The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is considering the abolition of the annual minimum wage requirement for trainee solicitors.

The SRA board launched a consultation at its meeting yesterday (11 January), with the consultation paper finding there is no clear evidence that setting a minimum salary for trainees fulfils any of the regulatory objectives within the Legal Services Act.

The minimum wage policy, which dates back to 1982, was designed to protect trainees from being exploited and to encourage high calibre graduates into the profession before the introduction of a national minimum wage.

The current minimum salary levels are £18,590 in central London and £16,650 outside, with the rates frozen in the past two years to reflect the economic downturn. In contrast, the national minimum wage is set at £6.08 per hour for those aged 21 and over.

SRA executive director Samantha Barrass said: "We do not regulate prices, including rate of pay, in any other area of our work. We have compared the practice with other professional regulators and found very few examples where this occurs. It would appear that setting a minimum salary does not address any identified risk to the public interest or the rule of law, nor is it clear that it improves access to the profession."

The consultation states: "It would run contrary to the SRA's objectives to
justify retention of the requirement on the grounds that it might limit access to the profession and make it more difficult for potential entrants who might otherwise meet the standards to enter the profession."

The SRA board is set to reach a decision on whether to remove the minimum salary requirement at its meeting on 16 May this year, after considering the responses to the consultation and conducting a full impact assessment.

The SRA has not reviewed the minimum wage requirement since taking over responsibility for prescribing the compulsory rate from the Law Society in 2007.

The consultation opens on Friday 13 January and will close on Tuesday 10 April 2012.