t afford to eat well or adopt a healthy lifestyle, your poorer physical health will impact your mental wellbeing.
Then there’s the direct link between money worries and mental health, which we explore in our blog, ‘Creating a Brighter Tomorrow... Financial Wellbeing and Mental Wealth’. In this blog, we reference our Money Mastery research, which reveals that 73% of employees who rated their financial wellbeing as average to very poor were more stressed because of it.
The importance of empathy and tailored support for trainee solicitors and NQs
Salaries may increase when a trainee solicitor becomes an NQ, but it may take them time to feel the benefit as they repay a considerable amount of debt. Assuming they’re earning a good salary and should be living the dream is dangerous. An empathetic approach and tailored financial wellbeing support is vital.
Put yourself in their shoes. They’re eager to prove their worth, especially if their employer sponsored them during their training period. They want to make their mark, so they’re likely putting in the hours.
If they can’t balance these long hours and high levels of stress by enjoying a good quality of life, or financial burdens exacerbate the pressure they’re putting themselves under at work, they’re at considerable risk of burning out.
How do you support employees on lower salaries?
Our Pluxee Employee Experience platform delivers a holistic wellbeing suite providing financial, mental and physical wellbeing support in one unified app. It enhances life at home and work for the whole firm and will make a considerable difference to those at the lower end of the salary scale.
Here are four solutions that form part of our offering that can make a significant difference:
- Daily discounts: Up to 20% off everyday living expenses, including the weekly shop, travel expenses, clothes – not a luxury, especially for those regularly in the office and meeting with clients – not to mention dining out, experiences and weekends away. We also have a holiday concierge service that can save employees hundreds, if not thousands, on their holidays.
- Instant cashback: Our prepaid Pluxee Cashback Card allows users to earn up to 15% cashback every day. No credit = no debt. No repayments or interest, just a ridiculously convenient way to manage monthly expenses and earn instant cashback with over 80 UK retailers, including the top supermarkets.
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP): When pressures mount, EAP offers employees a safe and confidential place to turn, 24/7, 365 days a year. Plus, Information Specialists will be able to help them with debt management guidance.
- Gym & fitness discounts: Healthy body, healthy mind. Our gym discounts make an active lifestyle more affordable, no matter how or where they like to exercise -- including the golf course!
Keep this in mind when creating your strategy for supporting employees on lower salaries, because these are just four of the benefits that form part of the Pluxee Employee Experience that will significantly improve their financial, mental and physical health, helping them be their best and give their best, every day.
Then there’s the option of offering debt consolidation solutions. You could consolidate the debts they’ve accumulated into one manageable monthly repayment, which you’ll deduct from their salary. This approach helps them get back on track sooner and reduces debt stress. Even better, you can encourage them to keep setting that money aside from their salary once they’ve repaid the loan, creating a savings pot for their future.
Supporting employees across all pay grades
At this point, it’s important to remember what providing financial wellbeing support means. The cost-of-living crisis drove the narrative on stretching salaries and making life more affordable, but a holistic approach goes beyond monetary employee benefits. Financial wellbeing support covers education, money management, and planning for the future, and this includes higher earners.
Initiatives to level the playing field
We published a guide that presents a cost-neutral way to strengthen your Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
While it’s valuable to understand how you can fund your employee benefits strategy, the most interesting part of this guide is when we review how a median 3% pay increase translates to take-home pay across three different salary brackets.
What we discovered and present is that when employees embed employee discounts and cashback-earning potential into their daily spending habits, they deliver more value than a 4% pay increase can offer.
It takes discipline and planning ahead—or not, when it comes to the Pluxee Cashback Card—but it really does pay to make as much use of financial wellbeing benefits as possible.
Examples of inclusivity for lower-income employees
We’ve shown how discounts and cashback can level the playing field and stretch salaries further, but that’s not the only way to create a culture of inclusivity for lower-income employees.
Pluxee Employee Experience includes popular salary sacrifice schemes like Cycle to Work and our Green Car schemes. Employers love them, too, because they reduce your NIC bill. The only downside of these schemes is that they won’t be available to all lower-wage employees if the repayments take them below the minimum pay threshold.
We have a solution for that, though: SmartPay.
SmartPay is a salary deduction scheme, so the repayment plan is based on net deductions (post tax and NIC), not gross. We partner with Halfords and Decathlon on the scheme, helping employees spread the cost of a new bike if they are not eligible for salary sacrifice.
Back to the office: Reducing the cost of the commute
Many UK law firms are calling for employees to return to the office, as they find face-to-face time vital for trainee solicitors and NQs. One of the best things about hybrid working is the money saved by travelling less, whether by train, tube, or car.
We’ve already mentioned salary sacrifice and salary deduction schemes. While not every employee will be eligible for a Green Car via the scheme, we have made it as inclusive as possible. Read all about pre-loved electric vehicles in our blog, ‘Introducing Pre-Loved: Second-Hand EV Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme’.
You can help make the cost of the commute more affordable by offering greener solutions, but you should also explore the travel and train discounts available with our exclusive employee discounts.
Support financial wellbeing across pay brackets in your law firm with Pluxee UK
We’ve explored the variety of roles in UK law firms and the different levels of pay, revealing why employers should offer holistic financial wellbeing support at every level. While we’ve acknowledged that even higher earners may need additional education on money management and retirement planning, this blog focuses on alleviating the burdens faced by those on lower salaries.
We’ve highlighted the need, demonstrated the solutions, and are ready to become the trusted partner that will help your people and business thrive.
Sources: Law Society
